After three straight and four of their last six games against Tri-City, the Seattle Thunderbirds will put the Americans in their rear view mirror. Well, for a couple weeks at least. Seattle actually has another game on the schedule this month against the Americans, but that will wait until after Thanksgiving.
For now, the T-birds will take their wins and move forward, preparing for a pair of games this coming weekend. Friday they host the Portland Winterhawks. Don't forget, it's Girls Night Out. Go to seattlethunderbirds.com for details. Saturday Seattle travels north to Everett for a showdown with the Silvertips.
The Thunderbirds were successful this past weekend because they found different ways to win both games, but the common theme was effort. And that's been the mantra throughout their current seven game winning streak. Sure, you can lose a game even when you give your best effort, but it is highly unlikely you'll ever win without it. I say this, knowing there is another level of play this team can reach. We're just twelve games into the season and they certainly haven't peaked yet. Their team chemistry is still developing.
You could point to the four wins in the current winning streak against Tri-City and say, yeah, but they're doing it against a team at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Again, the players don't have control over who their opponent is. There job is to go out and meet the challenge and win. Control the controllables by taking care of your business. The position in the standings of these two teams would be reversed had the T-birds not played well and lost.
Remember about a decade ago when Portland beat Seattle 10 out of 12 times, and went on to win a WHL Championship? No one put an asterisk next the Winterhawks title because a 57-win team beat a 24-win team ten times on their way to the Cup. Good teams find ways to win, no matter the opponent. Who you're playing shouldn't matter as much as how you're playing.
What areas does Seattle have to clean up as they move forward? You might have to take out a microscope to find them, but they're there. They need to cut down the number of odd man rushes and breakaways they're allowing, especially when they are on the power play. And this is a little nitpicky, because they actually have been doing a better job recently of bearing down when they have the lead, but there have been a few ocassions when they get a little lackadaisacal coming back on pucks in the defensive zone. That slows down their transition game at times.
They are still taking too many penalties. The coaches want to limit an opponent's power play chances to about three a game. Right now the T-birds are allowing 5.5. Seattle's penalty kill has been good. At around 85-percent it ranks with the best in the league, but the team's strength is 5-on-5 hockey and you can't play that when you're in the box.
The Thunderbirds power play is hovering at just under 20-percent. I thnk they'd like it up at around 25-percent or better, but I'm not to worried about it. They probably need to get to more rebounds when they have the man advantage, but even when they don't score off the power play, they generate momentum off it.
They're doing a lot of things well. Chiefly among them, they are getting a solid team effort every game. They are rolling four lines and getting all three d-pairs involved. The goaltending has been excellent. Their transition game seems to improve with each outing and they win most 50-50 battles along the boards. They win the puck posession battle most nights and 30-plus shots on goal is the norm. They probably want to do better on faceoffs, but they seem to come up with key faceoff wins at the right time, especially late in games.
The coaching staff consistently talks about good habits. Well, the best habit you can have is winning. The T-birds have that right now.
My T-Birds Three Stars for the Weekend:
Third Star: The top D pairing of Ty Bauer and Ryan Gottfried. Bauer leads the team in +/- at +10. He had a pair of assists this weekend. He'll take the odd penalty but that's because he plays a physical brand. He's getting more and more opportunities to put shots on net. Gottfried didn't register a point in either game but finished the weekend with a +3 rating. Describing him as "consistent" or "steady" might seem bland, but that's what he is. You get the same game from him every night. He's a terrific penalty killer, blocking shots and sweeping pucks out of harms way.
Second Star: C Henrik Rybinski. He has points now in seven straight games and is now a point a game player with 11-points (2g, 9a) in 10 games. The reality is, he has a point in all but one game he has played. I don't really count opening night down in Portland. He got hurt on the opening shift and missed the rest of the contest. Along with Bauer, he's the alpha dog on the team. He sets the tone for how this team wants to play by expending every ounce of energy he has on every shift. He wants to earn a pro contract and you can see that in every shift he takes.
First Star: C/W Jordan Gustafson. He's on a six game point streak and now leads the team in goals scored with eight. Along with Conner Roulette has the team lead in points with 14 through 12-games. His offensive game, the shoot first mentality, draws your attention but he's a complete player. Do yourself a favor and watch him all over the ice. Watch him in the d-zone, on the backcheck. Key on him along the boards in the attacking zone. On his OT game winner Saturday, he never stopped skating, even without the puck, putting himself in position to score that goal.
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