Tbirds drop 11th Straight

I don't know how much in the way of poignant comments I have to make today after Seattle drops their 11th contest in a row last night, falling 4-3 to the Spokane Chiefs. I didn't think the team played terrible but I didn't think they played well either. I would echo the thoughts of some of the comments people have been making that guys like Lockhart need to step up their game and start playing better and showing some leadership to get the team pulled out of this funk they are in.

Want some really sobering stats courtesy of a friend of the blog?

Seattle's record in January the past several seasons.

2009-10 - 12 games (1-8-3-0)
2010-11 - 15 games (2-11-1-1)
2011-12 - 14 games (1-11-1-1)
2012-13 - 3 games (0-3-0-0)

Add that up and we have 44 games and a record of 4-33-5-2. 4 wins in 44 games and only 15 out of 88 possible points. WOW.  We all knew this but when you put it to paper... just staggering.

I'd love to know what Coach K means when he says that players aren't buying into the system. There are things that we can easily see as fans... things like lack of effort, lack of physical play, etc. but I just wonder if these are the same things Coach K is talking about or whether there are some "system" type things guys aren't doing.

In the first period, I counted exactly one meaningful hit and that was delivered by Hickman along the far boards at the south end. In the second, a meaningful hit caused a turnover and lead to the Elliot goal. It's hard to figure out why players don't understand what it takes to win.

Brandon Glover obviously had a bit of a tough night but I would hardly blame the loss on him.  The penalty and goal 19 seconds in were pretty much all his fault but he battled hard after that to keep Seattle in the game. The 2nd goal was one he'll want to have back but he also should be getting more help from his Defense there. The 3rd was deflected and the 4th was a giveaway. Let's not be too quick to blame the goaltender.

Seth Swenson had a nice game last night. Picked up an assist on the Troock goal where he dropped the puck off to Troock and went hard to the net to set a nice screen on Spokane goaltender Eric Williams. He wound up +2 for the night as well.

Nice little fight for Daniel Wray. He didn't wind up exchanging that many punches with Adam Smith but they charged at each other like gladiators. Respect.

I didn't see Shea Theodore's giveaway that lead to the 4th and game winning Spokane goal because I had to leave for my own game. I was told that it was a pretty bad decision. Theodore scored a goal earlier in the game so it wasn't as if the entire night was a complete loss but I still wonder whether he is battling an injury. Things just don't quite seem right with him.

At this point... the streak is more mental than anything else and the team just needs to find a way to break out and have a good game and get a win to stop the bleeding.