Two Trades

Seattle made two trades last week that could have an impact on the team next season.

The first trade most certainly will. Seattle acquires 20 year old goaltender Brandon Glover from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a 3rd round bantam selection. Glover's numbers in the regular season were somewhat pedestrian with a record of 20-12, 3.11 GAA and an .885 Save%. He really stepped up his game in the playoffs for the Hitmen going 1-1-1 in 4 games with a 1.87 GAA and a .941 Save% that lead all WHL goaltenders in the playoffs.  I haven't seen him play a ton but I'm told that this is a really solid pickup for the Tbirds.  I'm a little surprised at the cost being a 3rd round bantam selection but Ty Rimmer netted a 2nd and a 3rd round pick so this was definitely the going rate for landing a 20 year old goaltender.

What does this mean? Well I think this officially puts Chance Lund and Brendan Rouse on notice. I think Brad Deagle is a lock for the team because of an overall lack of defensive depth and I find it very hard to believe that Luke Lockhart wouldn't make the team after being your captain last season. Glover would obviously be the 3rd.

This also means that the backup goaltending job is probably wide open. The team clearly didn't feel comfortable with Daniel Cotton as a potential starter which means he probably isn't a lock to be the backup as well. Danny Mumaugh will be in the mix as well as Justin Myles and maybe Nolan Kruizenga.

Here are some highlights of Brandon Glover after he won WHL Goaltender of the Month for December this past season.

The second Seattle trade saw fan favorite Jacob Doty shipped out to Medicine Hat in exchange for 18 year old forward Riley Sheen. Doty is probably the most feared fighter in the WHL but he just wasn't ever able to contribute anything more than that. His skating didn't improve a whole lot and it appears that he demanded a trade thinking he should be getting more playing time than he got this past season. I think Doty is a great kid but I didn't see him with any kind of future with this team and for that reason alone I think this was a great trade.

Sheen could be a huge boom or bust player for the Tbirds. Where Doty was going to be a 19, Sheen is an 18... so the Tbirds gained a year (good) and they lost a lot of size. Sheen is listed at just 5'9" and 148 lbs. He had just 3 points in 43 games with the Tigers but added a goal and an assist in just 8 playoff games.

I don't know a lot about Sheen and I don't know why Medicine Hat would be willing to give him up to get Doty (and we might see why next season) but from the highlights I have seen, Seattle may have plucked a real sleeper here. Given a chance to play on the Power Play and play more of a scoring role I wouldn't be shocked to see Sheen flourish. I know the popular thing to do is rag on Russ Farwell and numerous people have commented here and elsewhere that they hope the Tbirds "get a new GM" and I think there is a ton of failure to go around when looking at the bantam draft selections over the past 5 season... having said that... Russ makes some pretty nifty trades and I have a feeling this may turn out to be one of the good ones.

Here is a video of his team profile from the Tigers website.

http://tigershockey.com/video/index/id/71c03209ea41622f2fe4cc1917b2fded

Chris Rumble Video

I'm a day late getting this posted but who cares... it needs to go up either way.

Most of you know the situation with Chris Rumble and you may also know that Chris is the one responsible for the Seattle vs. Portland rivalry video... this one...

Chris put together this inspiring video about the hem/oncology floor of Seattle Children's Hospital. He filmed it on Saturday, edited it on Sunday and posted it yesterday. Truly talented. I dare you to get through a minute of this video without getting goosebumps or getting a bit choked up. Chris is featured in the video towards the middle wearing an orange shirt and the video has already passed 64,000 hits as of this morning.

Bantam Draft Selections

1st Overall Selection - Mathew Barzal. Whether he said yes or no to Seattle... the Tbirds have selected him. This draft has been described as Barzal and everyone else which makes the pick the right selection and a good selection. Now we all hold our breath and hope that he signs and comes to Seattle.

Barzal had 39 goals and 68 assists for the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins. Barzal is a swift skater and was an elite scorer against the best Bantam competition in British Columbia.

Links on Barzal: Seriously... just google Mathew Barzal.

20th Overall Selection - Keegan Kolesar. Kolesar is 5'11". Seattle takes another forward, which should satisfy the "We need offense" crowd. Kolesar played last season for the Winnipeg Hawks, notching 22 goals and 11 assists in 27 games. He is also listed in other places as being 6'0" and is believed by some to be the best power forward in the draft.

