T-Birds Thump Winter Hawks
Published on February 7, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
SEATTLE, February 6, 2003 â The Seattle Thunderbirds are slowly and methodically closing the gap on the last playoff spot in the U.S. division.
Friday night in front of 5,167 at the KeyArena, the Thunderbirds scored six unanswered goals to beat the Portland Winter Hawks 6-2.
"It feels good tonight. We just tried to get back to our game plan," said Tyler Metcalfe. Our power play was better than it has been tonight, which was great."
Seattle's win, combined with the Spokane Chiefs 3-1 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night, moves the Thunderbirds only six points out of the last playoff spot in the U.S. division. The Thunderbirds, with 46 points, trail the Chiefs for the last playoff spot. Seattle is 11 points behind the Winter Hawks and Everett Silvertips, who are tied for second in the division.
Seattle (17-25-8-4) got the win, but it didn't look good early, as the Winter Hawks scored the first two goals.
Portland (26-22-4-1) took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Brandon Dubinsky at 15:46 of the first period. Richie Regehr and Brian Woolger had the assists on Dubinsky's 26th goal of the year.
The Winter Hawks make it 2-0 at 3:10 of the second when Braydon Coburn beat Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges with a slap shot from just inside the right blue line high on the glove side. Alex Aldred had the assist on the second Portland goal.
Seattle got one back at 5:09 of the second. Metcalfe brought the puck out from behind the Portland goal. He beat Portland goalie Dustin Butler with a backhand shot from right crease. Denis Tolpeko and Adam Fecho had the assists on Metcalfe's 17th goal of the year.
"It always takes one to get it started," said Metcalfe. "I was just trying to get it there and it took a lucky bounce and went in."
Seattle tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal by Nate Thompson. Thompson pounded home a rebound from the right faceoff dot for his 12th goal of the year. Dustin Johner, on the left goal line, fed Matthew Hansen at the left point. Hansen launched a booming slap shot on goal and the rebound came right to Thompson.
Seattle used the power-play to take the lead. Aaron Gagnon beat Butler at 13:22 of the second. Hansen and Thompson had the assists on the go-ahead goal.
"There were a lot of good things out there tonight, especially the power play," said Seattle head coach Dean Chynoweth.
Seattle added a fourth goal at 5:25 of the third when Clayton Barthel ripped a slap shot past Butler. It was Barthel's second goal of the year. Johner and Metcalfe had the assists for their second points of the night.
The Thunderbirds scored their fifth goal of the night by crashing the net. Cole Simpson put back a rebound at 8:35 of the third after a scramble in front of the Portland net. Ryan Gibbons and Hansen had the assists. It was Hansen's third assist of the night.
Seattle just kept scoring. They used a two-man advantage to take a 6-2 lead at 11:36 of the third. Metcalfe scored his second of the night from the right crease when he lifted a backhand shot past Butler. Johner and Thompson had the assists, increasing their point total on the evening to three points each, with tied the season high for a Thunderbirds player in a game.
"A game like tonight is something we are going to feed off of and try to continue the rest of the season," said Metcalfe.
Defenseman Zack FitzGerald returned to the Seattle lineup after missing 10 games with an ankle injury.
Bridges stopped 15 of 17 shots and improves his record to 12-16-3. Butler stopped 34 of 40 shots for the Winter Hawks. His record falls to 4-2-0.
Seattle and Portland play again on Saturday night in Portland at 7 p.m. Seattle is back home Sunday night to take on the Prince George Cougars at 5 p.m. at KeyArena.
Western Hockey League Stories from February 7, 2004
- Hawks Fall To T-Birds 6-2 - Portland Winterhawks
- Brandon Wheat Kings Game Notes - Brandon Wheat Kings
- T-Birds Thump Winter Hawks - Seattle Thunderbirds
- Chiefs drop 3-1 decision to Warriors - Spokane Chiefs
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