The Seattle Thunderbirds begin their quest for the Western Hockey League championships Friday with a first-round seven-game series against the defending champion Spokane Chiefs.
The Thunderbirds ended their season this past weekend with a pair of wins, including a 4-3 overtime road win against Portland on Saturday and a 10-0 rout of Everett at the Showare Center on Sunday. The victories improved Seattle’s final record to 35-31-1-4 and popped the Thunderbirds into fifth-place in the WHL Western Conference.
According to Seattle coach Rob Sumner, the wins bode well for the team, especially after the squad’s poor performance against Portland at home this past Friday, where the T-Birds were waylaid by the Winterhawks 9-1.
“We had a real lemon (this past) Friday night,” Sumner said. “Portland played well, but a lot of it was our own doing. We stood around and didn’t respect what they could bring and got the result that we deserved.”
Sumner said he challenged the team after the loss to come up big in its final two regular games and the squad responded.
“We went right back and had another chance at Portland the next day, on the road, and we played very well,” he said. “It was a smart, good road game. We’re starting on the road with Spokane, so I’m pleased with the win. It was a hard-fought game and I thought it was good test for us to get ready for playing on the road.”
Now it’s off to Spokane where Seattle will play the fourth-place Chiefs (46-23-0-3) at 7 p.m. at Veteran’s Memorial Arena today and tomorrow.
The best-of-seven series will continue with home games at 7:05 p.m. this Tuesday and Wednesday at the Showare Center in Kent.
“We go in as the heavy underdog, which is fine,” Sumner said. “We play the defending champs, but we play quite well against them.”
This season the Thunderbirds are 4-5 against the Chiefs, including two wins at Spokane.
Still, Sumner said the team has to be on the top of its game to topple the Chiefs.
“I think we have to limit our mistakes and play a smart game,” he said. “We can’t get impatient and get risky trying to create offense. We have to have simple, gritty, low-risk offense, because we can’t trade chances with this team.”
“Their goalie (Dustin Tokarski) is exceptional, he’s their MVP,” he continued. “We’ve got to find a way to score goals. We’ve got to manufacture goals, through traffic, screens and tips. We’ve got to outwork them in front of their own crease to give ourselves a chance.”
Tokarski is first in the league in goals against average, allowing just 1.97 per game. He also leads the WHL in shutouts with seven.
At their end of the sheet, the Thunderbirds will rely on rookie Calvin Pickard between the pipes in the series. Pickard is 23-16-1-4 on the season with a 3.05 goals against average.
With goalie Jacob De Serres still recovering from a groin injury, the team will rely on Kyle Jahraus, who was elevated from Junior A hockey, to back up Pickard.
The team also might have to do without the services of left wing Prab Rai, who has missed five games due to a high ankle sprain. Rai is the team’s second leading scorer with 25 goals, just behind left wing Greg Scott who has a team-high 32 goals on the season.
Also waiting a return from injury is center Lindsay Nielsen who had 11 goals and 11 assists when he suffered a ankle fracture 25 games ago.
“Rai and Nielsen are going to be decisions that might be up to game time,” Sumner said. “They’ve been working at getting back. As of Sunday’s game they weren’t ready to play, otherwise they would have played. I know they both want to play and if you ask them, they’ll tell you they are ready. And their intentions are to play. But we have to make the decisions that are best for our team. And that give us the best chance of being sucessful.”
After games one and two in Spokane, the T-Birds will return for games three and four at 7:05 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday at the ShoWare Center.
Single-game playoff tickets can be purchased at the ShoWare Center box office or online at the www.seattlethunderbirds.com
