Update

I was out of town over the weekend. The reports I got were that the Tbirds played well on Friday night and managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Saturday night sounded like another example of how good Portland is and Seattle's inability to stay on the same playing level as the Winterhawks. Portland is a very good club and I think when they are motivated they might be the best team in the league.  It seems pretty clear to me that Portland is very motivated to stick it to the Tbirds and you can see the results reflect that.

17 games to play for Seattle and things are starting to really look bleak on making the playoffs.  Seattle is now tied for 7th (and 8th) with Victoria and Everett has closed to within 1 point of both teams after going 6-4 in their last 10 games.

I want to address what seems to be the most common "complaint" in the comment sections lately...

It seems to me that a handful of people really want to see Russ "step down" or give the General Manager job to someone else and focus on just being an owner of the team. Let's address this first.

I don't really see Russ ever stepping down... but let's say that he did and he hired a true G.M. to make the roster decisions, etc.  Don't you think Russ would probably be involved in the decisions that were being made by this new GM?  I just personally can't see a situation where Russ wouldn't be involved in some way in the decision making process as long as he was still an owner.

Second complaint - Russ doesn't care about winning.  Russ and the front office have failed to produce a quality team in the past three seasons but I can assure you that it isn't because they don't care about winning. Winning would put more people in the seats and in turn would put more money in the owners pockets and allow them to spend more on the franchise.  You can make an easy argument that the last three years have not worked out well but you can't make a very easy argument that they aren't trying.

Tbirds are back in action tomorrow night against Kelowna and each one of these games gets more critical as the margin of error shrinks.

General Thoughts

The season is officially starting to wear on me. I'm finding it less and less useful to write about the same things game after game as this team slowly slips out of the playoff race. Seattle is, of course, still in the playoff picture but the current 6 game losing streak has them holding on by a thread. The good news is that Victoria, Prince George and Everett have played only various degrees of "slightly better" and the Tbirds still hold a 4 point lead over the Cougars and a 5 point lead over Everett. Rather than try to recap the last couple of games, here are some general observations:

• The team's effort lately has been pretty darn good and that is kind of a good-news/bad-news situation. The good news is that the team doesn't appear to be quitting on the season and they have had some fair chances to win some games. The bad news is that they have lost in spite of their decent efforts. The other bad news is that the "good effort" really only applies to a small handful of players on the team while some other players appear to be content to just let the season play out.
• One player who has been excellent lately is Connor Honey. If you can believe this... check this out. 17 year old Connor Honey who joined the team in the middle of the season, now has 4 goals, 5 assists and a -6 in 26 games. Colin Jacobs, our heralded and drafted 18 year old out of Texas who had 44 points last season... has 5 goals, 4 assists and a -15 in 25 games. Honey has been on the receiving end of more and more ice time both at even strength and on the power play and has tallied 6 points in his last 6 games. The mistakes are still going to happen but he appears to be getting more comfortable with each passing game. He reads the play well and has what scouts call good "hockey IQ".
• Another guy who has played very solid over the past 6 weeks and deserves to get a mention has got to be Cason Machacek. At the beginning of the year, Machacek was spending far too much time in the penalty box for the wrong reasons. Through the end of November, Machacek had logged 17 games with 54 penalty minutes and a -7 rating. Since that point he has played in 23 games with 59 penalty minutes with a rating of Even and he has even chipped in 2 goals and an assist. He has been as steady as them come since the Christmas break.
• I see fans both online and at the games questioning why Jacob Doty isn't playing. It hurts me to say this but the reason why he isn't playing is because he just isn't very good. Doty is fearless when it comes to fighting and his willingness to stick up for teammates is admirable. Right or wrong, this team is desperately trying to win games right now and Doty is just mostly taking up a bench spot waiting for his chance to drop the gloves.  Recently, there was an article written about Emerson Etem by Kelly Friesen where Etem talked about all of the time he spent in the offseason working on his skating and working diligently on his stops and starts. This is what Doty will have to do if he wants to become a regular on this team and in this league.
• Where is Burke Gallimore?
• Where is Luke Lockhart?
• Things aren't going to get any easier for Seattle as they have traveled to Kelowna for a game tomrrow before returning back to Spokane for Friday night and finally back home for Portland on Saturday. It is becoming difficult to see where the Tbirds are going to be able to get points the rest of the way.

I wish I had more to say but this team is getting increasingly difficult to "cover" as the season winds down.

