T-birds get Windexed; Streak Gone

The Thunderbirds win streak came to a halt at home. Did the T-birds play some good hockey Saturday night against Portland? Sure, there were some positives; a strong start, 37 shots on goal, another night of excellent penalty killing and some noteable shifts in which they got some sustained offensive zone pressure, but the good play couldn't overcome their mistakes and that is why they lost, 6-2.

Seattle has learned some lessons playing Portland and improved in some areas against the league's best team, but they haven't learned the most important lesson yet. You can't let up against that team for one second. Portland only has one gear in their motor and it's high octane, rev the engine and go hard and fast. You have to match that intensity. If you let your foot off the gas for one moment, they will race right by you. That's why Seattle is consistently getting beat by the Winterhawks by an average score of 6-2. Portland treats the ice like the racing oval at Daytona and runs hard until they see the checkered flag. Meanwhile the 'Birds are racing on city streets. they're still seeing stop signs, red lights and yield signs.

Give the T-birds an A+ for their start, they came out aggressively and it led to the early 1-0 lead on the Jesse Forsberg goal. But as soon as they ran into some adversity, and fell behind 2-1, you noticed that familiar doubt creep in. It was just enough that they started thinking too much and stopped playing the way they had played to start the game.

The Thunderbirds are still giving Portland too much respect, especially against the Portland penalty kill. Skating 5-on-3 for over a minute in the second period, Seattle got just one shot on goal. They were timid, passing up too many shooting opportunties. It seemed to me they appeared to be more concerned about a possible negative outcome, such as Portland blocking a shot and going the other way on a shorthanded breakaway, and showed less faith in their own potentially positive result (a power play goal). You can't play that way, you have to have confidence you can score.

Before the game I talked to head coach Steve Konowalchuk about Seattle's recent offensive success. During their four game winning streak Seattle piled up the goals and as a result they went into last night's game averaging almost 3.5 goals per game on the season. He said part of that recent offensive success was from a more concerted effort to go hard to the net. Then last night, it was absent. Portland goalie Mac Carruth is, well let's just say, very active with his stick. Players camping out in front of him are going to pay the price with a few hacks on the back of their legs. At critical times in last night's game, it seemed Seattle players weren't willing to pay that price. Far too many of Seattle's 37 shots came with little traffic in front of the Portland goal.

The one line that seemed not to be intimidated was the Elliot-Holub-Wray combo. They made the most of their ice time. They were physical. They finished their checks and if they got hit, they hit back. They were strong on the forecheck and as a result created some offensive opportunities. While they didn't score last night, neither were they scored upon. I like the physical example Mitch Elliot is setting for the two younger players. Wray and Holub definitely followed his lead.

Roberts Lipsbergs 11 game scoring streak came to a crashing halt. Not only was he held off the scoresheet, but he finished the game at dash three. It was a good streak while it lasted but last night he was nearly invisible.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012

I'm All Four it

Seattle made it a perfect 4-for-4 this season against the rival Everett Silvertips with a 5-1 win Friday night up at Comcast Arena. In the process they also ran their overall winning streak to a season best four games and pushed their season record to a high water mark of three games over .500.

It wasn't the prettiest of games for Seattle, but you don't always have to win with style points. No, this one may have lacked the emotional edge Thursday's comeback victory in Kennewick had, but it was an effecient win. You know, one of those games against a team below you in the standings that you need to beat if you want to be a serious playoff team.

These are the type of games on the schedule that can trip up a lesser team. Seattle had the strong performance on the road the night before against Tri-City. They had traveled much of the night to get back across the mountains. Everett was banged up, coming off an emotional loss in their last game and they were playing at home. The T-birds responded well enough to earn the win. TCBY, takin' care of business.

The clear cut star of this game for Seattle was goaltender Brandon Glover. Starting for the 12th straight game, Glover was clinical in goal. He seemed to be moving effortlessly from side-to-side. It looked like he was squared to every shot and rarely had to scramble or flop to make a save but when he did he got to the right spot quickly. He was 6.7 seconds away from a shutout when, with Everett on the power play, a puck was tipped behind him off his own teammate's stick. The sickest person in the building at that point had to be defenseman Jared Hauf. Hauf, trying to break up a pass across the mouth of the Seattle goal inadvertently deflected it past Glover.

Up to that point Hauf had played another in a string of strong games on the back end. he continues to be more physical but I know he feels bad for his goalie. Hopefully, he can buy him dinner as a way of apologizing. I know Glover won't be too hard on him.

