T-Birds Earn Road Point in Spokane
December 5, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
Spokane, WA. - Kevin Korchinski's first goal in the Western Hockey League helped the Seattle Thunderbirds earn a point in the standings as they dropped a, 3-2, overtime decision to the Spokane Chiefs Saturday at the Spokane Arena. The Thunderbirds return home to the accesso ShoWare Center Tuesday to face the Kelowna Rockets. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
T-birds Head Coach Matt O'Dette felt his team played well enough to win, but on this night, the bounces didn't go their way, as his team outshot Spokane 38-18. "I thought we played a good game. We were in their end for most of the night." He said most nights that will win you games. "As far as effort, sticking to the game plan, I thought we did that. Maybe not cashing in on some of our chances was the downfall tonight, but we come forward with that effort, we win nine out of ten games."
Seattle (13-6-3-0) outshot the Chiefs 18-3 in the first period but found themselves down a goal when the period ended. Spokane (6-12-2-1) struck first with a goal late in the period from Yannick Proske. Seattle responded at 5:55 of the second period as Reid Schaefer scored his ninth, assisted by Jared Davidson and Nico Myatovic.
The game remained tied until early in period three when the Chiefs regained the lead with a Cordel Larson power play goal at 3:32. The Thunderbirds answered at the 12:28 mark on Korchinski's goal. "It's always nice to score your first WHL goal. It was just nice to tie the game up and give our team some hope." The goal came while the teams were skating four aside. Of course, Korchinski credited his teammates. "I believe it was either Gus or Roozy who gave me the puck on the blueline. I just walked to the middle and beat my guy. I just ripped it glove, and he (Spokane's goalie) missed it." Jordan Gustafson and Conner Roulette each had an assist on the tying goal.
Spokane won on the only shot of the extra period, when Graham Sward completed a 3-on-1 rush with a tap in at the left post.
The T-birds have points in four straight games (2-0-2-0). O'Dette acknowledged the importance of those points. He said his team has higher standards though, and felt they should have won the last two games they dropped in overtime, but added, "The bottom line is at the end of the day, if we're competing out there, playing as hard as we can and playing to the T-bird identity, we can live with the results. There are things we can improve and going forward, we'll continue to do that."
-BIRDS EXTRAS
Once again Seattle played without Henrik Rybinski, who missed his seventh game due to an upper body injury. He suffered the injury the last time the T-birds were in Spokane, November 19th.
With his assist on the Korchinski goal, Gustafson now has a point in five straight games. Davidson extended his point streak to four games with his second period assist.
After Tuesday's home game Seattle will take to the road next weekend for a pair of games. They will travel to Kamloops and Kelowna for games next Friday and Saturday. The trek will be their first venture across the border into Canada since March 6th, 2020, when they played in Kelowna.
Western Hockey League Stories from December 5, 2021
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