By Charles Hamaker

Tukwila, WA – For the second time during this 2023-24 season for the Seattle Thunderbirds, a banner was revealed at the accesso Showare Center. The legendary Patrick Marleau, the NHL’s all-time leader in games played and a two-time Gold Medalist with team Canada amongst other notable achievements, had his #12 jersey placed into the rafters on an eventful Friday night for the Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, Seattle was unable to cap off the memorable night with a victory, as they fell in a tight contest to the Spokane Chiefs. Former Thunderbird Conner Roulette got a breakaway in overtime and was able to beat Seattle goaltender Scott Ratzlaff to stun the Showare Center crowd.

Pre-game sights and scenes as the Seattle Thunderbirds honored the legendary Patrick Marleau by retiring his jersey prior to the teams game against the Spokane Chiefs at the accesso Showare Center on Friday, November 3rd, 2023. (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Getting out on the front foot

It was a strong first frame showing for a young Seattle team that’s very much growing as the Thunderbirds are in a new era following their loaded WHL title roster. Seattle goaltender Scott Ratzlaff, struggling in his past two starts on the team’s brutal road trip, looked up to the task in tonight’s game and was able to see a few pucks through to help get in that rhythm early on. On the other end of the ice, Spokane goaltender Cooper Michaluk saw the same scenario, but in a larger sense shot was as he faced just a shot over double what Ratzlaff had to see. The Thunderbirds finally got one to go past the Chiefs netminder when young Antonio Martorana got his team leading sixth goal of the season to give Seattle a lead, shortly before going into the locker room for the first intermission. With the excitement of Marleau’s jersey retirement and being back in front of their home crowd, the Thunderbirds were rolling early on.

Seattle Thunderbirds forward Antonio Martorana scored the first goal of tonight’s game against the Spokane Chiefs, now leading the team with six. (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Grinding it out

The second period was an example of two divisional opponents grinding things out, as both teams made the other side earn every inch of ice they got. Spokane and Seattle both got on the scoreboard in the middle frame, leaving the Thunderbirds with a one-goal lead going into the final period as they added a second goal on after Martorana’s score late into the first. Berkly Catton, who is someone you’ll need to remember for later in this game, scored the first Spokane goal of the night as he snapped and fired a shot from the mid-range area, taking his shoot with just enough space between two Seattle defenders, beating Thunderbirds goaltender Scott Ratzlaff cleanly on his glove side. That goal came just 24 seconds into the second frame, kicking things off and giving Spokane some much needed momentum after it seemed like it was all headed for Seattle early. The Thunderbirds were able to answer back, as Kaleb Hartmann tallied his first goal and point of the season as he was able to jump into the play and beat Michaluk to give Seattle their lead once more.

Seattle Thunderbirds goaltender Scott Ratzlaff had to fend off shots from the Spokane Chiefs all night long. (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Holding on late

The third period was largely spent in the Thunderbirds defensive zone, as the Chiefs peppered shots on net trying to find a third goal on the night, while any puck that Seattle was able to get out of their own zone didn’t do much to pressure Spokane goaltender Cooper Michaluk and certainly not enough to beat him. The Chiefs did get the one goal that they needed to equalize things, as Berkly Catton struck yet again as he used his speed to get past the Seattle skaters, crashing into the zone and getting around Ratzlaff to tie things up. Thunderbirds goaltender Scott Ratzlaff and the Seattle skaters were under duress for the majority of the frame, using body blocks, quick sticks, and a continued great effort from their goaltender to hold on for dear life as they looked to get a retrieval and clear.

It was impressive to see the sort of defensive effort and selfless play by the skaters to do their best to block shots, clog lanes, and defend like hell, and it makes sense to see considering that the Thunderbirds came into tonight’s contest with the league's best penalty kill by percentage. If you were to look at it with a defensive mindset, Seattle did their job and forced the overtime period, securing the one standing point at minimum with hopes to get something done to win it on the offensive end. On the flip side of that, the Thunderbirds had not shown much life at all with their offense since Kaleb Hartmann’s goal just under nine minutes into the second period.

Former Thunderbird breaks Seattle’s heart in overtime

Back on August 30th of 2022, the Seattle Thunderbirds sent forward Conner Roulette to the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for forward Kyle Crnkovic and a third round back in the 2026 WHL prospects draft. While Roulette had a solid season with the Blades, he was traded this May to the Chiefs for two prospects. While he admitted in an interview after the trade from Seattle to Saskatoon that he understood it was a business, exacting some revenge against a former team with a game winner must have some weight to it. As Thunderbirds defenseman Bryce Pickford drove the puck up the ice with Spokane forward Rasmus Ekstrom on his back, Ekstrom got his stick around Pickford to send the puck off the boards, back to where Seattle’s Sam Popowich was. It seemed like Popowich was going to be able to recollect and keep possession, but Roulette busted through with a poke check and was heading the other way. In the stare down between the Chief and Thunderbird, Roulette was the victor as he went far side past Ratzlaff’s stick side to win it.

Strong aspects to this game, but not good enough

There were definite positives for the Thunderbirds in this contest, but their inability to beat Michaluk more than twice and failing to do much of anything in the overtime period is ultimately the decider in why they got just one point and not two from this game. Scott Ratzlaff was on his game tonight and looked strong throughout this contest but asking him to make save after save in a third period when Spokane had you stuck in your own zone is hard. The Seattle skaters did a good job of helping him out by blocking shots, but the Thunderbirds didn’t do enough on their possessions in the Chiefs zone in that final frame. You could say the same for the rest of this game, but it needs to be remembered that this Seattle team is young and is missing notable names such as Jordan Gustafson, Nico Myatovic, and Gracyn Sawchyn who are currently hindered by injury. While they aren’t expected to do a ton by the outside world this year, the Thunderbirds are showing that they’ve got the fight in them to be in games almost every night, and they’ll learn from games like this.

Quick notes

Attendance for tonight’s Spokane Chiefs at Seattle Thunderbirds game was 5,440.
Thunderbirds defenseman Kaleb Hartmann scored his first goal of the season tonight

This goal was also his first point of the season

Thunderbirds forward Antonio Matorana’s goal tonight, the first goal of the game, gives him the current team lead with six.
Thunderbirds defenseman Braeden Wynne tallied the secondary assist on the Hartmann goal, marking his first point of the season
6 different Thunderbirds skaters tallied points tonight
Chiefs forward, and former Thunderbird, Conner Roulette scored the game winning goal in overtime. It was his third game winning goal of the season.

What’s next?

Following tonight’s overtime loss to the Spokane Chiefs, the Seattle Thunderbirds will head out on a one-game road trip when they battle the Victoria Royals a week from today. On Friday, November 10th, the Thunderbirds and Royals will battle at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena with a puck drop of 7:05PM PST before the teams rematch each other the next day back at the accesso Showare Center. The Royals defeated the Kelowna Rockets tonight, placing them in fifth place of the Western Conference. The Thunderbirds, still a young team that showed positive flashes in tonight’s game, will look for a rebound performance after falling tonight in a tough loss to Spokane, a team that still sits in the bottom of the U.S. Division after this result.

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