T-Birds Top Tri-City
March 19, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
KENNEWICK, Wash. - Scott Ratzlaff brushed aside 27 shots as the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Tri-City Americans, 3-1, Friday at the Toyota Center. The win moved Seattle within three points of second place in the U.S. Division. The Thunderbirds return home Saturday to face the Portland WInterhawks, the team right in front of them in the standings. Game time at the accesso ShoWare Center is 6:05 p.m.
The Thunderbirds once again played with five key players out of the lineup, then lost one more in the opening period when Gabe Ludwig left with an upper body injury. "We did what we had to do," said head coach Matt O'Dette. "Short some bodies, guys stepped up. Rattzy was good for us. We'll take the two points and run."
Ratzlaff had to be good early as he faced several high-quality scoring chances in the first period. The young goaltender said he felt good from the start. "Yeah, I think so. I stepped on the ice, had a good warm up and was ready. You get some shots early and it sets the pace for the rest of the game.
O'Dette says he could see from the bench that his netminder was dialed in. "You can tell. Several big saves in the first period. He was locked in and we needed him to be. We weren't sharp at times and that's where you need your goalie to bail you out and he was there for us."
Seattle (36-15-4-2) struck first, midway through the first period. With the teams skating four aside, Jordan Gustafson fed a pass to Sawyer Mynio out in the slot. Mynio skated right to left and snapped home his fourth of the season. Nico Myatovic had the second assist.
The T-birds lead held until the midpoint of the second period when Tanner Gould's first goal in the WHL tied it up for Tri-City. The Thunderbirds used their special teams to break the tie. The game winning goal came shorthanded, on a Lukas Svejkovsky breakaway, at 14:44, assisted by Sam Popowich. Then, with just ten seconds left in the period, Conner Roulette snapped home a power play goal, with Mekai Sanders and Jeremy Hanzel earning the assists.
O'Dette said his team was opportunistic with their offense. "That's how it has to be sometimes. Obviously, we were short-staffed, and you have to take your goals and your opportunities when you get them. Nice goal by Sawyer to get us going. Really nice finish by Svej on the shorty." O'Dette said while the power play wasn't as effective as he would have liked it to be, they got one goal out of it off a broken play. "It gave us a nice boost going into the intermission. We weathered the storm in the third period and finished it off."
It was the fourth straight game Seattle did not allow a third period goal.
Seattle's home game Saturday is the middle game of three games in three nights. They travel down to Portland Sunday to battle the Winterhawks at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
Seattle is now 11-0-0-0 against Tri-City with three games remaining in the season series.
Matt Rempe served out the second of a three-game suspension assessed by the league for his five-minute boarding major and game misconduct last Saturday versus Everett. He is eligible to return to the lineup Sunday in Portland.
Leading scorer Jared Davidson was out of the lineup for the second straight game with an upper body injury and is listed as day to day.
Henrik Rybinski missed his eighth straight game with an upper body injury as well. He last played February 26th.
Lucas Ciona, injured a week ago against Portland, was out of the lineup for a third consecutive game. Tyrel Bauer, out since suffering a lower body injury December 10th, missed his 32nd game.
With five players unavailable, the T-birds once again had Ethan Mittelsteadt and Coster Dunn in the lineup versus the Americans. The two affiliated players were recalled prior to Tuesday's game.
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