Seattle falls to Spokane

Seattle falls again last night in what was basically another 1 goal game. Seattle battled back from being a goal down on three separate occasions, but couldn't find the back of the net for a 4th time in the final minutes of the game before Dominik Uher tapped in an empty net goal to seal the deal. Uher ended his career night with 4 goals, getting a Power Play goal in the 1st, an Even Strength goal in the 2nd and 3rd and added the Empty Netter to close the scoring. Uher's 3rd goal came with just over a minute left in the game and broke a 3-3 tie as the Tbirds turned the puck over at the blue line and he converted with a high finish over Calvin Pickard to the short side. Seattle has lost 3 straight games again and now find themselves only 4 points ahead of Prince George in the battle to hang onto a playoff spot.

• Calvin Pickard had a bit of a strange game last night. He made about 2 or 3 absolutely phenomenal highlight reel saves, but also struggled a bit giving up short side goals to Uher in the 1st period and the go-ahead game winner with a minute left in the game. It's difficult to fault a goaltender in any situation where a player is breaking in on them uncontested but I can bet that Picks would love to have another crack at both of those goals.  The goal scored by Uher in the 2nd period was a tip and the goal scored by Brandon Kitchton in the 3rd was uncontested from the slot and was hammered off the bar and down... hard to fault him there.  Playing for this team has to be frustrating for Pickard and only a fellow goalie can understand how a lack of trust in your teammates can negatively affect your game.  I'm not using that as an excuse and I'm sure Pickard wouldn't either but simply "focusing on the shot" is tougher when you don't trust your teammates.
• Aside from the outcome... the most interesting aspect of the game last night was the (regular season) debut of Mitch Elliot playing on defense. I like the idea, and quite frankly it is probably something they should have tried earlier. Elliot has not taken any steps forward this year and if anything I think he might have taken a step backwards. I thought he actually looked pretty good back there (expectations considered). He got beat around the outside on one rush and showed that his lack of foot-speed is still likely to be an issue but most of our defenders have similar issues.  He also clearly missed an assignment on a stretch pass that led to a scoring chance on another occasion. The good news... He carried the puck on his first shift and looked fairly comfortable doing it even though he wasn't able to get the puck deep and he he we very physical in front of the net, something that our defense has needed for the better part of the last 3 seasons.  It's a work in progress but this team looks unbelievably short on defense next year and if Elliot can provide the team with some minutes it would provide a small boost.
• Connor Honey had a fantastic game for the Tbirds and looks as though he is really starting to settle in. His centering pass to Dillon Wagner for the game tying goal in the 3rd period was a thing of beauty and really showed the kind of natural vision and passing ability that he possesses. If he improves his decision making just a little bit and works on his skating, and as his size/build increases, he is going to be a force in the league maybe sooner than later.
• Jacob Doty had a nice fight with Corbin Baldwin after Baldwin ran Colin Jacobs into the boards from behind. For whatever reason, I'm not sure Baldwin even tried to throw any punches, he looked like he was just holding on for the duration of the fight.
• Rough night statistically for Shea Theodore as he was -3 but I would like to point out that he has looked much better in the past several games after suffering through his "slump" in the middle of the season.
• Officiating was far from perfect last night but I didn't have a problem with most of the calls. Pat Smith has taken a lot of crap over the years (probably most deserved) but in my mind he is an example of the development that happens for officials as well as players and I believe he has become one of the better officials I have seen this season.
• Seth Swenson now has 4 goals and 7 points in 11 games after having 7 points in 33 games for Portland and only 5 career goals in 132 games with the Winterhawks.
• With points being an absolute premium right now Seattle skated hard for 40 minutes and fell flat in the 3rd period, eventually getting the result that they probable deserved.

I'm tired. I'm tired of writing about this team losing. This team needs some points badly. They wake up on February 1st with only a 4 point lead over Prince George for that final playoff spot.  The effort has been pretty good for the most part but this team just can't afford to take a shift off much less a period. This team needs points in a bad way and things just appear to be headed towards eventually falling out of the playoffs again.

Weekend Recap

I'm back. Let's do this.

Seattle is hanging on by a thread as they now lead Victoria by just 1 point for the 7th spot in the Conference, while the suddenly surging Everett Silvertips lag by only 5 points (Seattle has 3 games in hand). Despite the recent struggles (2-7-1-0 in their last 10) I have been pretty happy with the "compete level" of the team in the last couple of weeks. Their past 6 games have basically yielded five 1-goal games (Kamloops added an empty net goal for the 2 goal win in Seattle). The problem is... they've only managed 3 points in those 6 games.

