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WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Start Road Trip with Loss

October 19, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


BRANDON, MB - Braeden Cootes scored their lone goal as the Seattle Thunderbirds lost the first game of a six-game road trip with a 4-1 defeat in Brandon to the Wheat Kings. The loss snapped Seattle's three game winning streak. The Thunderbirds search for their first road win of the season continues Saturday when they travel to the Brandt Centre in Regina to play the Pats.

The Thunderbirds (4-5-1-0) started the game well, outshooting the Wheat Kings 7-1 through the first nine minutes. But they took a tripping penalty at 7:41 and Brandon converted the power play into the game's first goal at 9:03.

"I thought the start was pretty good," remarked head coach Matt O'Dette. "But the first penalty kill chance you get is very important. You want to get a good one under your belt to try and keep the momentum. Unfortunately we lost the momentum there."

The game remained 1-0 until the final five minutes of the second period when Brandon would add two more goals, just over two minutes apart, to extend their lead to 3-0.

"We would have good stretches in the game," explained O'Dette. "Then we'd have a pretty big breakdown in our own end and the puck is in the back of our net. Our margins are small."

Brandon stretched the lead to 4-0 at 5:41 of the third period before the T-Birds finally got on the board with an unassisted goal from Cootes at 9:46. The goal extended Cootes' point streak to five games.

"Did they outplay us?" asked O'Dette. "Not necessarily, but they cashed in on our mistakes, mistakes we're continuing to make. We need to see improvements."

Seattle did have two plays in the first period where they thought they had scored. Both went to video review but were waived off. "That first one was unfortunate," said O'Dette of a goal disallowed because the net was dislodged. "The explanation was that if the shot had been taken before the net came off, then it would have counted. That one didn't go our way."

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

The T-Birds played Friday without their leading goal scorer, Nathan Pilling, who served out the first game of a two-game suspension for a Check to the Head major penalty assessed to him last Saturday versus Portland.

Earlier in the day Friday the NHL's Buffalo Sabres announced they had signed T-Birds goalie Scott Ratzlaff to his entry level contract. Buffalo selected Ratzlaff in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

The T-Birds continue to play without their leading returning goal scorer from last season. Antonio Martorana will miss at least two more weeks with a lower body injury. Meanwhile, Defenseman Owen Boucher is listed as week to week with an upper body injury.

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