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WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Roll Past Royals

January 25, 2025 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


KENT, Wash. -Scott Ratzlaff turned aside 34 shots and Matej Pekar scored twice as the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Victoria Royals, 4-1, Friday at the accesso ShoWare Center, earning them their second straight win. The T-Birds take to the road Saturday, traveling to the Angel of the Winds Arena to face the Everett Silvertips at 6:05

"It's a sign of a real mature team when you can follow up a good performance with another one," said head coach Matt O'Dette. "It shows that we're taking some strides in that area, showing some consistency."

Victoria scored the only goal of the opening period, striking on the power play at 14:43. Seattle (16-25-2-1) responded with a three goal second period. Pekar tied the game with his seventh of the season at 4:24.

"I feel like I'm getting more comfortable, after a long time without scoring," said the rookie from Czechia. "I like it and my teammates help me with some positivity." Hayden Pakkala and Antonio Martorana had the assist on the T-Birds first goal.

The T-Birds took the lead for good on a Coster Dunn power play goal at 11:32, with Braeden Cootes earning the assist. Dunn now has scored six goals and added eight assists in his last twelve games.

"I think, just having a young team (we're) starting to mesh together the second half," commented Dunn of his post-Christmas break success. "The boys are rejuiced up and that helps a lot to build some chemistry and get things rolling."

Cootes gave Seattle a 3-1 lead heading into the second intermission when he scored with a minute left in the period. Cootes now shares the T-Birds goal scoring lead with linemate Nathan Pilling. Both have 20 goals on the season.

The T-Birds protected their lead with two early third period penalty kills. "The PK had to come up with some big kills in the third period," said O'Dette. "And Scotty was really good as well," he added about his goalie's effort. "A big penalty shot save. He was strong on our penalty kills. That's what we need from him as well."

Shortly after they killed off a third Royals power play, the T-Birds added to their lead with Pekar scoring at 14:30, off a pass from Radim Mrtka, to finish off an odd man rush.

"Despite giving up the first goal, we stayed composed," remarked O'Dette. "We stayed on the path, managed to get some offense going in the second and closed out the game the right way."

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

The Thunderbirds have outscored their last two opponents, 11-2. Over their last six games the T-Birds have outscored their opponents 16-6 in the third period and later.

Since being acquired at the trade deadline Brayden Schuurman has picked up eight points in five games on two goals and six assists.

Seattle improved their post trade deadline record to 4-2-0-0 and are 5-4 in the month of January.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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