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Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Earn Giant Road Win

October 9, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


LANGLEY, B.C. - Kevin Korchinski's power play goal in overtime lifted the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Giants Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. Gracyn Sawchyn added two goals in regulation as Seattle ran its record to start the season to 4-0, the first time in franchise history they have opened the season with four wins. The Thunderbirds return home Tuesday to host the Medicine Hat Tigers at the accesso ShoWare Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

In a game that featured a combined 15 power plays the T-birds finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage while the Giants failed to score on eight power play opportunities of their own.

Seattle head coach Matt O'Dette said that was the difference in the game. "The penalty kill was effective. A lot of time on the power play. It wasn't super sharp, but we cashed in when we needed it."

For the first time this season Seattle fell behind as the Giants Sam Honzek scored at 14:21 of the first period. The Thunderbirds tied the game and then took the lead with Sawchyn's two goals four and a half minutes apart in the second period.

The first, at 9:33, came via the power play. "Kind of got my own rebound off the goalie. It came back to me. I took it to the net, shot it and it went in," he said. Jeremy Hanzel and Sam Popowich earned the assists.

Sawchyn's second goal, at 14:01 came after a strong move to the net by Lucas Ciona. Sawchyn was able to take the pass and squeeze it through the pads of Vancouver goalie Brett Mirwald. "It was a shot that snuck in through the five hole but a good pass from Ciona."

The Giants tied the game at 2-2 with under a minute left in period two when Kyle Bochek finished an odd man rush with his first goal of the season.

The third period was scoreless but with thirty seconds left in regulation, the Giants were assessed a minor penalty for hooking. The penalty carried over into the overtime where Korchinski scored off a shot from the high slot at the 57-second mark.

Like Sawchyn, Korchinski gave credit to Ciona on the game winner. "We were just firing pucks on net there. I thought he (the goalie) was cheating to one side, so I saw the other side open. I got it through a great screen from Ciona." The assists on the goal went to Jared Davidson and Kyle Crnkovic.

The Thunderbirds outshot Vancouver on the night, 38-24. Scott Ratzlaff earned his second win of the season in net with a 22-save performance. While he didn't face as many shots as his Vancouver counterpart, O'Dette said he came up huge when needed. "He was there when we had our breakdowns. We limited them but when we did have breakdowns, Ratzy was there for us."

This was Seattle's first back-to-back games on the road of the season. The Thunderbirds had played and won the night before in Kelowna. "I thought it was a little bit of a slow start," said O'Dette. "We started to get it going as the first period went on but when you are trying to be efficient on the road, taking too many penalties is not the way to do it. Killing that many penalties is very taxing."

T-BIRD EXTRAS

This was the third of four meetings on the season with Vancouver. The Thunderbirds have won all three. The regular season series wraps up December 11th in Kent.

The Thunderbirds have now won nine consecutive regular season road games against the B.C. Division, including four in Langley over the Giants.

In two games since returning from NHL training camp with the Chicago Blackhawks, Korchinski has four points (1g, 4a). "We know we have a lot of work to do. We have big aspirations. It's good to be back. Moving forward we have a lot to work on but it's a lot to look forward to."

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