T-Birds Topple Tri-City
December 15, 2021 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
Kennewick, WA. - Kevin Korchinski and Jared Davidson combined for three goals and five assists, and the Seattle Thunderbirds downed the Tri-City Americans, 7-1, Tuesday at the Toyota Center. Jordan Gustafson added two goals as the T-birds won their fourth straight game. The Thunderbirds return home Friday to face the Everett Silvertips at the accesso ShoWare Center at 7:05 p.m.
Seattle played the game with three of their top six defenseman sidelined with injury. To fill the void, the T-birds employed two 16-year-olds, Niko Tsakumis and Ethan Mittelsteadt, who entered the night with a combined three games of WHL experience between them. Head Coach Matt O'Dette said they held their own. "The young guys played well. The veterans picked up their game as well. I was happy to get the win. That was a quick turnaround from the weekend with a lot of hours on the bus."
Davidson opened the scoring at 7:03 of the first period, finishing off a pass from Henrik Rybinski. Korchinski had the second assist. The T-birds ran into penalty trouble later in the period and the Americans (7-13-3-0) tied the game on their third power play opportunity. Sasha Mutala scored with less than three minutes left in the first period.
Seattle (17-6-3-0) would answer with six straight goals to pull away. They tallied a power play goal of their own at 9:11 of period two. Gustafson buried a pass from Conner Roulette with Korchinski earning his second assist. It took just 13-seconds for the T-birds to make it 3-1, when Matt Rempe scored his fifth of the season when he put back his own rebound. The assists went to Mekai Sanders and Jeremy Hanzel. Before the second period was over the T-birds scored again, with Davidson getting his second of the game at 15:28. Korchinski had the lone assist.
It was more of the same in the third period. Just a minute in to the final frame, Gustafson scored his second of the night, assisted by Davidson and Ryan Gottfried. Korchinski made it 6-1 T-birds with his fourth of the season at the 3:40 mark. Davidson picked up his second assist. Eric Van Impe also was credited with an assist on Korchinski's fourth goal in the last five games.
The second year T-bird now has seven points in his last two games on three goals and four assists. He says he's taking advantage of his opportunities. "I'm confident in my abilities every game but the whole team is kind of rolling right now. We've been playing really good hockey and we're finishing our chances and it's really helped me in my play."
Sam Oremba closed out the scoring with a breakaway goal with four minutes remaining, his second of the season.
O'Dette said it wasn't a typical 7-1 game, crediting his goalie Thomas Milic with keeping the Americans down. "He was excellent. I don't think that was a 7-1 game. I think Milic made it a 7-1 game by his strong play. Several ten-bell saves to keep them off the scoreboard. He was the reason we had the lead that we did." Milic ended the night with 21 saves. It was the third straight game he limited the opposition to one goal. Earlier in the day Milic was selected as the WHL Goalie of the Week after wins in each of his two starts last week.
After their home game Friday, the Thunderbirds will play in Everett Saturday. It will be the last game before a ten-day Christmas break.
T-BIRD EXTRAS
Seattle played the game without their captain, Tyrel Bauer who is out after suffering a lower body injury last Friday in Kamloops. Defenseman Sawyer Mynio was hurt in the same game and missed his second straight contest. Also out of the lineup was defenseman Sam Knazko who left last Saturday's game in Kelowna with an upper body injury.
With Bauer out, 20-year-old defenseman Ryan Gottfried picked up some of the leadership slack and earned his second assist in the process. "It's not something significantly different. It's more of small things here and there to help out. Being a leader is more of leading by example. Getting on the board is a little bit of a reward."
The Thunderbirds have points in eight straight games, picking up 14 of a possible 16 points.
The T-birds have won all six games in the season series against Tri-City, outscoring the Americans 31-10.
Western Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2021
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