Links on Kolesar: http://thepipelineshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/whl-bantam-draft-preview-forwards.html

25th Overall Selection - Ethan Bear, Defense, Whitewood, Sask. Bear is stands 5'10.5" tall and played last season for POE Bantam Team - Tier 1. Seems to be some mystery on Bear. I believe he actually played for Kelowna's Pursuit of Excellent (per Alan Caldwell) and is listed in other played at being 6'0" already. And the lesson as always is that I am a complete idiot and obviously POE stands for... you guessed it... Pursuit of Excellence... take a bow Hunnex.

Links on Bear: http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/08/top-saskatchewan-97-dman-ethan-bear-to.html
http://thepipelineshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/2012-whl-bantam-draft-preview-top-10.html

47th Overall Selection - Logan Flodell. Flodell is a goaltender from Regina, listed at 5'10" which is a solid size for a goaltender at age 15. He played this past season for the Regina Senators Bantam AA. Seattle appeared to get very good value on their first three selections... this pick seems like more of a reach. Flodell was ranked by two different places outside of the top 10 goalies available and he becomes the 6th goaltender taken in the draft.

By some accounts Flodell has a bad year on a bad team. (Disclaimer: I'm just throwing out as much information as I can find. Please don't treat any of this as the gospel. I really don't have any idea on these guys until I have seen them play and the only one I have seen play is Barzal. Just throwing that out there.)

Links on Flodell: http://www.swbooster.com/Sports/Hockey/2012-01-15/article-2864785/Raiders-settle-for-draw-with-Senators/1
http://www.network54.com/Forum/40684/message/1331750150/Bantam+Draft+Sask+List
http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2012/04/sask-first-tournament.html

Seattle doesn't have a 4th round selection and I need to get some real work done. I will circle back later with the later picks.

I guess Seattle does have their 4th rounder.


69th Overall Selection - Mason McCarthy, Center, Blackie, AB. McCarthy played last season for the Okotocks Bantam AAA. Listed at 5'7" and only 130lbs he is very small but he has been described in one summary by Western Elite as an elite scorer who was buried on a bad Okotoks team and that he can really be a good player when playing with other elite players.


Links on McCarthy: http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/01/monday-morning.html
http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/01/tuesday-stuff.html

I was right the first time. Seattle did NOT have a 4th round selection. That was the pick that went to Red Deer to the right to select Dave Sutter in the Import Draft.  Everything I just said... applies to Red Deer.

Btw... if you can't tell already... Western Elite is pretty much the place to find information on a lot of these players.

91st Overall Selection - Lane Pederson, Center, Saskatoon, SK. Pederson played for the Saskatoon Generals Bantam AA and served at the captain of the team. He is listed at 5'8" and 149 lbs. 27 goals and 24 assists in 33 games played. Caldwell has him listed at 5'9" and 155 now.

Bantam Draft Day

Ok... here we go. The draft kicks off in about... ohhh... 8 minutes now.

Will Seattle select Mathew Barzal? Did Barzal agree to come to Seattle? Will Seattle trade the pick? We're going to find out shortly here.

Sad Update

I wanted to echo the thoughts of the Seattle Thunderbirds as they announced today that radio color commentator Bruce McDonald has been diagnosed with leukemia. I spoke with Thom Beuning who said that Bruce is as upbeat as he possibly can be and he should begin chemotherapy this week. Bruce will be undergoing treatment at Evergreen Medical Center Hospital in Kirkland for the next month.

This news joins the recent news that assistant coach Darren Rumble's son, Chris Rumble was diagnosed with leukemia two weeks ago as well.

If you want to let the two guys know that you are thinking of them I will direct you to the Tbirds facebook page.  Best wishes to Bruce and Chris, we know you guys can beat this.

Where do we go from here?

Time to (finally) wrap up the season.  Obviously, everyone was a tad disappointed that the Tbirds weren't able to make the playoffs and didn't manage to play better over the 2nd half of the season.  That being said, I believe there are a handful of reasons to be cautiously optimistic for the next few seasons. Here is where I think the team goes from this point forward:

First, the good news... by missing the playoffs, the Tbirds put themselves in a position to win the Bantam Draft Lottery. The smart money is on Mathew Barzal being selected by Seattle but there are a few other names that I imagine would have an outside shot at being taken by Seattle. Barzal is a natural scorer who should be able to develop into a high point producer by the time he is 17 or 18. I watched some scouting film on him and was impressed by his skating and scoring ability. He is a tad on the smaller side at 5'9" and 152 lbs but smaller skaters don't really bother me too much when you have this much skill.  Chances are good he will probably grow as well.

