I have very little time to write today so let's bang this out.
- Much
better effort from the Thunderbirds in Everett last night despite the fact
that the outcome wound up being exactly the same. The passing was crisper
and Seattle generated more scoring chances than they did on Tuesday night.
- What
a night for Luke Lockhart. He has struggled all season in the point
total department despite playing his usual gritty,
defensive-minded, and hustling style of hockey. His shorthanded
marker towards the end of the first period gave Seattle the lead and was
one of the best individual performances of the season. He followed
that up with a rebound put-back goal in the 2nd period and finished the night
with the only goal of the shootout to give the Tbirds the win. It was a great night for Lockhart, and I
just hope he has a few more of those before the end of the season.
- Calvin
Pickard was mostly solid in net again,
but made a rare and costly mistake in
the 3rd period that allowed Everett to tie the game with 5 minutes
remaining. I was sitting at the opposite end of the ice, so I still
can't tell exactly what happened, but
it appeared as though Pickard gloved the shot from Ryan Harrison, and then
dropped it in his own net. A rare
mistake for Pickard and he followed it up by stopping JT Barnett, Ryan
Harrison and Kohl Bauml in the shootout.
- Pickard
is also closing in on some WHL history. Finishing the night with
12,095 minutes played in his WHL career has placed him 8th on the career
list. Pickard can jump past Evan Lindsay and Steve Passmore and into 6th
place if he starts Friday night against Moose Jaw and plays more than 54
minutes. At that point, he'll have his eyes set squarely on Danny Lorenz
for the franchise record of 12,634 minutes played and also 3rd all-time in
WHL history. Kyle Moir and Kurtis Mucha remain after that and he
needs 1,614 minutes played before the end of the season to pass Mucha.
If he averages 59 minutes played per game he would need 28 games
played in Seattle's remaining 39 games to have the record. That's a
pretty safe bet. If you sprinkle in roughly 6 starts for Daniel Cotton,
Pickard would break the WHL record against the Silvertips at home on March
11th.
- Cason
Machacek, sniper.
- Playoff
Watch 2012: It's been a while. Seattle sits in 7th place by points
and 6th place by winning percentage. Last season, Everett was the 8th seed
with 67 points and it may not even take that many to get into the playoffs
this season. Conservatively, let's say 67 is the magic number... the
Tbirds need 36 more points in their final 39 games to be playing
meaningful hockey past the 2nd weekend of March. Vancouver currently
sits in 3rd place in the Conference. I would love to see Seattle get the 6
seed and face the Giants in the first round. I know, I know... we're
getting a little ahead of ourselves.
Players
and fans will get one day of rest to regroup as the Tbirds will host the Moose
Jaw Warriors. The Warriors might be a tired bunch as they played at home
LAST NIGHT before hitting the road to get to Kent before Friday's game.
Google Maps says it’s about 19 hours by car. Yikes.
5 comments :
Pickard closed his glove too soon. Puck grazed off the closed glove and went in. Looked like he may have tried to snatch the puck out of the air rather than just let the puck come into his glove.
Trade season is underway. A few deals already have been made. Your Inglis proposal is off the board as he went to Red Deer.
Will the T-birds make a move(s)? I doubt Farwell is willing to trade the only real commodity he has (Pickard). Probably content to finish 6th or 7th and wait for next year...again. But without Pickard they probably don't make the playoffs.
Regarding trades.. I think it's pretty cut and dried regarding who the trade bait is this season. Pickard stays only because they see importance of finally earning a playoff spot. But between Gallimore, Noebels, and Machacek, one of those three will likely hit the road. And rightfully so, as I don't see any of those 3 stepping up and leading this team to playoff glory.
Regarding the back to back wins, they wern't pretty versus a weak team, but hey with the way these guys have struggled after the holiday break the last 3 years, I will take those 4 points and the W's to the bank. I think these two wins were huge, now lets go beat Moose Jaw! Regarding trades, I just got issues with Gallimore, he bug the heck out of me, he looks as if he is not interested and does not skate hard. I would keep Noebels and Mahachek unless you can get something really good in return, Casen is a 20 and Noebels is a Euro so that is going to be hard to trade.I think coach K is awesome by the way!
Great notes to read. The way I see it is they are getting better and seems to be in the process of adapting to the new coach. I do agree with you that Gallimore seems disinterested parts of the game and Noebels wants to do to much. As for Mahacheck I like his intensity and spirit at time with the lack due to Doty playing less and Elliot focusing on his play. I feel Sutter is playing better and establishing himself nicely. I don't understand why he gets the jeers at times from the fans. Help me understand if there is anything to understand but his plus/minus looks solid.
OK,the second game of the season that I was able to attend was on the 30th. Pickard was great; however, the team played a pretty good defense. I'm not a regular like some of you people but I thought it was a total team effort despite being down in shots early in the game. Those early shots by Moose were not quality shots and Pickard had no problem defending them. The team hung on at the end when needed, did what they needed and that was a plus. Great showing by the birds. Forget the clear high stick or cross check by the Moose in the first period that happened right in front of the official. Despite that lack of call, in my opinion, the officiating was terrible; especially the double minor on Deagle for roughing...the first penatly shouldn't have been called but a double? The league needs to review that call and hold the officials accountable. Other than that, the team held tough and Pickard received a shutout against a tough team. Great night! Go T-birds....next time...the neighborhood dads are taking the kids.
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