Ouch Ouch Ouch Ouch

Tbirds give up 4 Power Play goals in the 3rd period to lose to the Kelowna Rockets last night.

As I pointed out yesterday, I thought the season was already over so I'm not going to fret the loss too much.

Seattle fans haven't had to go through this in 6 years... but the Seattle Thunderbirds will not be playing in the 2010 WHL Playoffs.

What this means is that we are reduced to looking for progress and hopefully the players realize that there are still reasons to play hard the rest of the season. This team needs to improve and you don't improve by playing like the games don't matter. As a former athlete, I know personally how hard it can be to put forth your best effort every single game knowing that you can't make it to the post-season.

So what should we look for... starting Friday at the Tbirds viewing party at Gators hosted by myself and the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7pm as the Tbirds play on FSN (shameless plug).

Here's what I would look for.

1) Brenden Dillon. I'm not convinced that Dillon is a lock to make this team as a 20 year old next season and each game is an audition for him to make the team next season. He needs to shore up his defensive zone coverage while increasing his physical play. I think Dillon plays best when he is actively looking to punish the puck carrier and he needs to take it to the next level.

2) Mikhail Sentyurin. Sentyurin has had a rough season with the Tbirds. He wasn't able to play until mid-October and had a rough start once he was able to play taking 16 games to record his first point. He went through a stretch of about 6 or 7 games where he looked pretty good but has now fallen back again and has found himself a healthy scratch in a couple of games. The Tbirds will have high 1st and 2nd round import draft picks and if Sentyurin can't show some progress here over the final 23 games, Seattle might be in the market for two imports this spring.

3) 20 year olds. Even harder than playing out a season going nowhere... is playing out a season going nowhere knowing that your career might be coming to a close. Prab Rai has motivation to play hard to impress Vancouver, but Lindsay Nielsen and Jeremy Schappert are probably playing to impress some Canadian University coaches. It will be interesting to see how this crew can finish out the season.

That is enough for now.....

Viewing party tomorrow... Gators in Kent, 7pm, FSN... watch with Tbird fans. Be there.