Before we move on to Regina tonight and Prince George on Friday, I’ll
finally give my thoughts about the Saturday game.
Seattle picked up their second straight impressive victory over a quality
opponent beating the Portland Winterhawks 6-3 before a
crowd of 4,538 at ShoWare Center. The Thunderbirds chased goaltender Brendan
Burke in the second period which was the
first time in a long time that I recall Seattle
truly chasing a goaltender out of the game. As a fellow goaltender, I hate
seeing that happen to any goalie, but
those nights do happen. He's young, he'll probably bounce back. The Tbirds now
find themselves solidly in the playoff picture (with an
obviously long way to go) with 18 points and a win percentage of
.450. Everett and Prince George currently bring up the rear at .292
respectively.
- Chance
Lund started the season hot, cooled off a bit,
and has since picked up the pace again. Lund tied the game at
1-1 with an impressive individual effort just over a minute after former
Tbird Charles Wells opened the scoring. Lund had a goal and an
assist to go with his +2 rating. His 13 points have already tied his
career high from last season when he also had 6 goals and 7 assists. Also
important is the imrprovement in his plus/minus rating and the fact that
he has only 2 PIMs on the season.
- Seattle
had so many chances that the score could have looked
much worse much earlier in the game if it weren’t for a
bit of bad luck. I counted 3 post shots including 2 by Justin
Hickman in the early part of the game. Seattle was definitely buzzing
early this time as the shots were 13-12 in favor of the WHawks in the
first period.
- Speaking
of Hickman, he made one of the smartest plays I have seen all year on the
Penalty Kill that led to a Luke Lockhart shorthanded goal. Hickman
gained control of the puck in the neutral zone as Seattle went for a
change and instead of just dumping the puck or forcing the rush, he
patiently carried the puck wide and waited for support. That support
came in the form of Lockhart who jumped off the bench in front of the also
changing Winterhawks and Hickman sprung him for the partial breakaway he
was able to convert. Very heady play by Hickman.
- Lockhart
wound up with a goal and two assists on the game and Seattle desperately
needs him to get things going if they want to continue to play at this
level. Lockhart is still well off his point pace from last season but
hopefully this game will really get him going.
- Given
time and space, I'm not sure there is a better shooter in the league than
Burke Gallimore. Unfortunately for him,
getting that time and space can be difficult, but when he has
it, he doesn't often
miss. That was exactly the case on both of his goals, he was left open in the slot area with time
to get off a good shot... their goaltender
had no chance.
- I
have been very pleasantly surprised by the excellent play of Brad Deagle.
Deagle notched 3 assists on Saturday night and he now has 7 points
in 18 games. Over 72 games that would give him 28 points (not much) but
when you combine that with a respectable plus/minus (-3) and only 10 PIMs
in 18 games, you have a pretty solid
contributor.
- Tip
of the hat to Shea Theodore who ultimately chased Burke with his first WHL
goal.
- Seattle
needed to somehow contain Portland's biggest studs and they were able to
do that as previously on fire Sven Bartschi went pointless with a -4 and
Ty Rattie was pointless with a -5. You just aren't going to see that very
often from those two quality players.
- Mac
Carruth appeared to "crotch" Branden Troock with about 2 minutes
left. It's too bad Pickard isn't the fighting type because that
would have been a good spot for somebody to stick up for Troock. I'm
guessing Carruth may get what is coming to him one of these days.
- Officiating
left a lot to be desired but I'm just so tired of complaining about that.
- My
wife ripped the twine for a free turkey after the game that I will be
happily deep-frying on Thursday afternoon. Wish me luck in
attempting to keep my house from burning down.
- Two
solid wins moved Seattle up to 15th in the latest Massey Ratings.
- Calvin
Pickard earned CHL goaltender of the week honors for his two victories.
Seattle
gets Regina at home tonight before the Thanksgiving holiday and then welcomes
in Prince George on Friday.
6 comments :
Was definitely a fun weekend to be a Tbirds fan. I'm pretty sure not anyone in that building expected to come out of this last weekend with 4 points.
Cannot stand Mac Carruth.
Did anyone happen to see what happened before the third period started? Looked like doty and sutter were carrrying someone off the ice, but from where we sit we couldn't see what happened.
One of the Tbirds staff fell and hit his head HARD on the ice. No one could figure out who it was, but Thom and Bruce (on the radio) were thinking it was one of the assistants that brings water and stuff out to the benches before the period starts. He went down really hard and when he tried to stand up, he couldn't. Hopefully he's ok.
One of the members of the staff, Brent, slipped and hit his head. I spoke with him and he is doing ok. Had to get stitched up but otherwise he was feeling ok. It was a bit scary for a moment.
No mention of your shut out in the game that took place prior to the Tbirds game?
You made some nice points there. I looked on the internet for the issue and found most people will agree with your website.
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