There are some other names to keep your eye on and some players that Seattle will most definitely target with the #20 and #25 selections in the draft... but Barzal is almost a lock for the top pick.  For all Bantam Prospect news, you should really visit the Western Elite Hockey Prospects blog.

Getting a kid like Barzal is exciting but he won't be a factor until the 2013-14 season at the least. Let's take a look at what we might see out of Seattle in 2012-13.

We have to consider the situation with the 20 year old players.  Calvin Pickard will not be back. Dave Sutter will not be back as a "two-spotter" and I don't expect Braeden Laroque to be in the mix either. That leaves 4 players for 3 spots and I wouldn't be surprised to see all 4 come to camp and battle it out.  Brad Deagle is pretty much a lock in my mind. Seattle will need some veteran presence on defense next season and Deagle logged some very good minutes for the Tbirds this season.  Luke Lockhart is the captain and despite the lack of offensive production, I wouldn’t be very surprised if returned as captain next season. I know that some fans lament 20 year old captains that don't score a lot (see: Nielsen, Lindsay) but if you take a look around the WHL, you dont necessarily see a lot of 20 year old players leading the league in scoring. Yes, yes, I'm aware that Shinnimin lead the league in scoring and he was 20 years old, but following him was Stone (19), Rattie (18), Hughesman (20), Weal (19), Holland (19), Etem (19), St. Croix (18), Ferland (19) and Bartschi (19).  Having a 20 year old who scores a ton is clearly beneficial, but often times if your 20 year old is that good, he’s playing in the AHL (see: Pickard, Calvin). I wouldn't say that Lockhart is a lock for the roster, but I would be very surprised if he didn’t make it back.  That leaves Brendan Rouse and Chance Lund battling it out for the 3rd and final spot on the roster. Earlier in the year I thought Chance Lund was making a very good case for being the guy for that final spot but as the season wore on, Lund seemed to wear down and his point production slowed as well. He tallied 17 points in the first 24 games of the season and then only 15 points in the final 43 games. Rouse, who can kill penalties and is a responsible two way player and would project out to nearly the same point total as Lund over a 72 two game season. My best guess: Deagle for sure, Lockhart likely, Rouse tentatively, and Lund needing a big camp to prove he belongs on the team over Rouse.

Import Draft: The QMJHL will select first in the Import Draft followed by the WHL and OHL subsequently.  Seattle will pick 3rd in the WHL rotation which will be 8th overall in the draft and 8th in the 2nd round as well.  Last season, Gatineau selected RW Tomas Hyka 8th overall and he posted 64 points in 50 games with Gatineau. Keep in mind that the QMJHL is generally a higher scoring league than the WHL. So Seattle should be able to pick up one pretty useful top 6 forward with their 8th overall selection. Very few teams select in the 2nd round of the draft, but one of the teams that did last season was Tri-City who selected Malte Stromwall. Stromwall had 27 points this season for the Americans. Seattle will likely select a player with their 2nd round pick but I wouldn't expect much out of that selection. I wouldn't be surprised to see Seattle select a defender with their top pick to help round out the depth.  I also wouldn't be terribly shocked to see them select a goaltender but it might be tough to convince a goaltender to come over to play for a young team that just finished beating up Calvin Pickard.

The rest of the squad projects out in this rough form.

Defense - Deagle (20), Wardley (18), Theodore (17) and Hauf (17) are locks. Green should have a chance to stick but he needs to improve and they might try him as a forward as well. Kevin Wolf will likely have a very good chance to make the team and I have to hop that 2nd round selection Austin Douglas has improved. When I look at the defensive depth of the team I can't help but feel like Seattle probably needs to select a defender with one of their Import selections. Either that or draft a forward and trade one of the current forwards for a depth defender.

