T-Birds Drop Seven on Spokane – Seattle Thunderbirds

SPOKANE, Wash. –Jared Davidson had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup after a three-game absence and the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Spokane Chiefs, 7-2, Friday at the Spokane Arena. Kyle Crnkovic, Gracyn Sawchyn and Kevin Korchinski each chipped in a goal and an assist as the Thunderbirds improved to 12-3-0-0. Seattle returns home Saturday to begin a four game homestand. They host the Calgary Hitmen at the accesso ShoWare Center at 6:05 pm

It was the perfect start for Seattle as they scored on their first three shots and led, 3-0, before the game was five minutes old. “It was a good start for us,” said head coach Matt O’Dette. “I thought we could have maintained it a little bit better but overall happy with the road game.”

Sawchyn opened the scoring with his fourth of the season at 1:16, assisted by Kyle Crnkovic and Reid Schaefer. Nico Myatovic made it 2-0 Seattle 22-seconds later, scoring after Sam Popowich won an offensive zone faceoff.

The lead increased when Kevin Korchinski ripped home his third of the season at 4:46 with Davidson and Lucas Ciona credited with the assists. The assist increased Davidson’s point streak to nine games and was just the start of his big night after missing three games with an upper body injury.

“It’s tough to watch from the stands,” said the Montreal Canadians prospect. “Coming back and helping the team win, it was huge.”

Seattle increased their lead to 4-0 when the other Davidson on the roster, Hyde, (no relation) scored his first WHL goal at 12:25 of the second period. The goal was unassisted. “It was a pretty lucky goal,” he said. “Just a shot from the point, a shot that went off one of the Spokane players and in.”

Then it was Jared Davidson’s turn again. After Spokane got on the board at 16:35, he set up Jordan Gustafson’s goal at 17:14 then scored his eighth of the season at 19:06. “That’s kind of how we want to play. We want to get ahead quickly and then sustain that.”

The Chiefs got a second goal at 4:02 of the third period before Crnkovic closed out the scoring for the Thunderbirds with a power play goal at 15:10 with Jeremy Hanzel and Sawchyn assisting.

O’Dette also gave credit to his goaltender, Scott Ratzlaff who turned aside 31-shots two nights after Thomas Milic had a 38-save performance in a win in Kamloops. He said it’s a luxury to have two good goalies manning the crease. “Especially when the schedule gets busy like it has been this week. It’s nice to get both guys in there and both have performed really well.”

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

During his nine-game point streak, Jared Davidson has scored seven goals. He’s averaging two points a game with 22 points (8g, 14a) through eleven games.

12 of Seattle’s 18 skaters earned at least one point in the win. The Thunderbirds finished the night 1-of-4 on the power play and were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Coster Dunn who was injured last Friday in Portland was out of the lineup for a third straight game. Easton Kovacs is out, listed day-to-day, with a lower body injury.

Box score: WHL Network