T-Birds Doubled up by Cougars
WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Doubled up by Cougars

Published on October 25, 2025 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -Brock England had a goal and an assist but the Seattle Thunderbirds couldn't hold on to an early lead and fell to the Prince George Cougars, 6-3, Friday at the CN Centre. The same two teams will face each other again in Prince George Saturday. The T-Birds next home game is October 31st versus the Saskatoon Blades.

Seattle (4-7-0-0) built a 3-1 lead through the first half of the opening period. England scored an unassisted goal at 4:44, his team leading sixth goal of the season. Vanek Popil made it 2-0 just 27 seconds later, assisted by Sawyer Mayes and Cameron Kuzma.

With the two teams skating four a side, Prince George got on the board at the seven minute mark but the T-Birds responded sixteen seconds later when Simon Lovsin tipped in an England shot from the left circle. Grayson Tash had the second assist.

"The start was really good," said head coach Matt O'Dette. "We jumped on our path and had a lot of our formula for success in place, but we fell off the formula really quick."

It was a Cougars power play goal that started a string of five unanswered for Prince George. "It was an avoidable penalty," explained O'Dette of what led to the Cougars top ranked power play unit getting untracked. "We have a 3-1 lead: that's part of game management. You can't take a penalty there."

Another P.G. power play goal tied it midway through the second period. Less than two minutes later the Cougars took the lead for good. They tacked on one more later in the period, then closed out the scoring at 7:50 of the third period.

"Winning's got to be enough of a motivating factor," stated O'Dette. "We don't have enough buy in and commitment right now. That's the bottom line. You have to do the things the team needs you to do to win, whether you're providing offense or not. You have to be committed to defending and doing your part to win a game."

While the Cougars were 2-for-4 on the power play, the Thunderbirds were 0-for-3 with the man advantage, hitting at least three posts in the process.

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

Earlier in the day the NHL's Buffalo Sabres reassigned defenseman Radim Mrtka to the Thunderbirds. It's anticipated he will be in the line for the Thunderbirds Saturday.

After Saturday's rematch in Prince George against the Cougars, 14 of the Thunderbirds next 21 games will be on home ice.

Two T-Birds prospects, Brook Haile and Dylan Sherban, are playing for Team Alberta at the WHL Cup.

Check out the Seattle Thunderbirds Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from October 25, 2025


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