One down, 67 to to go. The Seattle Thunderbirds opened the 2022-23 season with a road win, beating the Vancouver Giants in a shootout, 4-3, Friday up in Langley, B.C.
Seattle accomplished the win with a roster deplete of a good chunk of their firepower. Well over 100 goals and 300 points off last year's roster were missing from the lineup as the Thunderbirds played shorthanded with six key players still away at NHL training camps. It's a good thing the WHL is slow walking the start of the season. Seattle plays just twice the first two weeks.
I was told not to expect the majority of those missing players back in time for the home opener next Saturday. I would suspect their NHL teams would like to get many of those players into at least one preseason NHL game.
I like a player who takes accountability without even being asked. I ran into T-Birds goalie Scott Ratzlaff on his way to the team's postgame meal after the opening night win. Ratzlaff got the win with 25 saves and two more in the shootout. Without even being asked though, he offered up that it wasn't his best game and that he felt he was trying to do too much. I did think he struggled at times with what is usually for him a strength, his puck control, but he also made enough timely saves to help the team to victory.
It's good to know that he holds himself to such a high standard that he's not going to be satisfied even if he got the W. He only allowed three goals in regulaton and two of those were of the power play variety, but he left me with the impression he wanted to to get right back to work at that moment and improve on his performance.
Vamcouver played the game without their number one offensive weapon, Ottawa Senators 2021 second rounder Zack Ostapchuk, but they still had the older team on the ice and were able to dress three 20 year olds (Seattle had just one). The game still had a bit of a preseason feel to it with plenty of rookies and newcomers up and down the rosters of both teams. Fifty-seven percent of the Thunderbirds lineup was age 17 or younger. Seventy percent of the Giants lineup was age 18 or older.
If you are Seattle though, you have to feel pretty good that you could go on the road with essentially your B team and get the two points. Any points gained with this lineup in such flux is a bonus for the Thunderbirds here in the early going. I mean, their first line last night was what essentially would be their third line when they have their full slate of players available. Yet that line of Kyle Crnkovic, Gracyn Sawchyn and Nico Myatovic, was the best line on the ice last night.
Seattle dressed four rookies among their six defensemen. Jeremy Hanzel, with 87 games played, was the veteran of that group at age 19. 18-year old Easton Kovacs, he of the 58 WHL games, was the second most seasoned blue liner for Seattle. Prior to Friday night the trio of Niko Taskumis (11), Bryce Pickford (2) and Hyde Davidson (1) had a combined 14 games of regular season WHL action under their belts. Kai Knak was making his WHL debut. The T-Birds also had 17 year old rookie defenseman Ethan Mittelstaedt in the lineup but he was used as a tenth forward.
Despite the inexperience, they held their own. They made mistakes, showed signs of progress and did enough good to help create the win. 16 year olds Davidson and Pickford, a pair of 2021 second round draft picks, hold a lot of promise, but they are just 16. Even when Kevin Korchinski returns they are still a very young D corps. Will adding some experience on the back end be the area the Thunderbirds look to address between now and the trade deadline? Do they think Ty Bauer is coming back? Questions still to be answered.
How many times in his coaching tenure with the Thunderbirds has Matt O'Dette had an incomplete roster, yet still managed to compete every night and, quite often, get his team to victory lane? Last season Seattle dealt with a ton of injuries, yet by June there they were in the league championship series. Last night he's got six of his best players away from the team. They get the win anyway. A coach can't go out their and stop pucks or score goals. He can't kill penalties, but he can give the players the tools to do that.
One of those tools is preparation and more often the T-birds are well prepared every night. Another is motivation and O'Dette gets his players to believe in each other, to believe in the systems they employ and to believe in themselves. There's a saying that hard work trumps talent, but if you can combine talent and hard work, then you have something. O'Dette gets the most from his team because he gets them to combine their talent with hard work. He won't let them take shortcuts.
Opening night was a prime example. With so many players not available the players that were here could have gone off script, strayed from the systems. It didn't happen. He put young players in positions to succeed. O'Dette has had his staff turn completely over since his first day as head coach. Gone are assistant coaches Kyle Hagel and Castan Sommers, replaced by Matt Marquardt and Carter Cochrance. Brad Guzda has taken over for Ian Gordon as goalie coach. Yet the process remains the same.
It's tough to be the next coach, after the previous coach has pushed the franchise up the mountain top to a WHL title, as Steve Konowalchuk did. But O'Dette has put his own stamp on this team and he's a big reason they went as far as they did last spring and a big reason for any success they have this season. Don't short change him because of the talent he has on the roster. Someone still has to conduct the orchestra. Give the conductor his due.
My T-Bird Three Stars for Opening Night:
Third Star: W Kyle Crnkovic. Just one assist but he was absolutely robbed twice on the power play. He finished at +2. Brought here for his offense, he led the team with five shots on goal, then buried his shootout attempt. When Seattle needed a shift to settle the team down, he was out there. As the oldest player in the lineup, he brought a calming enfluence with him to the ice.
Second Star: W Nico Myatovic. Building off a strong rookie campaign, Myatovic is off to a terrific start, registering a goal and an assist opening night. The coaches always raved about his work ethic last season and even though it was a short one, it looked like he took that work ethic to the offseason. He looks bigger and stronger then just three months ago. NHL scouts are taking notice.
First Star: C Gracyn Sawchyn. As debuts go, it doesn't get any better. A goal, an assist, +2 and the shootout winner that made the highlight reels. Seattle used a second round pick to obtain his rights from Red Deer. They still might have gotten away with highway robbery. He's probably worth more. Try to peel your eyes away from the offensive numbers and watch his complete 200 foot game.
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