I wasn't able to catch any of the game Friday night in Kelowna, so I won't bother to comment on that. Let's skip right to Saturday night and go from there.

• Portland was flying out of the gate on Saturday night. I felt like the Winterhawks were extra motivated to kick our asses on Teddy Bear Toss night and they really came out strong. To me... the game action was less about Seattle not playing well or not playing hard and more about the Grand Canyon-esque gap in talent between Seattle and Portland.  Portland just took it to the Tbirds like they were on another level. After Seattle fell down 3-0 early in the 1st period, I was actually pretty concerned about whether the Tbirds would score a goal at all. Fortunately, Portland gets easily distracted, and for as talented of a team as they are, they are not the most consistent in the league. Connor Honey was able to pick up his memorable first WHL goal and the bears went flying.
• The outcome probably wouldn't have been different, but the game definitely turned on the 2nd period Embellishment call on Colin Jacobs. Jacobs broke in behind the defense for a chance to give Seattle a 3rd goal and make the score 4-3 and was hauled down from behind. It arguably could have been called a Penalty Shot but it should have at least resulted in a Seattle Power Play. Instead, Referees Colby Smith and Trevor Hanson call William Wrenn for Holding and Jacobs for Embellishment. Portland scores twice on the ensuing 4 on 4 and the game was pretty much over. I know the league offices think that complaints about officiating get tiresome and they generally don't listen to fans when they complain about the officials... but I can tell you that the officiating is down this year from previous years.  The WHL is a development league for players AND referees and every fan should keep that in mind.  The quality of the officials is also bound to ebb and flow as veteran officials move up the ranks and younger, less experienced officials make their way into the league.  This isn't a bash on officials as a whole. I ref'd my first ever game on Saturday afternoon at ShoWare and I can tell you that it is far from easy.  Having said that, my opinion is that officiating is noticeably down this year. Too often, the penalty calling has been poor and inconsistent. I have no doubts that it will improve as the current crop of officials gain more experience, but for now it is below par.  Remember when everyone used to bash Andy Thiessen? Well he eventually wound up being one of the best officials in the league and graduated to the AHL. I think the officiating is bad right now, but I have faith that it will improve.
• Once again our best line on Saturday was the Hickman - Alos - Lund line combination. Honey and Rouse also finished the night with ratings of +1.
• Nice to see Marcel Noebels actually hustling up and down the ice.  Good thing we got Swenson and two 1st round picks. I guess Noebels is enjoying playing for Portland a little more than he was enjoying playing for Seattle.
• Last night, Seattle suffered through a bad 2nd period and it led to their 4-3 loss to the Kelowna Rockets. Kelowna managed 21 shots in the 2nd period on their way to 4 goals, capped by a beautiful goal by Brett Lyon with just 4 seconds to play in the period.
• The biggest difference in the game is a problem that has started to magnify recently. The Seattle PP now ranks 21st in the league at 14.2%. Prince George is last at 11.5%. The Penalty Kill has been slightly better but still ranks just 17th in the WHL. Special teams certainly wouldn't solve all of the Tbirds issues but it certainly isn't helping things right now.

A quick check of the Massey Ratings and things don't look very good for Seattle.  The TBirds rank 19th in current ratings (a measure of results to date) which is good enough to rank them ahead of Prince George, Victoria and Everett. That's the good news. The bad news is that Seattle is dead last, 22nd, in the Power Ratings which measures results without recognition of wins and losses. What does that mean?? That means they are predicted to perform that worst in the league from here on out.

One might ask oneself: has Seattle played a particularly difficult schedule?? Well, yes and no. Seattle ranks 16th in the WHL in strength of schedule but they actually rank 4th in the Western Conference as generally speaking the Eastern Conference is rated as being stronger than the Western Conference across the board.

What does this all mean?  Things are extremely tight for the 7th and 8th playoff positions in the West and if I were a betting man I wouldn't be betting on the Tbirds pulling away from the pack. I think things are about to get tighter before they get more comfortable for the Birds.  Seattle will get 4 more shots at Everett and 2 more shots at Prince George (both in PG on a back to back Tuesday/Wednesday). Those 6 games will probably go a long ways towards determining the two teams that can survive and hold on to their playoff spot.

Also, a reminder to donate to the RMH in my honor. It takes only a few minutes and your donation will be going to a very worth cause. Thanks.

