It took 238 games in the WHL, but Nolan Volcan finally got his first career WHL hat trick. It came against the B.C. Division leading Kelowna Rockets on January 19th.
Volcan, who is having a career season with 24 goals and 29 assists for 53 points, got his third on he night, on the power play with 2:27 left in regulation in Seattle’s 7-2 win.
“It was definitely something I’m never going to forget. It was just one of those nights where anything I was putting on net was going in. I had it going a bit there and being to able to get it later in the third-with some help from the guys was good,” Volcan said.
Not getting a hat trick over his first three, full seasons with Seattle, should not be held against him as he was playing a more defensive style before this year.
“Coming into the season, I was pretty excited about the opportunity I had coming up. We had so many great players the last few years those roles were set in stone that they had. It was something that coming into the year. I wanted to play a big role on the team. I think I’ve done a good job so far, but there is a lot of hockey left. We can’t be satisfied as of yet.”
Th 19-year-old left wing leads his team in shots on goal and goals. The former category, he leads by a wide margin of 29 in his 47 games.
Volcan knew that him and some of the more experienced guys were going to have to step up until the younger players on the team found their footing.
“I think it’s just that at the start of the year, we were pretty young up front. I think some guys had to feel things out a little bit and get used to the speed and style of the game. Now those guys are stepping up. (Zack) Andrusiak is really showing how much he can score. At the start of the year, he knew that he could put the puck in the net and he is doing that now. Sami (Moilanen) has been a good scorer and (Dillon) Hamaliuk is putting the puck in the net, so we have a lot more scoring now. Everyone has gotten a feel for the game and everyone has been pitching in.”
Volcan’s Thunderbirds have won five straight with three of those games coming against some of the toughest competition in the WHL. He knows that the schedule will not be any easier over the last 25 games of the regular season.
“Since my 16-year-old year, we have been building a winning culture. Every night you are going into the game confident. You know what you need to do. With playing so many games in the U.S. the rest of the way and it being such a tough division, every game is a playoff game. We have to go out there and play a full 60 and I think we are very capable of doing that.”
Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette agrees with Volcan in his opinion on how the team’s scoring has taken a massive leap over their last five games. Seattle has scored 30 times over their five-game win streak.
“I think our young guys are coming along nicely. Those guys have been generating chances. Guys like (Donovan) Neuls and Volcan have been generating chances consistently I think it’s now just a matter of the puck bouncing our way and it going in. There has been more of an emphasis on shooting more. Not looking for that extra pass has helped as well. We made some adjustments on out fore-check that has helped create more o-zone time for us and that might have something to do with it.”
The team’s recent surge has them just six points back of the Everett Silvertips for the division lead. With eight players totaling 30 points or more, the Thunderbirds depth should make them a tough out within a division that has all five teams eight points clear of the playoffs already.