Offense - Lockhart (20), Jacobs (19), Alos (19), Swenson (19), Sanvido (19), Doty? (19), Elliot? (19), Hickman (18), Troock (18), Honey (18). That is amazingly 10 forwards who could be back without including any 17's or 16s. I'm not convinced that Elliot and Doty will be back but if they each go home and work on their strength, conditioning, skating, flexibility, etc. they will probably be back. That leaves very few spots left and that is also the reason why I half expect to see a forward traded for a defender.  Gropp will hopefully sign and be here next season. Daniel Wray will probably get a long look in training camp and Michael Holub played very well in camp last year and could be a possible 16 year old on the roster next season.

Goaltending - Cotton (18) and.... ummm... I'm not sure.... Danny Mumaugh was in camp last year as a 15 and I know he visited and likely practiced with the team toward the end of the season.  Beyond that I'm not really sure where they might go here.  Nolan Kruizenga was in camp last year as well but neither him nor Mumaugh would be expected to be a starter as a 16 year old. Cotton has a HUGE opportunity here to work his tail off over the summer and seize the starting job for the Tbirds. Don't be surprised to see Russ acquire a veteran goaltender or possibly pass over Rouse and Lund and sign a 20 year old tender to solidify the back end.

As for a wrap on this season. I have to say that I was disappointed with how the team played but I wasn't very surprised. I think we all expected a lot more scoring out of players like Burke Gallimore, Colin Jacobs and Luke Lockhart and for whatever reason that simply didn't happen. Jacobs never seemed to get back on track after his off-season shoulder surgeries and maybe a full summer of hockey training will do him a lot of good. His skating and speed needs to improve a lot to take his game to the next level. He has a good  shot and pretty good hands as evidenced by hit goal scoring success in the shootout. The problem seems to be that he finds it very difficult to create quality chances during live action.  Gallimore just never seemed comfortable this season. I think it would be unfair to generalize his play as being without effort but I think it would be fair to say that his play was generally uninspired. Lockhart worked hard but didn't see the results that we all thought we might see. Let's not forget that the first half of the season was marred (in my opinion) by Marcel Noebels constantly trying to do everything himself and getting traded out of town in one of the better deals that General Manager Russ Farwell has made in a while.

There is reason for hope.... Connor Honey played inspired hockey after joining the team at mid-season and should only continue to improve. Branden Troock has loads of talent and just needs to figure out how to correctly use it. Seth Swenson was almost an afterthought in the Noebels deal and turned in 17 points in his 34 games with the Tbirds, including 10 goals. Jared Hauf didn't show much in the way of offensive prowess but showed that with improvement he should eventually turn into a shutdown top 2 defender. Shea Theodore is a work in progress and made plenty of 16 year old mistakes but also lead the team in assists, becoming the first Thunderbirds rookie to lead the team in assists since a guy named Thomas Hickey. Evan Wardley improved a ton over the course of the season and looks poised to grab a hold of a top 4 spot next season and become an intimidating physical force on the ice.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Seattle is headed for the Memorial Cup next year... but I do believe that most of their best players in the 2nd half of the season were their younger players. If those players continue to get better and veterans like Jacobs and Lockhart bounce back and have good seasons next year, this team should find themselves back in the playoffs provided that they find a goaltender to give them a fighting chance between the pipes.

Bonus content:

I meant to do some playoff predictions and then I got sick. Three of the first round series' are over and 4 more are on the verge of being over. Vancouver/Spokane is the only series tied at 2 games each.  This makes "predictions" a lot easier but I'm going to do it anyways.

In the Western Conference, the Americans took care of the Tips and will face the winner of the Vancouver/Spokane series while Portland will have home ice advantage for their series with the "#2" seeded Kamloops Blazers. I think Tri wins their series no matter what and I think Portland takes care of Kamloops in 6 games. I believe Portland will then defeat Tri-City in the Western finals shocking the Americans one or two times at the Toyota Center and advancing to the WHL Finals.

In the East, I think the Oil Kings are extremely tough and won't likely have very much trouble with Brandon (likely winner) to reach the Eastern Finals. Moose Jaw will have an extremely tough time with Medicine Hat and Emerson Etem and I think Medicine Hat will pull off an upset and reach the Eastern Finals where Edmonton will prevail to play the Winterhawks.

In the WHL finals... I really believe that Portland is the best team in the WHL but I think it might be too tough to prevail against the Americans and the Oil Kings without home ice advantage. Portland makes it extremely tough but the Oil Kings prevail in game 7 in Edmonton to win their first WHL Championship.