Help Me Out, Donate

Quick update. I've been swamped at work in the past week and haven't really had time to write anything. I thought the Tbirds showed a good "compete" level over the weekend even though the results only yielded a single point. I will just consider this my one week vacation during the season and I will be back in full force next week after 3 more games this weekend. In the meantime, please consider donating to the RMH in my name for the Hockey Challenge. We are about one month away and I believe I am slightly behind my pace from last season. Thank you to everyone who has already contributed.

I wanted to take this opportunity to beg and grovel to all Thunderbird fans to click on the Hockey Challenge banner at the top of the page and donate to the Ronald McDonald House.

This will be my 4th year raising money for the House and my goal this year is to raise $1500 and try to convince someone that I'm enough famous enough to get into the Celebrity Game (ha).

Jokes aside... please donate to the RMH and to the Hockey Challenge by clicking on the banner above and referencing my name and team (Tyler Hunnex, Team IEB).

I will try not to be too annoying about this but I will remind everyone several times before the weekend of the Challenge.

Tbirds Fall Short

Down 4-1 in the 3rd period the Thunderbirds could have easily folded up the tent and called it quits, turning their attention to prepare for the Everett Silvertips tonight. Instead, they put together a quality 3rd period against a very good Kamloops squad and forced a one goal game with just under 3 minutes to play. Ultimately, the rally fell short as Chase Schaber tossed in an empty net goal from about 150 feet away to seal the deal. Seattle desperately needs points right now but I like the effort that I saw from them in the 3rd period and it is the type of hockey they are going to need to play if they want to hold on to this playoff spot.

• Unfortunately, I was running late last night and missed the first two Kamloops goals scored in the beginning of the first period.
• Chance Lund had an excellent game scoring two goals and narrowly missed scoring a 3rd on two different occasions. The biggest "almost" came late in the 3rd period on a shot that hit the post. In my mind, Lund has worked hard all season and his points have not always reflected his efforts. Points tend to come and go, but Lund has been one of the few players who has consistently "brought it" on the ice more time than not.
• Daniel Cotton got the start and played well despite giving up a very soft goal in the 2nd period. Soft goals are going to happen to 17 year old goaltenders, and the way he played after the goal was far more important than the goal itself.  The 4th goal wasn't his fault and he played well from that point forward. He looked a little shaky on a few saves that immediately followed the goal but he seemed to settle in after that. I've said it before and I will say it again, I feel pretty comfortable with Daniel Cotton as our goaltender next season.
• Let's not get crazy here... but Connor Sanvido has given the team some good minutes lately. Let's hope that he stays focused on skating hard and playing good defense in his own zone and maybe he can build on this.
• I was not a fan of the game called by Colby Smith and Adam Griffiths. Let's just leave it at that. Despite that, Seattle has to be more disciplined. It's pretty tough to survive against the best teams in the league when you are surrendering 6 power plays. On the flip side, Seattle also had 6 power play chances of their own and weren't able to convert. The biggest "miss" was a 2 minute long 5-on-3 that spanned the 2nd and 3rd periods. The passing has got to be a lot crisper. Fans are yelling "shoot," but the problem is not the lack of shots taken. The problem is the lack of puck movement that will naturally lead to shots. Quick sidebar: When I coached basketball I had a mantra with my players that you have to "be fast, but don't hurry" as opposed to "being slow and then panicking". Right now, there are far too many times where Seattle is slow and the panicking with the puck and it shows up most obviously on the Power Play.
• Another solid game from Seth Swenson. He made a few mistakes but overall, I really like what I see out of this kid. He is the definition of an "industrious" player. He works hard and he is hungry around the net. His efforts may not produce the prettiest of goals, but they also tend to produce results. His slashing penalty in the 2nd period was a bad one, but generally speaking, I've seen a lot more good than bad out of him.

Seattle needs points badly. They are slipping dangerously close to the "pack" of Victoria, Prince George and Everett. If they want to make the playoffs they absolutely need to get points from games like tonight against Everett, and it won't be easy. Everett has played much more competitively since the Christmas break and they flat out whipped the Tbirds back on January 4th. Seattle still has 29 games left but they need to make games against Everett count. I'm headed up there again tonight... Let's get a win.

Losing Streak Over

Seattle gets two goals from newly acquired Seth Swenson and Justin Hickman forces in a shorthanded goal late  in the 3rd period and pick up a 3-2 win in Spokane.

Spokane controlled most of the first period but they were able to turn things around towards the end of the 1st and despite trailing going into the 3rd period they rallied for the win. Calvin Pickard was once again stout in net and made at least 2 saves from point blank that would have altered the outcome of the game.

