When the final seconds of the third period were ticking off the clock at the Accesso ShoWare Center on Saturday evening during game six of the Western Conference Quarter-Final match-up between the one seed Vancouver Giants and the second Wild Card team, the Seattle Thunderbirds fans in attendance did not sit in stunned silence, nor did they reign boos down from the stand. No, instead they engaged in a rousing chant of “Let’s go T-Birds”.
To say the Thunderbirds season was that of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an understatement. It was the first season without Russ Farwell as the General Manager of the club, instead, they brought in first time GM, Bil La Forge, who made his presence felt almost immediately.
Seattle made nine selections at the bantam draft in May (more on that later) and only one signed soon after that. It wasn’t until training camp that Thunderbirds fans were granted some clarity on that situation. A lot of fans had grown concerned that this draft class would suffer the same fate as the previous two and many of the prospects would go unsigned. However, in a flurry of signings, one after the other put pen to paper to sign Standard Player Agreements, solidifying their commitment to the Western Hockey League, and more importantly, the Seattle Thunderbirds organization.
The preseason would welcome two new import players in defenseman Simon Kubicek of the Czech Rep. and nineteen-year-old Slovakian forward, Andrej Kukuca. The two made an immediate impact and turned heads during the preseason, giving a Tbirds fans a reason to be optimistic, especially after losing fan favorite Sami Moilanen to the pro ranks in Finland.
The Thunderbirds came out of the gates hot, going 6-1-1-0 over their first eight games. Sophomore, Dillion Hamaliuk was the catalyst for the Thunderbirds offense during this stretch. However, as hot as they started, they would cool off considerably, losing ten of their next eleven, including a seven-game losing streak. This would largely be the story of the young Thunderbirds team leading all the way up until the Holiday break.
At the bottom of the U.S. division and the Western Conference, something needed to break. On New Year’s Day, La Forge made a flurry of trades to indicate that the Tbirds were open for business. First, a curious signing was made, as the Thunderbirds announced that they had signed eighteen-year-old goaltender, Roddy Ross. Next, fan favorite and leading goal scorer, Zack Andrusiak was moved to cross-town rival, Everett. In the return, Seattle received Sean Richards, a player labeled by the fan base as a true villain. As predicted by some fans, the next trade saw starting goaltender, Liam Hughes dealt to the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a package that included signed prospect Michael Horon and picks. The third big move that was made was veteran defenseman, Reece Harsch, traded to the Saskatoon Blades for another young prospect, Zach Ashton, and picks. The final big move was the acquisition of left wing Henrik Rybinski from the Medicine Hat Tigers for the rights to unsigned prospect, Aidan Brook and picks. A couple of depth moves were made over the following days leading up to the January 10th deadline, including shipping out Loeden Schaufler and Samuel Huo.
On January 9th, Seattle would visit the top team in the CHL, the Prince Albert Raiders, in what was the turning point of the season for Seattle. The Thunderbirds would beat the Raiders, 4-1 and Roddy Ross would get his first win in the WHL. Over the second half, Seattle would find their stride going an incredible 20-9-2-1. Headed into the postseason after a dramatic overtime win over Tri-City to clinch a playoff berth, Seattle beat hated rival, Portland in back to back nights. Including playing spoiler on the final game of the regular season, defeating them 6-5 to prevent them from securing home ice in the first round of the playoffs. What made the victory more impressive was the fact Seattle had scratched veteran forwards Nolan Volcan, Mathew Wedman, and Noah Philp.
With Seattle surging, they drew the number one seeded Vancouver Giants. Seattle was in every game, except the first and the last. Seattle’s youth ultimately was their undoing in the end. Despite being eliminated in the first round, Seattle’s new young core pushed the heavily favored Giants to the limit and at the same time earned a great deal of experience that will hopefully serve them moving forward. The Thunderbirds future is bright and there is a lot to be excited about in the Emerald City.
