Seattle Thunderbirds Win at Shootout

and that is the headline I have been waiting to write for a long time. Granted I have only been operating this blog since the start of the 2007 campaign but for those Thunderbird fans who have been around a few seasons, you know exactly how sweet that is to type.

Seattle breaks through tonight behind a brilliant performance from Jacob DeSerres who stops 35/37 on the way to a 3-2 SHOOTOUT win over the rival Everett Silvertips. To win the shootout over the Silvertips is obviously a bonus, but honestly I would have taken a shootout win over a GSHL team after Seattle was 0-11 in shootouts last season (a league record I doubt will be broken for some time) and 0-1 this season.

Everett played very well in the 1st period and took the action to Seattle out shooting them 17-6 in the first period.

Everett struck first on a goal by Shane Harper where the puck was kicked into the slot area by Graham Potuer and slid just barely past DeSerres where Harper was able to bang it home for his 6th of the year.

Ian McKenzie then then tied the score for Seattle on a wicked slap shot that Leland Irving probably would like to have back. David Richard pushed the action to the left side of the zone where McKenzie unleashed a frozen rope that was relatively unscreened to Irving. The shot hit Irving in the trapper and skipped over to the top left corner and Seattle had the equalizer at 9:28 of the 1st.

The Everett pressure was great during the entire 1st period and they struck for the lead again at the 15:08 mark on the Power Play as Taylor Ellington fired a really nice one timer pass DeSerres on a feed from Bauer from the low slot. For Ellington it was his 2nd of the season and gave the Tips a 2-1 lead after one period.

The score remained scoreless through 2 periods and the Tbirds again found the equalizer only :37 seconds into the 3rd period as Lindsey Nielsen was able to flip a rebound past Irving to tie the score off a Greg Scott shot.

The goal was huge considering the timing... getting the tying goal just 37 seconds into the 3rd period allowed Seattle to play Everett straight up the rest of the way.

The game then went to Overtime were both goaltenders stopped 2 shots each leaving the total at 37-23 after regulation in favor of the Silvertips.

and we head to another shootout..........

Jeremy Boyer starts and does not get a shot off and his tried to pull the puck back off a deke...

Karamnov missed on a shot to the glove side....

Bud Holloway opens the scoring going 5 hole (I believe) on Irving to put Seattle up 1-0 in the circus...

Kyle Beach then misses on a lacrosse style shot, leaving Everett down 1-0... more on this later...

Lindsey Nielsen misses....

Zach Hamill makes a nice move but is bested by DeSerres and Seattle wins the shootout 1-0 and finally wins a circus for the first time in at least 2 seasons....

A big win for Seattle as they move to 10-9-5, 25 points and 5 behind Everett who fall to 14-12-2 and 30 points.

Without question Jacob DeSerres gets the 1st star of the game and I will give my other two stars in a moment... but I want to take a moment to editorialize on the Beach shootout attempt.

It would be much too easy for me at a Seattle fan to constantly rag on Kyle Beach, but the fact is that he might be the MOST talented player in the league. He constantly gets under the skin of other teams, he is always a threat on the ice and he forces other teams to pay attention to him at all times...

However... tonight's shootout attempt proves to me why I would NEVER want a kid like Beach on my team. Tonight's lacrosse style move in the shootout should be reserved for All-Star games.... of which Beach should be a part of plenty over the course of his career. The guy is MUCH too talented to be pulling crap like that when the game is on the line for his team. His move tonight stinks of a player who is out for his own agenda and not the agenda of a team that is fighting for points on a nightly basis. Do I think Kyle Beach can pull off that move...? absolutely... do I think he could have been a hero and a highlight reel if he scores that attempt? definitely.... but do I think, considering how talented he is that this type of attempt is his best chance to score a goal in a shootout? absolutely not...

As a coach of a basketball team.. and a varsity baseball coach I would never ever put up with a player who I thought put his own interests in front of the teams... and tonight I think Kyle Beach put his own personal highlight reel in front of the interests of his team. When he uses the "Michigan" move to score on a Power Play he is helping his team.. but I refuse to believe that the lacrosse style shot he attempted tonight was the highest percentage shot he had in his array of moves.

I don't think many Everett fans read this blog... but let me make myself clear... Kyle Beach is likely the best player in the league, which is exactly why he should not be attempting that shot in the second round of a shootout with a division rival.

Off the soapbox I come... and off to bed. Seattle is off until next Friday when they will meet up again with the same Silvertips up in Everett.

Let's Go Birds Three Stars of the Game:

1. Jacob DeSerres
2. Thomas Hickey
3. Clayton Bauer

In the rink...

1. Jacob DeSerres
2. Bud Holloway
3. Shane Harper