Seattle beats Everett tonight 3-2 as I finish the night with a little "Youngblood"....
Tbirds with an overall "good effort" tonight... I didn't think it was an awesome effort but it wasn't a bad effort either. The first period was excellent and it was enough to carry the result of the game. Seattle was very good on the PP tonight scoring twice in six chances and being dangerous on nearly 5 of them.
The win gets Seattle to within 3 points of the 8th place Chilliwack Bruins and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
A nice night by Prab Rai who nets 2 goals in win... and Charles Wells picks up two assists on a night where he was dangerous on numerous chances with the puck. Captain Lindsay Nielsen also has 2 assists on the night and now has 6 points in his past 3 games.'
Seattle now is exactly 4 games through their 8 game steak of game against the U.S. Division and return to action next Friday against the Tri-City Americans.
Hockey Challenge 2014
Recent Articles
12.05.2009
12.04.2009
At Spokane Game Thread
I won't be able to get to a computer to give a running, live game updates... So I'm going to throw up a game thread here for comments as the game goes on and/or after.
12.02.2009
Trade coming...
Tbirds have announced on Facebook that they are making an announcement. If you thought that sounded funny... you aren't alone.
Stay tuned...
UPDATE - Erik Bonsor is the guy, Seattle gets him from Calgary for a 6th round bantam selection. Bonsor is an 18 year old defenseman and will help fill the void Seattle has on the blue line right now with Steve Chaffin still listed as being out indefinitely with a concussion.
I can't say that I know much about Bonsor... he had a nice rookie year in 08-09 logging 2 goals, 9 assists a +13 rating and 20 PIMs in 51 games with the Hitmen.
No reason to think Bonsor will not be able join the Tbirds this week and be ready to play when they travel to Spokane this weekend.
Sorry... link here.
Stay tuned...
UPDATE - Erik Bonsor is the guy, Seattle gets him from Calgary for a 6th round bantam selection. Bonsor is an 18 year old defenseman and will help fill the void Seattle has on the blue line right now with Steve Chaffin still listed as being out indefinitely with a concussion.
I can't say that I know much about Bonsor... he had a nice rookie year in 08-09 logging 2 goals, 9 assists a +13 rating and 20 PIMs in 51 games with the Hitmen.
No reason to think Bonsor will not be able join the Tbirds this week and be ready to play when they travel to Spokane this weekend.
Sorry... link here.
No WJC invite for Pickard
This isn't really too much of a shock and only one WHL goalie was invited and it was Martin Jones of Calgary. I did think there was an outside chance that Pickard would be invited and I don't think it would be a stretch to think it was down to Jones or Pickard and they went with Jones given he is a 19 year old.
Quite an impressive list for Team Canada with 14 NHL 1st round picks. Only 10 players from the WHL were invited and only two players from the '92 year were given the coveted invitation.
The full list can be fonud here.
Quite an impressive list for Team Canada with 14 NHL 1st round picks. Only 10 players from the WHL were invited and only two players from the '92 year were given the coveted invitation.
The full list can be fonud here.
11.29.2009
Hickey to have surgery
I hadn't noticed this... so thanks to a loyal reader for alerting me to it. Thomas Hickey will undergo shoulder surgery and will be out up for 4 months.
Definitely a blow to Hickey and his development although General Manager Dean Lombardi seemed to indicate that Hickey was in need of some additional strength... not sure exactly how we are to interpret that. Hickey has been in and out of the Manchester Monarchs lineup most of the season and had been trying to play through this injured shoulder for some time now.
Link to Rich Hammond's blog is here.
Definitely a blow to Hickey and his development although General Manager Dean Lombardi seemed to indicate that Hickey was in need of some additional strength... not sure exactly how we are to interpret that. Hickey has been in and out of the Manchester Monarchs lineup most of the season and had been trying to play through this injured shoulder for some time now.
Link to Rich Hammond's blog is here.
11.28.2009
Seattle lets one get away...
With another Seattle/Portland game tonight down in the Rose City I guess I better get something up here.