We'll have to dig back deep in the T-bird annals to see when the last time a Seattle player had a stretch of play like the one Roberts Lipsbergs is having right now. With another goal last night, his team-leading 15th, Lipsbergs has now registered a point in 11 straight games.

Congratulations to Mitch Elliot on his first goal of the season. Elliot parked his large frame in front of the Everett goal midway through the second period last night and then pounced on a rebound, banging it home to give the T-birds a 3-0 lead.

Before the game, in his pregame radio interview, head coach Steve Konowalchuk went out of his way to praise the efforts of Elliot in recent games. Elliot is one of those players who does a lot of the dirty work without getting the public praise because he's not scoring highlight reel goals. Last night he rewarded his coach for believing in him.

No rest for the road weary as Seattle returns home tonight to the ShoWare Center to take on the WHL's top dog, the Portland Winterhawks. This will be the sixth of 12 meetings between the long time rivals this season. After winning on opening night down in Portland, the T-birds have dropped four straight to the 'Hawks, being outscored 25-7 in the process. If the Thunderbirds want to stretch their winning streak to five games, they'll need to bring their best effort to the ice.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012

Slaying Dragons

What has Brandon Glover accomplished in less then half a season with the T-birds that Calvin Pickard never did in his four seasons here? He won a road game in Kennewick as Seattle beat the Tri-City Americans, 8-4, Thursday night at the Toyota Center. It's the first meaningful win in that building since Seatte won a playoff game their in April of 2008. Here's another trivia tidbit for you; combined number of goals in the 'Birds last two road wins in Kennewick? Fifteen. The 'Birds won that 2008 playoff game 7-1.

This is not a slight against Pickard, far from it. Pickard had an outstanding WHL career with Seattle, one of the best to wear a Thunderbirds jersey, and did all he could to get Seattle a win in the Tri-Cities.

No, this just points out that the talent around Glover this season is deeper. Seattle had quality players on the roster in Pickard's time here, just not enough of them. You also have to take into account that the Tri-City talent pool is not as deep as it was the past four seasons, but that should take nothing away from Seattle's win last night, coming from two goals down late in the second period.

Most importantly though, there has been an attitude adjustment with this team and it shows in the way they have gone about winning three in a row over teams with a combined record of 57-23-3-4; teams that are a combined 17-8-1-1 in their last 27 games against teams other then the T-birds. Remember, on Sunday the T-birds snapped a 12 game losing streak to Kamloops that dating back to the 2009-10 season. To paraphrase the famous Peter Finch line from the 1976 movie Network, "The T-birds are mad as hell, and they're not gonna take it anymore!"

Thursday the T-birds were led by the line of Rouse-Swenson-Sanvido line that put up nine points (4g, 5a) and was +13. Seth Swenson came close to a hat trick and did a good job going hard to the net.

The 19 year old from Parker, CO has quietly reached the ten goal plateau. Swenson now has 17 points (10g, 7a) in 29 games. Those are the same numbers he put up for the T-birds in 34 games last year after being acquired at the trade deadline last January from Portland. In his last 63 games with Seattle he has 34 points (20g,14a). In his previous 132 games with the Winterhawks he had 21 points (5g,16a).

It's enjoyable to watch a different "hero" step forward each night, but it's even better to see multiple "heroes" putting their weight into each game. Thursday, four different players recorded two or more points. When is the last time Seattle had five players at +2 or better in a game? it happened last night.

With all the points being tallied up by the T-birds forwards it was two defensemen who really impressed me, especially in the second half of that game. Jesse Forsberg epitomizes the effort head coach Steve Konowalchuk wants from everyone of his players. He had a fabulous night at both ends of the ice. He finished at +2 with two assists.

Meanwhile, Jared Hauf just continues to get better. Last night, at times, he looked more like a steady 19 year old NHL drafted player then an NHL draft eligible 17 year old. His skating is improving, although there is still room for more improvement, but he's so much better using his size and reach then he was just two months ago. While Hauf didn't register a point, he was a solid +3 on the night.

Still, the heart and soul of this team is Luke Lockhart. He was the best player on the ice. What he lacks in "finesse", he makes up for with effort and hard work. If the rest of the roster is following his example, then this team is in a good place. In fact, Seattle's two 20-yr old forwards helped push the pace last night as Brendan Rouse finished with three helpers and was a +6.

