WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

In The Corners with Thom Beuning

Published on March 23, 2005 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


PLAYING THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT: You never know where fate may take you. A lot of things had to align correctly for the T-Birds to have the kind of regular season they just completed. It started with the right coaching change. I'm sure there were a lot of Thunderbird fans who felt the organization had to make a splash by getting a recognizable "big" name to replace Dean Chynoweth behind the bench, possibly a guy with NHL experience like Everett did in hiring Kevin Constantine or, at the very least, someone with experience in a winning program. But without much fan fare or a long protracted search, General Manager Russ Farwell gave the keys to the car to longtime assistant Rob Sumner. It was really the easiest decision to make and, of course in the end, the right one.

It didn't seem like such a big transaction at the time when the T-Birds traded Aaron Bader to Saskatoon for 20-year old winger Derek Couture. After all, Couture had spent much of the previous season on the sideline with injury, playing for a team that won all of seven games and had missed the playoffs. But Couture proved to be a vital part of the Thunderbirds success and his play on a line with Aaron Gagnon and Ladislav Scurko, helped set the tone for many T-Birds games this season. More importantly he's been a great locker room guy and a positive influence on the younger players. The bonus was that Couture stayed healthy all season and recorded his best point total in his WHL career. But fate may have played its biggest role with the Thunderbirds in the last week of September, just after the team had returned home from the season opening, two game road trip to Prince George. Remember, the Thunderbirds split those two games with the Cougars. They lost the season opener, 1-0, but goaltender Josh Lepp played brilliant in defeat. The next night the ‘Birds got the offense going and beat P.G., 5-1, with Bryan Bridges in net. So there they were two games into the season with a pair of 19-year old goalies who had both played brilliant in their first starts. Only, one of them would have to go. The T-Birds had a young 16-year old ‘tender in Gavin McHale, who was going to be the number two.

A goalie controversy? You would think. But that's when the fickle hand of fate was raised, or in this case, broken. It was in practice the week following the Prince George trip that Lepp injured his and was relegated to the sidelines for nearly a month. Bryan Bridges then seized the opportunity and wouldn't let go. He firmly established himself as the team's number one goalie and Lepp was eventually traded to Moose Jaw. Bridges then went on to post 36 wins, earn a league record tying 13 shutouts and garner team MVP honors. How differently might things have been had Lepp never suffered that hand injury? After all, he was the opening night starter. What if he had stayed healthy and continued to play well? Maybe Bridges is the odd man out. We'll never know but we can be thankful fate turned in the right direction.

TRI, TRI, TRI: So now, it's onto the playoffs and a first round match-up with the Tri-City Americans. You know, this wasn't really an unimaginable first round series with the regular season started six months ago. Only the roles are reversed. Many prognosticators had the Ams winning the U.S. Division and the T-Birds finishing fourth. On paper the argument can be made that Tri-City may have more individual talent (personally, I don't make that argument) but it's a team game played on ice, not on paper and the Thunderbirds consistency throughout the season, their depth and regular season success against the Ams should give them the edge. I know the old adage is that you throw out the regular season stats when the postseason begins, but it is hard to ignore an 8-1 record with all eight wins coming with the Americans number one goaltender between the pipes. That said, the T-Birds had to work 60 minutes for every one of those eight wins and it will take the same work ethic to win in the playoffs.

DID YOU KNOW? During the regular season the Thunderbirds outscored the Americans, 27-16 over the course of the nine game season series. Half, or eight, of the Tri-City goals came in one game. That was the Ams only win of the season, an 8-1 victory January 26th at KeyArena. Even with that eight goal outburst the T-Birds limited Tri-City to an average of 1.77 goals per game while the T-Birds were scoring at a rate of 3 goals per game. Eliminate the 8-1 game and the Ams average goals per game versus Seattle this season is 1.14. Meanwhile, the T-birds were a perfect 5-0 at the Three Rivers Coliseum in Kennewick during the regular campaign.

This season Seattle Thunderbirds play-by-play voice Thom Beuning is writing a weekly column for Thunderbirds E-News. Each week Thom will take an in-depth look at the T-Birds. He will wrap up the previous week's games and preview upcoming T-Bird opponents. Thom will also spotlight T-Birds who are making contributions that you won't see on the score sheet. You can listen to the game on KKNW, 1150-AM or on the webcast at www.seattlethunderbirds.com. The broadcast begins with the T-birds pregame show, "Crash the Net" 25-minutes before the first period face-off.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2005


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