Then again... what have I said all season long... what do I know?

Flu 1 - Tyler 0

The Cold/Flu had me pretty beat up since last week and has kept me from even thinking about anything resembling brain activity.  I promise I'm not done wrapping up this season. Check back in the next few days for a few more articles before we put a "bow" on this season.

Scott Lowe Remembered

From the elation of Seattle winning the draft lottery to a heavy heart this morning.

Scott Lowe passed away, peacefully, in his sleep last night. Lowe was an off-ice official for the Thunderbirds and a local hockey referee for nearly two decades.

Scott gave me my first GSHL 10 minute misconduct several years ago and I still liked the guy a lot.

He was a good man and he will be missed. RIP Scott.

Scott Lowe Puck Drop Tribute

Thunderbirds Win Lottery

The Thunderbirds just won the Bantam Draft lottery and will select 1st overall in the upcoming 2012 Bantam Draft.

In my mind, Seattle was already under a tremendous amount of pressure to improve their drafting of players and the pressure just got a tad bit higher.

The pre-draft speculation was that any team winning the lottery would likely select Burnaby Winter Club forward Mathew Barzal. We'll have to wait and see what Seattle decides to do.

The 2012 Bantam Draft will be held in Calgary on May 3rd.

Calvin Pickard Tribute/Retrospective

Seattle's season ended with a whimper last night, losing to the Portland Winterhawks 8-2 in front of nearly 8000 at the Memorial Coliseum. The Tbirds started fast and took the lead with a PP goal to open the scoring but the team seemed deflated as the Winterhawks answered just 9 seconds later on a snipe by Ty Rattie. The shot was first class, but it was a save Pickard needed to make in a game of this magnitude, and it didn’t happen.

The loss brought an end to the career of Pickard; a career that will no doubt go down as one of the best goaltending careers in the history of the WHL, despite the lack of playoff success.

As the first of several season wrap-up articles I plan to write this week, I wanted to spend an entire article recapping the career of Calvin Pickard…

Picks has been a solider for this franchise beyond the call of duty. He has never publicly complained about the teams that have been placed in front of him and by all accounts he has been a model citizen and an amazing teammate. Heartfelt comments and well-wishes poured in from teammates, fans, media and other players around the league.  He deserved better opportunities than he received during his time here in Seattle and I would like to thank him for the great memories and performances that we were able to see. Before we completely send Pickard off into the sunset to bigger and better things (because we may not ever see him back in Seattle again....) let's take a look at the WHL career of Calvin Pickard.

Pickard was drafted by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2nd round of the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft. Erik Fleming was drafted in the 1st round and Brandon Carlson was selected in the 3rd round. The younger brother of "Chetter" came into camp as a 15 year old with some high expectations. Anything resembling the career of Chet Pickard would have been considered a success. He wasted no time making a lasting impression as he didn't surrender a single goal in the camp scrimmages. Seattle fans knew they had something special.

September 19th, 2008 - Pickard's first official game in the WHL came at the CN Centre in Prince George where he stopped 32 of 37 shots in a 5-2 Seattle loss. He was greeted to the WHL by Dale Hunt (former Silvertip) and Brett Connolly who scored the Cougars first two goals.

October 11, 2008 - Pickard records his first WHL victory and shutout in the same game as he blanked the (then) hapless Portland Winterhawks 2-0, stopping all 20 shots in the process.

February 20, 2009 - Pickard stops all 36 shots and earns the game's 1st start in beating Spokane 3-0 for his first home shutout.

February 22, 2009 - Two days later, Pickard is forced to make at least 40 saves for the first time in his career stopping 40 of 42 shots to help Seattle earn a 3-2 victory at home over the Vancouver Giants.

March 7, 2009 - Playing in front of his brother Chet Pickard (rested on that night) Calvin stopped 24 shots to record his 3rd shutout of the season and first over Tri-City as the Tbirds blasted the Americans 6-0.

March 21, 2009 - Sadly this date marks the one and only playoff win in Pickard's illustrious career. Pickard stopped 33 of 34 shots and bested current Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Dustin Tokarski as the Tbirds evened the series in Spokane with a 2-1 victory. Seattle would drop the next 3 games and lose to the Chiefs 4-1 in the series.

