Because we see their names in the lineup every night, because they played in last spring's 24-game abbreviated season, we forget sometimes that a number of these T-birds regulars are still classified as rookies and quite a few are still in their 16-year-old season.
While 17 year olds like Jordan Gustafson, Kevin Korchinski and Nico Myatovic, along with an 18-year-old Reid Schaefer are older "rookies", players like Sam Oremba, Sawyer Mynio and Scott Ratzlaff are those true, "16-year-old season" guys, who've had to grow up in a hurry. That's certainly been the case the second half of the season as they've been called upon to eat up big minutes with so many of the older players on the roster sidelined because of injuries.
Then, this weekend, Seattle threw three more of those 2005-born players, Coster Dunn, Ethan Mittelsteadt and Niko Tsakumis, into the fray. When the weekend was over, the T-birds had three wins, six points and every one of those players had contributed in some way to the team's success.
With three of their top six defenseman sidelined for Sunday's game in Kennewick, Seattle played with five d-man who are still considered rookies by WHL standards: Jeremy Hanzel, Kevin Korchinski, Leon Okonkwo Prada, Sawyer Mynio and Tsaksumis. The veteran of the group was 19-year-old Chase Lacombe, Prior to this season Lacombe had just 60 games, less than a full season, of WHL experience under his belt. Heck throw in Mittelsteadt, who is a defenseman by trade but was playing forward, and the T-birds had six rookie defensemen in the lineup.
Even if you discount Hanzel and Korchinski because they played 23-games last spring, and Okonkwo Prada because he's older, there were still three young d-men in the lineup with a combined 62 games of WHL experience between them and 43 of those games belonged to one player.
So, let's just concentrate on those six, true, 16-year-old, 2005 born rookies and what they did this weekend, with Seattle once again missing so many veteran regulars. Combined they contributed five points (2g, 3a), a game winning goal, two first WHL career goals, a plus-6 rating and were 1-0 in net with a 2.00 GAA and .939 save percentage. Shorthanded, trying to stay in the chase for third place in the Western Conference, Seattle needed those six players to be solid, if not good, and they were.
Getting Tyrel Bauer back for the final two and a half weeks of the regular season is a huge bonus. Players who normally suffer the type of injury he did are usually given a five-to-six-month timeline for recovery. Under that scenario, Bauer's season should have been over. That just didn't sit well with the captain. He was determined to make it back and he did it in three and a half months. I saw some of the grueling work he put in to make it happen. You have to be laser focused and he was. For the T-birds it's like getting a big trade deadline acquisition without having to trade away any assets.
Now Mekai Sanders will have to go through the same thing. It's too bad, because he was having a great season. He was a big piece to the team's sucess, and he will be missed in the lineup. But he has a blueprint laid out by Bauer on what he has to do to get back.
My T-bird Three Stars for the Weekend:
Third Star: D Sam Knazko: He only played in two of the three games, but Knazko's play in the two wins over Vancouver stood out. He had a goal, two assists and was a plus-2. He's gets the most out of his physical play. He knows how to position himself along the boards to win puck battles. At the offensive end he's patient, never reckless. Just a very confident player right now.
Second Star: C/W Jared Davidson. Came off the injury list and promptly scored in every game over the weekend. Four goals, two assists and a plus-2 rating. To win consistently, Seattle needs to get healthy, and they need their scoring leader scoring. Davidson just picked up where he left off and that's good news for the T-birds.
First Star: W Lukas Svejkovsky. There weren't a lot of deals at the WHL trade deadline this season, but Seattle's acquisition of Svejkovsky was one of the best. The T-birds acquired him officially on December 27th, but he had a bout with Covid and didn't make his T-birds debut until a few weeks later. In 29-games as a Thunderbirds he has 39-points (17g, 22a). Six of his goals are game winners. This past weekend he earned eight points (5g, 3a) in three games.
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