In the third, and final, part of my Portland Winterhawks and Seattle Thunderbirds rivalry series, I focused on two overagers.
Part one of the series focused on The Fans while part two viewed the rivalry from The Rookies’ perspective.
Nolan Volcan, captain for the Thunderbirds, veteran of 320 regular season games, has played 52 games against Portland in his career.
Brendan De Jong, an assistant captain with the Winterhawks, could finish tied for fifth in team history with 317 regular season games played. The Victoria, British Columbia native has played Seattle on 49 different occasions.
The two rivals have only played one playoff series during Volcan and De Jong’s career, which came in 2015 when they both were 16-years-old. Portland won the series four games to two before falling to Kelowna in the Western Conference Final.
Volcan played in all six games, but De Jong only saw time in the following series against Everett.
Playing their biggest rival in the playoffs is one of their favorite memories.
For Volcan, he said, “my first year in the league we had a really good team and they did too with Nic Petan and [Oliver] Bjorkstrand, guys who are in the NHL right now. That was definitely pretty cool playing against guys of that caliber and competing against them.”
Meanwhile, De Jong said he enjoyed the playoff round against Seattle “but I didn’t play much in that series. It is just the game-to-game, you just always get up for the games.”
With the high turnover in rosters from year-to-year, De Jong said, “I think both of our teams have changed; Portland more consistently has played that offensive game. Seattle over the years, since I was 16, has maybe tailed off a little bit losing [Matt] Barzal and those kind of guys. They always have that trait where they are always ‘balls to the wall’ and going 100%; always going to bring that.”
With Volcan, he focused on how it didn’t “take long to notice in the first game we played them it was aggressive. Every game we play them it is a battle out there. Both teams play hard and teams even push a little bit harder. Guys want to beat the team you rival against. We push a little harder when we play Portland.”
Every season the two I-5 rivals play 12 games.
“Those are pretty easy games to get up for” De Jong said. “Especially when we are in Seattle. The fans are all up in your face. It is a game you get excited for. Those are also huge games for us and are big points we need to get at the end of the year.”
Nolan feels “another thing that makes [the rivalry] so great is how the fans always get into it. When we go down to Portland it is usually almost sold out; here it is the same case. I think it is just one of those things where you try to get the crowd out of it early which kind of helps settle the nerves a little bit. Obviously with our home crowd guys are fired up and ready to go. I think it can contribute to a hot start.”
The Winterhawks and Thunderbirds have their fair share of younger players.
Both Volcan and De Jong are now in a leadership role with their respective club.
Seattle’s captain learned from some of the veterans when he was younger to “try to get the crowd out if it to settle the nerves, especially in Portland. If you get rattled, it looks like they may pot two. It is one of those things where you have to take the game in waves and control it the best you can. If they score just make sure you go out there and don’t let them get another one.”
As Brendan got older he focused on “being more vocal with the guys year-to-year. A big thing with the young guys, we do have a young roster, is that they have to mature quick as they are playing against some older guys. I think that is the biggest thing, just having it in our head that we have to play a mature game.”
Ultimately, both Volcan and De Jong know these could be their final games against each other.
Volcan feels “it would be awesome to get four points and make a strong push in the playoffs. Maybe we can meet them down the road which would be a really fun series.”
De Jong reiterated how “ever since I was 16 those are games you always get up for. It has been a big rivalry. It is not a team you enjoy to play a lot of times because they play that hard, physical, grinding game. However, we definitely get up for them and are looking forward to it.”
Portland is locked into the second seed in the U.S. Division and Seattle the second wild card, but they face off in a home-and-home series this weekend to close out the regular season.
Saturday in Kent, and Sunday in Portland, the Thunderbirds and Winterhawks will write the next chapter in their historic rivalry.
