WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

In The Corners with Thom Beuning

Published on April 6, 2005 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


There weren't any real big surprises from the first round of the playoffs for Seattle. The Thunderbirds were the favored team and they advanced over the Americans in five games. Sure, every one of the games was decided by one goal, including two overtime affairs, but that just mirrored what took place between the two teams in the regular season.

If there was concern it came early when the T-birds, already without the services of defenseman Zack FitzGerald due to a suspension that cost him the first three games of the series, lost blue liner Bretton Stamler early in the first period of Game One. It was on just his second shift when Stamler caught a skate in a rut near the T-birds blue line and went down for the remainder of the series. Later in the series they would lose the services of defenseman Matthew Hansen. That left the T-birds defensive core shorthanded. Stepping forward was 16-year old Eli Grossman. Grossman saw very little ice time in the regular season but rose to the occasion when called upon against Tri-City. The Delta Junction, Alaska native did what he was asked to do by the coaching staff. He played within himself, not trying to do too much. He concentrated on playing well inside his own end of the ice. While he didn't get much ice time late in games, his ability to contribute early in each game helped saved the legs of the veteran d-men for the crucial late stages. He thus was instrumental in helping to hold the Ams to just nine goals in the series. When you factor in overtime that means the T-birds allowed Tri-City well under a goal per game.

Even with their defensive crew down a couple of key components Seattle's d-men provided crucial offense against Tri, led by the five assists from Kyle Fecho. While Bryan Bridges was certainly the team's MVP in the first round, Fecho was the team's unsung hero. In all, the Thunderbirds registered 28 points against Tri-City in the first round (12g, 16a). Defenseman accounted for a little over one third of that total (1g, 9a).

The Thunderbirds top line during the regular season continues to be their top line in the playoffs. The trio of Aaron Gagnon, Derek Couture and Ladislav Scurko accumulated 11 points (7g, 4a) and were responsible for 3 of the 4 game winning goals. If not for Scurko's highlight reel goal in the third period of Game Five, we might still be playing against the Americans.

So, now it's on to Round Two and a best-of-seven match up against the defending Memorial Cup Champion Kelowna Rockets. This is where that six game winless streak in late January/early February hurt the T-birds. During that dry spell the Rockets were able to pass Seattle in the Western Conference standings and thus earn home ice advantage for this series. But, based on the regular season series the T-birds might be able to steal one on the road from the Rockets. Seattle was 2-1-0-1 against Kelowna this year. They shutout the Rockets twice at KeyArena, then lost a close 2-1 game to the Rockets at Prospera Place February 16th. The ‘Birds returned to Kelowna a week later and overcame a three-goal third period deficit before falling to the Rockets, 4-3, in overtime. Thus, the T-birds were the only team to earn a road point in the regular season series.

The question in this series may come down to which defensive unit gets healthy. The Rockets played Round One without the leader of their blue line crew, Shea Weber. Meanwhile the status of Seattle's Stamler and Hansen are still up in the air going into Game One. Both teams did prove in the first round that they have capable players ready to pick up the slack.

DID YOU KNOW: Seattle outscored the Rockets 11-6 during the four games of the regular season, including 7-0 in a pair of home ice shutouts. The scoring in the two games in Kelowna was 6-4 in favor of the Rockets with one of their goals coming in overtime.

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 April 6, 2005


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