Now, Seattle can't have a letdown. Travel in the WHL is tough. Seattle bused through the snowy mountain pass to get to the game in Kennewick. After the win, they bused right back through that pass to get home in the wee morning hours. Tonight they get back on the bus to make the short trip through rush hour traffic up to Everett to take on the Silvertips, who haven't played since Wednesday. No excuses though. Go out play hard.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012

Tyler Alos Retires

The news we knew was coming was made official today; Tyler Alos has retired from playing competitive hockey. Doctors advised Alos, who has suffered multiple concussion over the past two seasons, against returning to the ice following his latest. Ironically, I believe this last one was suffered in a game against the Chiefs in his hometown of Spokane.

Alos had tried to return but was never cleared. As you may know players returning from a concussion have to pass a series of tests before they are cleared to resume playing. I don't know whether he passed those base line tests but the advice from the medical people was that it was in his best interest not to continue with his career as a player.

The good news is that Alos will remain with the Thunderbirds at least through the remainder of this season (and hoepfully beyond) as part of the coaching staff. Alos has been a geat ambassador for the Thunderbirds in the Kent community since joining the team as a 16 year old. This past summer he participated in the Kent Relay for Life to raise money and awareness for cancer, and to, in part, support longtime Thunderbirds broadcaster Bruce McDonald who passed away after a short battle with leukimia this past June.

Additionally he will start to utilize his WHL scholarship money by taking some college class work. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get him up in the broadcast booth to provide some expert analysis on T-birds broadcasts.

Alos finishes his career with 19g and 37a in 201 games, all with Seattle.

What in the Blazes!

Have the Thunderbirds finally hit their stride? Seatle played 3 of the top 4 teams in the Western Conference this weekend and came out of it with a 2-1 mark. They capped it with a strong, 3-1, win Sunday over the B.C. Division leading Kamloops Blazers. More importantly, Seattle's defensive zone coverage is improving. Overall this season Seattle has allowed 14 more goals then they have scored but this weekend they outscored the top three goal scoring teams in the league by a combined 9-8.

Brandon Glover came oh so close to his first shutout of the season versus the Blazers. Over the course of the weekend he faced 122 shots in three games and only allowed 7 goals. 115 saves, or an average of about 38 a game, and a GAA on the weekend of 2.33. He was good and his team played well in front of him.

If you've listened to my interviews with head coach Steve Konowalchuk, you've heard him preach about getting all the players on board; everyone buying into the systems they want to play. I think this weekend we saw more players buying tickets to get on board the Konowalchuk Express. I think it started Friday in Portland. Despite the loss they played hard for 60 minutes. That carried over into the two wins at home against Kamloops and Kelowna.

Prior to last Tuesday's game against Everett I did a radio interview with Roberts Lipsbergs (whose English is much better then he wants you to believe). Since then he's exploded for 7 goals. Before Sunday's game against Kamloops Lipsbergs was trying to convince his teammate and good friend Alex Delnov to step before the mic. Maybe he believes I've brought him good luck! Lipsbergs' personality is so engaging, I thought I should just give him the microphone and audio recorder and let him interview Delnov in Russian. In due time Alex, in due time!

As good as Lipsbergs was this weekend, I was just as impressed with the play of Justin Hickman who now has a 6-game point streak in hand.

Over that span the Kelowna, B.C. native has put up 4 goals and 5 assists. It comes from a renewed emphasis on going hard to the net and committing to a strong forecheck. Hickman, who had 22 points (12g, 10a) in 71 games last season, already has 15 points (7g,8a) in 28 games this go-round.

Eight games from the official midway point of season (36-games) Seattle sits one game over .500 at 14-13-1-0. But let's put that record under the microscope. Half of Seattle's losses so far this season are to two teams; Portland (4) and Spokane (3). They have two losses to Kamloops as well. So 9 of the T-birds 13 losses at this point in the season are to three teams with a combined record of 62-18-3-2. They just happen to be the three teams with the three best records in the Western Conference. Those three teams have 3 of the top 4 winning percentages in the entire WHL. Seattle has also beaten each of those teams once. So, they've played the top three teams in the Western Conference 12 times (or just slightly under half their games played) and are 3-8-1-0. They are 11-5-0-0 against everybody else. By the way, They still have to play those three teams 13 more times this season, including 7 against the best team in the league, Portland.

Its' not an easy schedule but playing the best clubs so often early in the season just might be getting them battle hardened.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012

I am Iron Man

Congrats to T-bird captain Luke Lockhart, who played in his 300th WHL game last night (all with Seattle)in the T-birds 4-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets. With 45 games left in the regular season Lockhart is on pace to finish his Thunderbirds career second all-time in games played, behind only Glenn Goodall (399) and just ahead of Tyler Metcalfe (333). To mark the occassion last night Lockhart chipped in with an assist on Seattle's second goal.