Seattle hits the bus again and travels down the way to Kennewick to face the Americans tomorrow night.

Monday Matinee

Just a quick update today before the strange 2pm start time to the Thunderbirds game in Spokane today. Some thoughts about the weekend:

• Obviously, Friday night was a disaster. The Tbirds managed to give up two goals in the first 30 seconds of the game and five goals in the first period before eventually falling to the Kamloops Blazers 7-1. Kamloops is a quality team and losing to them isn't something to be embarrassed about, however the way Seattle played IS something to be embarrassed about. The Tbirds take no pride in playing defense and winning pucks down low in their own zone. Centers aren't covering the front of the net, which is causing the often out-numbered defenders to allow the opposing forwards to own the slot area.  Pickard can only make so many saves and stop so many rebounds.  The lack of defensive pride by the forwards and the lack of strength and urgency by the defense is the single biggest problem facing this team. I have said it before and I will say it again, I think Farwell made a mistake in not trading Pickard to any team for any return. This team just isn't playing hard for him and you might as well give Cotton the time and experience between the pipes. Of course, that didn't happen so you might as well do the opposite and just ride the heck out of Pickard all the way to the end of the season. It will be the job of Coach K to see if he can do something/anything to get some of these guys playing the game the proper way.
Saturday night against Portland was a slightly better effort, especially in the 1st period, but things fell apart quickly in the 2nd period as the Winterhawks scored two quick goals to break the game open.  [I will point out again that the game on Saturday night was horribly officiated but it really didn't have much of an impact on the outcome of the game.]
• The last two games have seen Luke Lockhart on the point during the Power Play. Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I wrote about wanting to see Lockhart at the point on the PP and get guys like Jacobs and Gallimore down on the wings or in front of the net. Heck, I'd love to see Sutter be the guy standing in front of the net with forwards out top. Friday night this configuration looked ok, but by Saturday night things looked pretty bad again. I'm hoping that Coach K gives it a little bit of time to develop, as I believe Lockhart could be very good there provided he is given a chance to settle in a bit.
• Seattle has now started the month of January with 5 straight losses. Last season, Seattle gained only 4 points in 15 games. In 2009-2010, Seattle earned 5 points in January. What is the deal with January the past 3 seasons??

Almost time to hook the game up to the computer. I hope everyone is enjoying the snow. Let's hope Seattle comes out with a little more urgency today.

Comments

I posted this comment this morning in response to a thread that was making wild accusations about Kent-Meridian High School and I feel it deserves its own post.

Please be careful about the comments that you make on this blog. I do NOT want to be in the business of censoring people but if people aren't going to think about what they post before they do it... I won't have much of a choice.

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Whoa whoa whoa. Let's not get carried away here people. It is very irresponsible to be running around making comments about things like this anonymously.

You can't go running around making anonymous comments and acting like they are "facts". If you want to provide a source where a parent was quoted in a paper or something like that... be my guest.

As for the MC article.  I would seriously question the journalistic integrity of a reporter who will ask questions that are based on opinion and treat them as though they are facts.

It is pretty tough to "factually" define a school because there are so many different ways to evaluate education. Great Schools lists KM as a 4 out of 10 which would be slightly below average. The reviews give it 4 out of 5 stars which is excellent.

School Digger rates KM as 2 out of 5 stars (again slightly below average) but it also shows that test scores are on the rise and statewide performance is on the rise.

KM is also the only High School in Kent with an IB program.

Based on those facts... I could then formulate an opinion about the school just like everyone else can but it would still only be my opinion.

I'd really appreciate it if everyone would please stick to facts and opinions and make sure that we are clear on the definition of both.

Let's try not to make wild speculations (anonymously) about the intentions of players and their parents and represent it as a fact.

Verdino and Aschim

UPDATE - Dillon Wagner it is. Seattle has claimed Wagner off waivers from Portland and he will join the team immediately.  The Tbirds really need a defender but they will take what they can get for now and let Coach K figure it out from here.

Kyle Verdino and Sean Aschim are both no longer with the team.

It sounds like Verdino has a health related issue and Aschim was simply looking for more playing time and wasn't going to get it with the upcoming return of Brendan Rouse.

That leaves Seattle with only two 20 year old players and there probably aren't very many options out there with the passing of the trade deadline.  Kelowna just released Kevin Smith who could be a possibility and Portland just released Dillon Wagner.