T-Birds Bitten by Moose Jaw – Seattle Thunderbirds
Moose Jaw. Sask. –The Seattle Thunderbirds saw their nine game winning streak come to an end with a 6-2 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors Saturday at Mosaic Place. The setback was just the second loss in regulation for Seattle in their past sixteen games and leaves them with a 28-5-1-1 record. The Thunderbirds continue their road trek with a stop Tuesday in Brandon, Manitoba to play the Brandon Wheat Kings, with a 5:05 pm start Seattle time.
Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said his team was lacking a little cohesion as they integrated four players, who had been away from the team the past month, back into the lineup. “It was to be expected a little bit, to get the chemistry clicking again.” Still, he would have liked to have seen a better performance. “It’s been a while since we had an underwhelming game like that. The reality is though, we weren’t going to go on a forty-game winning streak til the end of the season. We didn’t play well; it wasn’t our night. So, we’ll regroup and get ready for the next game.”
Seattle was done in by a four goal first period from Moose Jaw as the Warriors scored four times on just nine shots. The Thunderbirds got one back before the period ended when Jared Davidson scored his 20th of the season at 17:43.
The Thunderbirds usually reliable penalty kill couldn’t stem the tide in the second period as Moose Jaw scored twice on the man advantage. The goals were sandwiched around a Seattle power play goal from Gracyn Sawchyn at 5:24.
The Warriors sixth goal chased Seattle goaltender Scott Ratzlaff to the bench at the midway point of the period. After back-to-back shutouts in his last two starts, Ratzlaff surrendered six goals on just sixteen shots before he was replaced in net by Thomas Milic.
O’Dette said a key before the game was to stay out of the penalty box, something they couldn’t do as Moose Jaw finished the night 3-for-5 on the power play. “That’s clearly one of their strengths. They’re a team that can hurt you if you give them power play opportunities and they executed there.”
O’Dette remarked that Seattle, with one of the best records in the league, has to be prepared to get their opponents best effort. “No one is going to lay down for us. They’re motivated to knock us off. In year’s past we’ve been the team trying to pull the upset. Team’s are looking for a signature win against us and we have to be ready for that.”
After their six road games against the Eastern Division, Seattle returns home to the accesso ShoWare Center to host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on January 20th.
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
Earlier in the day Seattle acquired Colton Dach and a 2024 5th round draft pick from the Kelowna Rockets in exchange for Ty Hurley, Ethan Mittelsteadt, a 2024 1st round draft pick and two conditional draft picks. Dach is a prospect of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, taken in the second round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently injured and expected to be ready to play by late February.
In his first game back after winning a gold medal with Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, Kevin Korchinski notched two assists, bringing his career total as a Thunderbird to 98.
Despite the loss, the Thunderbirds outshot Moose Jaw 39-32. Seattle has not been outshot by an opponent since November 30th when Portland had the shot edge, 36-35 in a game Seattle won, 3-1.
Box score: WHL Network