Lockhart probably logs more minutes each game then any other Thunderbirds player. In addition to his regular shifts, he's also part of the T-birds power play and penalty kill. Late in close games he'll be on the ice, usually double shifting when the coaches shorten the bench. He battles every shift and takes a physical pounding. Yet, I rarely see him in the trainer's room before the game. Even if he does need treatment, he doesn't let it keep him out of the lineup.

It was a good win for Seattle last night against a very good Kelowna team that came into the game riding a 5-game winning streak. In fact, the Rockets had won 13 of their last 17 games. I didn't like how, for the second straight home game, the T-birds lost a multiple goal lead. Remember, they were up 3-0 on Everett before the Silvertips came back to tie that game last Tuesday.

It just seemed the T-birds lost their way a bit in the second period and the early part of the third. They stopped being aggressive and the forecheck wilted. In both cases, Seattle could have lost the lead if not for some stellar goaltending by Brandon Glover. The good news is they responded with a strong finish in both games and pulled out a win.

The news swirling around is that Tyler Alos may be shut down for the season due to his upper body injury. That would be unfortunate because Alos had such a strong start to this season. The T-birds have played a month now without both Alos and Branden Troock. Together they've missed a combined 37 games. That's a lot to miss from two players expected to be big contributors to your club this season.

If that's the case, who steps up to fill Alos' role? Well, it appears Connor Sanvido is ready to grab the bull by the horns. Sanvido's reputation coming into the WHL was as a point producer and it seems he's starting to fulfill those expectations.

A year ago Sanvido produced 17 pts (8g,9a) in 58-games. Already this season in just 27 games he accounted for 13 pts (5g,8a). But aside from the offensive production he's playing more physically then he did in the past and is also proving to be a reliable penalty killer.

Speaking of penalty killing, the Thunderbirds have been a perfect 10-for-10 on the PK this weekend. That will need to continue tonight against the Kamloops Blazers who are ranked 4th in the league on the power play at 24.4% but have scored the 2nd most power play goals with 33. Only Medicine Hat, with 36 has scored more.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012

Power Failure

No question last night in Portland the T-birds inability to capitalize on their many power play chances, especially in the second period, kept them from getting a better result. Seattle ended the game just 1 of 7 with the man advantage. They essentially had four straight power plays to begin the second period but scored only on #3.

Really, the credit has to go to Portland's penalty killers. They came into the game #2 in the league on the PK and they showed why. They were getting their sticks to T-bird passes quicker then the T-birds were. They aggressively challenged Seattle's point men. As soon as a puck got near a 'Birds player in the slot they were physical with those T-birds players.

Brendan Rouse hadn't been on the scoresheet too much lately but last night he chipped in with an assist on each of Seattle's goals. They were both a couple of beauties. Rouse showed good vision and very good decision making on both assists. Seattle needs more of that from him.

Say what you will about the Portland situation this week but that team is well coached. Yes, they are very talented but the players have also bought into that program hook, line and sinker. They run their systems to near perfection. And I also know this, it is what Thunderbirds head coach Steve Konowalchuk wants from his players too; 100 percent commitment. Want? Heck, he should demand it. It's how he played. To my way of thinking, that starts upstairs, between the ears. You have to mentally committ yourself to the team's plan. That means leaving it on the ice every shift, playing with purpose every moment and worrying about your effort, not the opponents.

Seattle's effort against the Winterhawks last night was much better then the last three times they played. They seemed more committed to playing 60 minutes. After giving up a couple of goals early in the third (that turned a one goal game into a 4-1 Portland advantage), we could have seen a case of "oh no, here we go again". You know, those moments from Portland games in the recent past where the Winterhawks pulled away, the T-birds stop skating and before you know it Seattle is facing a 5-6 goal deficit. That didn't happen last night. Seattle got the game back to within two because they kept playing hard.

That was a big learning moment for this team last night. Sure they didn't push back all the way and eventually lost, 5-2. but they didn't slink away either. Let's hope they take that into the two home games this weekend against Kelowna and Kamloops, the top two teams in the B.C. Division.

Jerret Smith had a good start to his rookie campaing with the T-birds. But lately I hadn't noticed the defenseman on the ice. He wasn't playing poorly, he just wasn't making some of those positive plays that made him standout earlier. Last night I thought he stepped up and had a positive impact.

In memory of Bruce McDonald, 1971-2012