I think I am in the minority with this opinion but I really did not think the Tbirds played poorly last night. The intensity of the game was as good as I have seen in a Seattle/Portland game in a couple of seasons and the Tbirds were able to ride an early individual effort by Prab Rai, another PP rocket from Sena Acolatse, another PP goal from Charles Wells and Penalty Shot marker from "suddenly sniper" Schappert.
As we all know, that would be the last time that Seattle would score and the Winterhawks would go on to score 5 unanswered goals to take the victory 6-4.
Call me crazy but I thought this had far more to do with Portland waking up and taking the game to Seattle rather than Seattle just giving the game away. Don't get me wrong, Seattle lost the game in the first couple minutes of the third where they still had the lead and came out flat and Portland was able to tie the game on a nice shot by Niederreiter just 42 seconds into the period. With the game tied, I actually thought Seattle played with a little more sense of urgency and had a couple of moments where they threatened the Portland net and narrowly missed retaking the lead.... Aronson got his second of the night, also the second of his career to take the lead with just over 6 minutes left ans Seattle was never able to tie the game.
Couple of throw away comments....
- Officiating was terrible last night. There were bad no-calls all over the place last night and after linesman Brooks left the game for an undisclosed reason (I'm going with the dreaded "stomach issues" personally) the 3 man crew that was left seemed to be out of sorts and did not call a good game. Seattle had 3 straight PPs to start the game... and then never saw another one. I hate complaining about referees though... it isn't an excuse for losing, we just all go to the arena hoping we see a well officiated game.
- Ian Curtis isn't very good. If Portland is hoping that Curtis is their answer in net on the way to a deep playoff run, well color me skeptical.
- Calvin Pickard is awesome.... we all know he is awesome... but for the first time in a long time (I can't even remember the last time I thought this) I thought Calvin wasn't his best last night. The first goal was an awkward weird goal and he gave up 3 others (that WERE nice shots) that I would normally expect Pickard to stop and he didn't. That doesn't mean it was his fault... defense still needs to be better and Seattle played with more defensive urgency against Regina with Jahraus in net than they did last night for Pickard.
- At the start of the season I thought Portland was one of the best teams we had seen in the Western Conference.... I no longer believe that to be true and I'm really pretty confused by the moved they have made in the last couple of weeks. I can't help but wonder if they have harmed their team chemistry just a little bit trading away Bobbee, Mucha and Reddin.
Hopefully the boys won't make me look stupid on this one... but I'm going to say it right here. I think Seattle wins in Portland tonight. They have played really well on the road, they have the sour taste from the last trip to Portland and I think the gap between the two teams has narrowed considerably since the start of the season.
I think I am in the minority with this opinion but I really did not think the Tbirds played poorly last night. The intensity of the game was as good as I have seen in a Seattle/Portland game in a couple of seasons and the Tbirds were able to ride an early individual effort by Prab Rai, another PP rocket from Sena Acolatse, another PP goal from Charles Wells and Penalty Shot marker from "suddenly sniper" Schappert.
As we all know, that would be the last time that Seattle would score and the Winterhawks would go on to score 5 unanswered goals to take the victory 6-4.
Call me crazy but I thought this had far more to do with Portland waking up and taking the game to Seattle rather than Seattle just giving the game away. Don't get me wrong, Seattle lost the game in the first couple minutes of the third where they still had the lead and came out flat and Portland was able to tie the game on a nice shot by Niederreiter just 42 seconds into the period. With the game tied, I actually thought Seattle played with a little more sense of urgency and had a couple of moments where they threatened the Portland net and narrowly missed retaking the lead.... Aronson got his second of the night, also the second of his career to take the lead with just over 6 minutes left ans Seattle was never able to tie the game.
Couple of throw away comments....
- Officiating was terrible last night. There were bad no-calls all over the place last night and after linesman Brooks left the game for an undisclosed reason (I'm going with the dreaded "stomach issues" personally) the 3 man crew that was left seemed to be out of sorts and did not call a good game. Seattle had 3 straight PPs to start the game... and then never saw another one. I hate complaining about referees though... it isn't an excuse for losing, we just all go to the arena hoping we see a well officiated game.
- Ian Curtis isn't very good. If Portland is hoping that Curtis is their answer in net on the way to a deep playoff run, well color me skeptical.
