WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Flag Down Americans

April 16, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


KENNEWICK, Wash. - For the second straight game Jared Davidson finished with a hat trick and the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Tri-City Americans, 6-4, Friday at the Toyota Center. This was Seattle's final game of the regular season. They open the playoffs next Friday at home. They will take on the Kelowna Rockets in Game One of a best-of-seven first round matchup. Game time at the accesso ShoWare Center is 7:05 p.m.

With the win, Seattle (44-18-4-2) swept all fourteen games in the season series against the Americans.

T-birds head coach Matt O'Dette, who rested some veterans and went with a young lineup, said it wasn't a perfect game, but winning made up for that. "It's nice to have that feeling in the room and to get on a happy bus. It wasn't our best game by any means but we're happy with the two points and it's a good end to our regular season." Seattle finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak.

Against the Americans, Seattle opened the scoring at 3:17 of the first period on Ethan Mittelsteadt's second goal of the season, assisted by Sam Popowich. After Tri-City's Jake Sloan tied the game at 9:02 while skating with the man advantage, the T-birds took the lead back for good with a power play goal of their own at 18:20 from Conner Roulette. Jeremy Hanzel and Jordan Gustafson earned the assists.

The two teams traded goals in the second period. Seattle scored twice, less than a minute apart. Matt Rempe struck first at 7:09. Davidson followed 51-seconds later with his first of the game, and 40th of the season. Hanzel had the lone assists on both goals. The Americans made it a one goal game again with goals at 12:19, from Parker Bell and at 15:31 from San Huo.

Davidson's second of the game early in the third period restored the T-birds two-goal lead, assisted by Roulette and Sawyer Mynio. Tri-City pulled back within 5-4 when Sloan scored his second at 15:26 but Davidson iced the game with his third of the night into an empty net with 30-seconds left. Kevin Korchinski and Chase Lacombe had the assists on Seattle's sixth goal.

Davidson finished the regular season with 42-goals, exceeding a goal he set for himself before the season began. "I looked at season's past. I kind of predicted about 36, shooting for that. I surpassed that a little while ago, so everything after that has been a treat." Davidson said a lot of the credit goes to his teammates, especially the last two games, crediting them with some nice passing to set him up. "A couple of pretty amazing passes the last few games by our d-men, so I have nothing but good things to say about them."

Meanwhile O'Dette says the team will quickly turn their focus to Kelowna and the first round of the postseason. "We're excited. We played some good hockey the last couple of weeks in preparation for the playoffs. We're in a good spot. We're getting healthy. I think our team is ready to take a run at this."

In addition to Game One against Kelowna Friday, the T-birds will host the Rockets in Game Two of the playoffs next Saturday. The series then shifts to Kelowna for Games Three and Four April 26th and 27th. Game five if necessary, would be back in Kent Friday, April 29th. Game Six would be back in Kelowna and if a Game Seven is needed, that would be Sunday, May 1st back at the accesso ShoWare Center.

T-BIRD EXTRAS

With nothing at stake in Friday's season finale, Seattle rested all three of their 20-year-old players; Henrik Rybinski, Lukas Svejkovsky and Ryan Gottfried. Gottfried has been nursing a lower body injury and missed the final ten games of the regular season. Defenseman Samuel Knazko was also given the night off.

Defenseman Hyde Davidson, the first of the T-birds three second round selections in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft in December, made his Thunderbirds debut against Tri-City. Davidson, from Edmonton, Alberta, was taken with the 24th overall pick.

Seattle finished with a road mark of 23-10-1-0, a franchise single season record.

Scott Ratzlaff earned the win in net with 33 saves. He finishes the season with a 17-2-1-0 record. The 17-wins is the most by a T-birds 16-year-old goalie since Calvin Pickard recorded 23 wins back in the 2008-09 season.

Check out the Seattle Thunderbirds Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from April 16, 2022


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