Thunderbirds survive the storm, topple Hurricanes in overtime
By Charles Hamaker
Kent, WA – In a battle of two top ten teams in all of the WHL, the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes went step by step with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Playing in their first home game of 2023, Lethbridge was able to get on the board first to give Seattle a small wake up call. The Hurricanes took the lead into the final period, where it was Reid Schaefer who began his heroic effort on the night, tying the game up and eventually winning it in overtime with a penalty shot. With the win, the Thunderbirds are tied for the most points in all the AHL with the Red Deer Rebels, a team they’ll face a few times at home before the regular season finishes up.
Thunderbirds centermen Gracyn Sawchyn looks on, with a lil’ friend (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Getting back into a rhythm
Returning from a six-game road trip that Seattle evenly split (three wins, three losses), the Thunderbirds are looking for a bit of that home cooking to get back into their groove. Things didn’t start off well for Seattle, as Jeremy Hanzel was called for high sticking just over a minute into the opening period. While the Seattle penalty kill was able to stave off the man advantage by Lethbridge, the Hurricanes would score shortly after as Hayden Smith showed off some nifty puck handling to work around Hanzel and beat Seattle goaltender Scott Ratzlaff. It wasn’t quite the start the home fans or the team had hoped for upon return to the Showare center, but the T-Birds weren’t worried.
Seattle was able to capitalize on the man advantage when Lethbridge’s Joe Artnsen was penalized for faceoff interference. The WHL’s 17th ranked power play saw Kevin Korchinski run point, passing the puck from the blue line down to Gracyn Sawchyn down in the trapezoid. Sawchyn thread the needle between two Hurricanes skaters to Jared Davidson, and the Montreal Canadiens prospect ripped a shot past goaltender Bryan Thomson. A beautiful display of passing evened things up for Seattle to even things up after the bad start.
Seattle netminder Scott Ratzlaff watches as the puck flies wide (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Schaefer savior
Right before the second intermission, the sixth-ranked Thunderbirds penalty kill couldn’t clear the puck out of their own high danger area, and Lethbridge’s Cole Shepard slammed the puck home over a sprawled-out Scott Ratzlaff. Seattle had found themselves trailing again, and whether it was conscious or not, it was the beginning of Reid Schaefer’s savior campaign to win this game.
Reid Schaefer looks to disrupt Lethbridge’s Blake Swetlikoff (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Just before the third period had lasted seven minutes, Schaefer carried the puck up the ice in a two on one situation. Hurricanes defensemen Logan McCutcheon was caught in a bind, having to decide whether to cut off a potential pass to Nico Myatovic or let Schaefer shoot. Seattle’s third highest scorer on the season and current Edmonton Oilers prospect fired a snap-shot glove side past Thomson from the faceoff circle, tying things up. A decent night already following the goal, Schaefer wasn’t done yet.
After a few solid saves from Ratzlaff and nothing doing for Seattle offensively in the remaining 13 minutes following the Schaefer goal, the contest headed to the overtime period. It wouldn’t take long for an impact play to take place, as Schaefer had a breakaway opportunity with only Hurricanes centerman Logan Wormald to beat. Wormald went low with his stick to try and disrupt Schaefer, but he ended up disrupting Lethbridge’s chance of winning as he took out the Seattle forward. A penalty shot was granted to the Thunderbirds, and Schaefer was given the opportunity to finish this game off as the savior. A little backhand-forehand, Schaefer easily beat Thomson and the Thunderbirds notched their first home win of the 2023 calendar year.
Reid Schaefer brings the puck up, looking for a pass (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
Forward Braeden Cootes took his rookie lap pregame
The T-Birds lineup eatured three of their last four first round picks from the WHL Prospects Draft; Kevin Korchinski (2019), Tij Iginla (2021) and Braeden Cootes (2022). All three were top ten overall picks in their respective drafts.
Scott Ratzlaff has started 14 of the last 18 games for Seattle
What’s next?
Tomorrow, Saturday January 21st, the Thunderbirds will host their rivals from just up I-405, the Everett Silvertips. Seattle is a current 5-0-0 against Everett this season, as the Silvertips are struggling through the 2022-2023 campaign. Over the last five years, and even last season, Everett has gotten the best of Seattle, but that has changed this season. While it has been a struggle for the Silvertips this season, Everett has won four of their last five heading into Saturday’s showdown. Puck drop for the game is at 6:05PM PST inside of the Showare center in Kent, Washington.