- Calvin Pickard is awesome.... we all know he is awesome... but for the first time in a long time (I can't even remember the last time I thought this) I thought Calvin wasn't his best last night. The first goal was an awkward weird goal and he gave up 3 others (that WERE nice shots) that I would normally expect Pickard to stop and he didn't. That doesn't mean it was his fault... defense still needs to be better and Seattle played with more defensive urgency against Regina with Jahraus in net than they did last night for Pickard.
- At the start of the season I thought Portland was one of the best teams we had seen in the Western Conference.... I no longer believe that to be true and I'm really pretty confused by the moved they have made in the last couple of weeks. I can't help but wonder if they have harmed their team chemistry just a little bit trading away Bobbee, Mucha and Reddin.
Hopefully the boys won't make me look stupid on this one... but I'm going to say it right here. I think Seattle wins in Portland tonight. They have played really well on the road, they have the sour taste from the last trip to Portland and I think the gap between the two teams has narrowed considerably since the start of the season.
11.25.2009
Right in the Regina
Seattle with a really nice effort tonight beating the Pats 5-2.
A lot of good notes from the game tonight. Seattle played with a lot more intensity and a strong sense of urgency from the opening face-off all the way through to the end of the game.
Kyle Jahraus was solid in net and at times made a couple of spectacular saves. His rebound control was pretty darn good and he moved well and anticipated shots well.
Prab Rai with another 3 points night, Jeremy Schappert adds two more goals as he is suddenly a sniper. The defense was solid, played physical and the offense fore-checked with a purpose.
Regina entered the game with the #2 ranked PP in the WHL and the highly ranked Seattle PK shut them down to the tune of 0/5 with Charles Wells picking up a critical SH goal to give the Tbirds the 2-1 lead. On the other side Seattle gets 2 PP goals themselves on 7 chances but also surrendered 2 SH goals. They need to shore up the SH goals but the first one was a great effort by Mitchell where Warg just flat out missed the hit and the second really didn't matter as Scott Ramsay was trying to gain retribution for a high and hard hit on Sena Acolatse.
THIS is the effort we were looking for last weekend. If the Tbirds come to play with that kind of effort night in and night out... they are going to be very tough to handle the rest of the way.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone... back to the arena on Friday for a Portland team that suddenly can't remember how to win.
A lot of good notes from the game tonight. Seattle played with a lot more intensity and a strong sense of urgency from the opening face-off all the way through to the end of the game.
Kyle Jahraus was solid in net and at times made a couple of spectacular saves. His rebound control was pretty darn good and he moved well and anticipated shots well.
Prab Rai with another 3 points night, Jeremy Schappert adds two more goals as he is suddenly a sniper. The defense was solid, played physical and the offense fore-checked with a purpose.
Regina entered the game with the #2 ranked PP in the WHL and the highly ranked Seattle PK shut them down to the tune of 0/5 with Charles Wells picking up a critical SH goal to give the Tbirds the 2-1 lead. On the other side Seattle gets 2 PP goals themselves on 7 chances but also surrendered 2 SH goals. They need to shore up the SH goals but the first one was a great effort by Mitchell where Warg just flat out missed the hit and the second really didn't matter as Scott Ramsay was trying to gain retribution for a high and hard hit on Sena Acolatse.
THIS is the effort we were looking for last weekend. If the Tbirds come to play with that kind of effort night in and night out... they are going to be very tough to handle the rest of the way.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone... back to the arena on Friday for a Portland team that suddenly can't remember how to win.
Regina Tonight
Regina when into Portland last night and won 6-3... so hopefully they are tired.
They'll have to be really tired because Seattle will be without their all-world goaltender Calvin Pickard who will be playing for Team WHL against the Russians in the Subway Super Series. I won't bother you guys with the rant about Series and how pointless it is... you can go to several other WHL blogs and find the reasons why it is so stupid and I pretty much agree with all of them.
Seattle will also be without Steve Chaffin who is listed as being out indefinitely with a concussion and most likely Brendan Silvester who I believe is probably still out with a back injury. Chaffin has to be a concern going forward with the number of concussions he has already sustained in his career. I don't know the exact number but I can personally recall 3 off the top of my head (no pun intended).
