Last night was glorious. But it was also just one game and there are 15 more to go to win the WHL Championship (hey we can dream right?).
I think Regan Bartel hit the nail on the had in his blog post today by saying that Seattle looked like a team playing with nothing to lose and Kelowna played like a team that was bit nervous and knew they were "supposed" to win. The bad news is that I don't think Seattle can play a lot better and Kelowna probably can't play a whole lot worse and it took over 79 minutes for the Tbirds to win by a goal.
That doesn't mean they can't pull off a shocker here. Confidence is a dangerous drug and as long as the Tbirds continue to play like they have nothing to lose, anything can truly happen. How the game evolves tonight will probably be critical to the rest of the series. If Kelowna finds their game and just buries Seattle by 4 goals or more... this thing could turn bad quickly. On the other hand, if Seattle wins (obviously) or even if they lose by a close margin, this series could be in for 6 or 7 games.
I didn't like all the penalties Seattle took last night but I do like the edge they are playing with. Especially Shea Theodore. If your teammates can pick you up and kill off a few penalties that edge is going to help his overall game a ton. However, Seattle probably can't survive too many games where Kelowna has 6 Power Plays and Seattle only has 2.
Brandon Glover can't afford to have a bad night. He didn't see as much action as Kelowna's Jordon Cooke but he made plenty of important stops. As I stated above, I don't think Seattle can afford to get their doors blown off in any of these games and making sure they don't give up soft goals will be critical.
Mitch Elliot once again proved last night that he's probably the best fighter in the league. All apologies to Jacob Doty but I think I'd probably take Elliot in a head to head match-up.
Nobody really thinks Seattle has a chance to win this series (myself included) but tonight will probably set the stage for the entire series.
Hockey Challenge 2014
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11 comments :
Everybody loves an underdog.
An exciting win in game 1, way to go TBirds! Seattle played like they wanted it more and now they've tasted first blood. If they keep working hard, stay out of the box and play with confidence they just might do it.
Seattle in 6.
Free hockey again. We'll take it!
Hey T Birds, start that marketing campaign for games 3 and 4!!! Let's sell the barn out for those games and send Kelowna packing!!! Okay I will calm down now.
I'll quote Thom:
'Wooohooooo!!'
Good stuff boys. Bring 'er on home.
Way to go T-birds. I'm really looking forward to being in the stands for games 3 and 4.
Farwell was interviewed by Bartel during an intermission and was asked about Barzal.
He was here two weeks back
He will likely be here this week
According to Farwell both Farwell and Barzal agree that a decision will come by the summertime so that Seattle know which direction to go.
I will say this though... winning to away games as a 7th seed is a good start.
In 20 some years I have never seen the tbirds sell out a playoff game guys. We may get 4000 or so Tuesday and 2500 or 3000 on Wednesday... The season ticket holders and a few random package holders are usually the ones at the game. With lack of group sales and some weekday games I can't imagine big turn outs. I just hope those of us that are there are ready to go.
Doty is still the heavyweight champ.
-Dave in Poulsbo
Let's get current. Thirds WON GAME 2 in OT again last night. Who's your daddy now Rockets?
I was fortunate enough to be at the games this weekend and the thing that struck me was that for the first time this year everybody on the team trusted each other. They weren't trying to do too much to compensate for someone else or not passing to other players that they didn't trust. They can do a lot together if they can keep that approach going.
Looks line between the blue lines the seats are pretty much gone for Tuesday's game, just the north and south ends are open. Let's rock the place tonight!! Is there a white out?
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