WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds Silence Giants

April 14, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


Langley, B.C. - Jared Davidson recorded a first period hat trick and Thomas Milic earned his third shutout of the season as the Seattle Thunderbirds blanked the Vancouver Giants, 6-0, Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre. Seattle has won three in a row with one game left in the regular season. They travel to Kennewick Friday to face the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center to close out the 2021-22 campaign.

T-birds head coach Matt O'Dette liked his team's first period. "The guys were dialed in. The first period definitely mirrored what we did on the weekend (two wins). All in all, a good night for us."

Seattle (43-18-4-1) wasted little time getting on the board. Davidson scored just 57-seconds into the first period after Lucas Ciona stole the puck at the Vancouver blue line and found Davidson all by himself in front of the Giants goal.

Matt Rempe's 16th of the season made it 2-0 at 5:19 assisted by Nico Myatovic. Less than a minute later the T-birds made it 3-0 when Bryce Pickford potted his first WHL goal, in just his second game, with Gabe Ludwig and Sam Knazko earning the assists.

Pickford, a second round selection, becomes the second member of Seattle's 2021 draft class to record a point this season. First round pick Tij Iginla earned an assist while playing in two games in January.

O'Dette said the credit goes to the team's scouting staff. "Our scouts do a great job, finding us talent. Not only that but finding us good kids, easy to coach," adding, "You wouldn't know these kids are that young the way they've stepped in and the way they've played."

Davidson would then score twice more before the period ended to complete the hat trick. His second goal came at 8:25 on a Conner Roulette assist and the third came seven and a half minutes later as Knazko earned his second assist of the game.

O'Dette credits Davidson for his improvement from the time he arrived as a 16-year-old a few years ago to now. "He deserves this success. He's put in a ton of work. It's paying off for him. He really dedicated himself in the offseason to make himself a better player."

The game remained 5-0 T-birds until the 15:15 mark of the second period when Sam Popowich tallied his ninth of the season to close out the scoring. Ciona picked up his second helper. Meanwhile Milic was turning aside 25-shots to earn his 26th win in net. Milic has allowed just three goals in his last three starts, going 3-0 and turning aside 65 of 68 shots in the process.

After Friday's game in Kennewick the T-birds will have a week to prepare for their first-round playoff matchup with the Kelowna Rockets. The series begins Friday, April 22nd at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent. Seattle will host Game Two the following night, Saturday, April 23rd. Tickets are on sale now at seattlethunderbirds.com.

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

With home ice in round one of the postseason locked up, Seattle rested Lukas Svejkovsky against the Giants. O'Dette wasn't sure if anyone would be held out of the lineup Friday in Kennewick.

"We don't have many guys to slot in, that's the problem. We'll assess, see who's banged up. Ideally, we'd like to rest some guys, but we'll see what our numbers are like and go from there."

Davidson is one goal shy of 40 on the season. He has risen to number seven in the league in scoring with 86-points.

Seattle finished the regular season with a perfect 6-0 road record against the B.C. Division. The win Wednesday was also their 22nd this season on the road, setting a new franchise record for road wins in a season.

Check out the Seattle Thunderbirds Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from April 14, 2022


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