Regina will also be without two key players as Jordan Eberle and Colton Teubert. Eberle has 46 points in just 22 games already and Teubert is arguably their best defender, though I will say that Brandon Davidson's numbers are quite excellent (1 G, 21 A, +18).
Regina comes in at only 14-11-3 and their overall defense and goaltending isn't the strongest around. Damien Ketlo was excellent last night in Portland and faced 41 shots, so I half expect to see 17 year old Dawson Guhle in net tonight for the Pats.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the Regina jerseys... I think they are some most simple, best looking jerseys in the Dub.
They'll have to be really tired because Seattle will be without their all-world goaltender Calvin Pickard who will be playing for Team WHL against the Russians in the Subway Super Series. I won't bother you guys with the rant about Series and how pointless it is... you can go to several other WHL blogs and find the reasons why it is so stupid and I pretty much agree with all of them.
Seattle will also be without Steve Chaffin who is listed as being out indefinitely with a concussion and most likely Brendan Silvester who I believe is probably still out with a back injury. Chaffin has to be a concern going forward with the number of concussions he has already sustained in his career. I don't know the exact number but I can personally recall 3 off the top of my head (no pun intended).
Regina will also be without two key players as Jordan Eberle and Colton Teubert. Eberle has 46 points in just 22 games already and Teubert is arguably their best defender, though I will say that Brandon Davidson's numbers are quite excellent (1 G, 21 A, +18).
Regina comes in at only 14-11-3 and their overall defense and goaltending isn't the strongest around. Damien Ketlo was excellent last night in Portland and faced 41 shots, so I half expect to see 17 year old Dawson Guhle in net tonight for the Pats.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the Regina jerseys... I think they are some most simple, best looking jerseys in the Dub.
11.24.2009
Attendance numbers... quickly...
Not much of a surprise here...
For the sake of simplicity I just looked at the numbers from 10 years ago. Also... huge disclaimer... these are only the figures that get listed in the box score. I have no idea, nor would I have a way of knowing what actual gate numbers look like for the team.
Total average attendance -
1999-2000: 197,234 in 36 games for an average of 5478.72
2009-2010: 31,234 in 10 games for an average of 3123.40
Using just the first 10 games of 1999-2000, they drew an average of 5,265. That represents a drop of 40.68%.
Only fair though to look at how numbers are looking for the rest of the league.
Same first 10 games for other U.S. Division teams?
Portland is down 36.37%, Spokane is down 3.57% and Tri-City is UP 39.19%. I didn't bother to include Everett because the comparison would not have included the same time period.
Seattle's average is 17th highest in the league... but they are down 25.36% from their average last season (4184.8 last season, 3123.40 this season).
This represents the highest drop in attendance in the league. Lethbridge is off 19.93%, Red Deer 18.17% and Vancouver is down 16.34% but still average 6,444.
Tbirds attendance generally hits the bottom between November the end of December before picking up steadily through the end of the season. Meaning... it might get a little worse before it will likely get better.
For the sake of simplicity I just looked at the numbers from 10 years ago. Also... huge disclaimer... these are only the figures that get listed in the box score. I have no idea, nor would I have a way of knowing what actual gate numbers look like for the team.
Total average attendance -
1999-2000: 197,234 in 36 games for an average of 5478.72
2009-2010: 31,234 in 10 games for an average of 3123.40
Using just the first 10 games of 1999-2000, they drew an average of 5,265. That represents a drop of 40.68%.
Only fair though to look at how numbers are looking for the rest of the league.
Same first 10 games for other U.S. Division teams?
Portland is down 36.37%, Spokane is down 3.57% and Tri-City is UP 39.19%. I didn't bother to include Everett because the comparison would not have included the same time period.
Seattle's average is 17th highest in the league... but they are down 25.36% from their average last season (4184.8 last season, 3123.40 this season).
This represents the highest drop in attendance in the league. Lethbridge is off 19.93%, Red Deer 18.17% and Vancouver is down 16.34% but still average 6,444.
Tbirds attendance generally hits the bottom between November the end of December before picking up steadily through the end of the season. Meaning... it might get a little worse before it will likely get better.
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