T-birds Season Comes to an End – Seattle Thunderbirds

Edmonton, AB. –The Seattle Thunderbirds came up short in the WHL Championship Series, falling to the Edmonton Oil Kings, 2-0, in Game 6 at Rogers Place Tuesday. With the win the Oil Kings win the series four games to two, to claim their third Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Edmonton came out flying right off the bat and outshot Seattle, 21-4 in the first period. It led to the first goal of the game when Jakub Demek jumped on a rebound to score on the power play at 7:15. The T-birds kept it close because Thomas Milic continued his strong postseason in goal with 34 saves, many of the highlight variety.

Seattle was better in the second period, outshooting Edmonton, 12-9. But Edmonton was able to add to their lead when Kaden Guhle’s shot from the high slot made it past a screened Milic at 3:44.

Edmonton was able to clamp down on the T-birds the rest of the game, especially when Seattle had the man advantage. The T-birds finished the night 0-for-6 on the power play. Meanwhile Oil Kings netminder Sebastian Cossa denied all 27 shots on the night, as the T-birds put 23 shots on goal the final two periods.

T-BIRD EXTRAS

Seattle finished 6-1 in do or die elimination games in the postseason.

This was the final game in the WHL for Henrik Rybinski, Ryan Gottfried, and Lukas Svejkovsky, who now age out. It was most likely also the final T-birds game for Matt Rempe, Sam Knazko and Tyrel Bauer.

Former T-birds defenseman Simon Kubicek was named the third star of the game. He and Edmonton are now off to the Memorial Cup in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Seattle captain Ty Bauer did not play, serving out the second game of a two-game suspension.

Full box score: WHL Network