September 8, 2009 - Pickard opens the 2009-10 season with a 4-3 victory over the Everett Silvertips stopping 46 of 49 shots in the process.

October 2, 2009 - A date that most Tbirds fans will likely remember for a very long time. Seattle is out-shot 57-20 in the game against the Tri-City Americans and it just didn't matter. Pickard stopped all 57 of the Americans shots, leading Seattle to a razor thin 1-0 victory. In the 3rd period alone, Seattle was out-shot 16-2 and Pickard was up for the challenge turning aside shot after shot including 5 American Power Plays. I researched the league records as much as I possibly could and nobody seems to be able to refute that this game is likely a league record for the most saves made in a shutout effort.

December 11, 2009 - Pickard owns the Ams again, stopping 54 of 55 shots and the Tbirds win 5-1 over Tri-City.

March 14, 2010 - In the final game of the season, with no hope of making the playoffs. Pickard stops 51 of 54 shots and Luke Lockhart scores 2:26 into the Overtime period, giving Seattle the 4-3 victory over the BC Division champion Vancouver Giants.

June 26, 2010 - The Colorado Avalanche select Pickard 49th overall and he is the 3rd goaltender selected in the draft behind Jack Campbell and Mark Visentin.

September 25, 2010 - Pickard picks up his first win of the 2010-11 season with a 37 save effort to defeat the Portland Winterhawks 4-1.

October 2, 2010 - Pickard beats the Winterhawks again, this time in the shootout. He stops 44 of 46 shots in regulation and stops Ty Rattie, Brad Ross and Ryan Johansen in the shootout to earn the victory.

November 2, 2010 - Seattle defeats Red Deer 4-1 behind 46 saves from Pickard. Red Deer would go on to earn 104 points and win the Central Division.

November 24, 2010 - Seattle loses 5-4 in the shootout... but not because of the play of Pickard who stops 55 of 59 shots. Adam Hughesman scores the only goal in the shootout and the Americans finally beat Pickard.

December 18, 2010 - Portland pumps in 52 shots on goal and Pickard stops 50 of them to earn Seattle the 4-2 victory over the Winterhawks. Brenden Dillon has 4 assists for the Tbirds in the win.

January 18, 2011 - The shootout bites Pickard again on this night but not before stopping 55 of 58 shots against the Kamloops Blazers. Brendan Ranford and Colin Smith score in the shootout for the 4-3 Blazers win.

February 13, 2011 and February 23, 2011 - Pickard makes 106 saves on 108 shots in beating the Spokane Chiefs twice in the span of 10 days and Seattle picks up two wins.

October 15, 2011 - 43 saves on 45 shots as the Tbirds defeat the visiting Saskatoon Blades at the Showare Center 4-2.

November 19, 2011 - In Seattle's only win over Portland this season, Pickard stops 47 of 50 shots on goal and the Tbirds defeat the Winterhawks 6-3 on the heels of 5 2nd period goals.

January 22, 2012 - Pickard breaks the WHL record for career saves when he makes save number 6,959, passing former Thunderbirds goaltender Danny Lorenz. Pickard would finish his career with 7,727 saves in just 4 WHL seasons.

Calvin Saves Record Video

March 10, 2012 - In a game he will otherwise want to forget, Pickard breaks the WHL record for career minutes played at the 7 minute mark of the 3rd period in a 11-3 loss to the Portland Winterhawks. Passing Kurtis Mucha with his 13,709th minute played, Pickard finishes his career with 14,025 minutes played... again, in just 4 seasons.

March 11th, March 13th and March 16th, 2012 - Pickard stops 107 of 113 shots during a 3 game winning streak to keep Seattle alive for the playoffs.

The Winnipeg, Manatoba native finishes his career with a record of 91-120-27 with 12 shutouts. 241 games played, surrendering 769 goals on 8496 shots for a save percentage of .909.

Pickard has been an absolute pleasure to watch in the past 4 seasons. Seattle hasn't provided very many highlights and nearly all of them has been a direct result of our good humored goaltender. The 2012-13 version of the Seattle Thunderbirds will have a gigantic hole in their goal crease and in the locker room. Calvin's legacy will be repeated for years after he packs his bags today for bigger and better things.

I won't speak for anyone else even though I suspect that I share the feelings of many... Thank you Calvin.