Top 10 moments from the 2015-16 Thunderbirds season: 1-5

Last week we began a look back at the top moments from the very memorable 2015-2016 Seattle Thunderbirds season.

The season was full of ups and downs, highlight type plays and what can only be described as goose-bump inducing moments. We’ve given you moments 6-10 and here are the final five:

5. May 11, Staying alive

After losing the first three games of the WHL Championship Series in overtime by identical 3-2 scores, the T-Birds were in tough straights. With their backs against the wall it would have been easy to pack it in and start the summer vacation early.

But that’s not the type of team that the T-Birds had this year.

Instead, the T-Birds came out on fire and erupted for six goals to beat Brandon 6-1 and live to fight for another day. Seattle took out its frustration with the previous three games on the Wheat Kings and goalie Jordan Papirny.

Ryan Gropp scored twice, including the opening goal, and the combination of Cavin Leth and Alexander True were huge for Seattle. With the score 1-0 Seattle in the second period, Leth set up True twice for goals to give the T-Birds a commanding three-goal lead – one they would not look back from.

After three tough losses, the T-Birds were able to – just for this one night – relax and have some fun on the ice.

4. March 15, Taking the U.S. Division

In late January and early February the T-Birds fell nine points behind the Everett Silvertips for the lead in the U.S. Division. With the season in its final lap, it seemed that they would not catch Everett at all.

The T-Birds would go on a tear, however, and they not only caught Everett but won the division with a 4-1 win on a Tuesday night against Spokane. The T-Birds left no doubt in wrapping up the division by scoring four straight goals to turn the game into a 60-minute long celebration.

Scott Eansor potted one to get things going and the T-Birds would add goals from Jared Hauf and Turner Ottenbreit, as well. The highlight of the evening might have been a nice penalty shot conversion by Mathew Barzal. The New York Islanders prospect picked the puck up at center ice and went with his trademark backhand move to beat Spokane goalie Lasse Petersen.

When the final horn sounded, the team acknowledged the loud crowd and threw t-shirts into the crowd to celebrate the division title.

3. Feb. 13, No love for the Winterhawks

It was Valentines Day eve and the T-Birds hosted their most bitter rivals, the Portland Winterhawks, at the ShoWare Center in what turned out to be a wild affair.

Portland busted out to a two-goal lead in the first period, and it had the makings of a long evening for Seattle. The T-Birds would fight back in the second period, however, as Gropp and True would each score to get the game even. Just as the T-Birds were feeling good, though, two late breakdowns led to Portland goals in the last three minutes of the frame. Just like that it was 4-2 for the visitors.

Seattle came out firing to start the third and would get the game even again on goals by Donovan Neuls and Jerret Smith. Even at four, the Winterhawks would score again to take a 5-4 lead in the third period. The T-Birds never quit, though, and would answer that score on Gropp’s second goal of the night, which would send the game into overtime.

The drama would only get amped up in the extra frame. Portland appeared to have won the game after Caleb Jones walked in and was knocked down in front of the Seattle goal while the puck ended up in the net. The Winterhawks celebrated in the corner and started to leave the ice, only to get called back by the officials – the play was being reviewed. It was ruled no goal as Jones pushed it in with his glove, but there was a penalty called on Seattle during the play.

That gave Portland a four-on-three power-play chance, but the T-Birds were able to fight through that. With time running down, Portland goalie Adin Hill stopped a shot from Smith but Eansor was in the slot for the rebound. With Winterhawks players surrounding him, he flicked a backhander in with just .8 seconds on the clock.

“That’s what hockey is all about,” Eansor said afterwards.

2. March 4, Shootout in Everett

The T-Birds had chipped the Silvertips’ lead in the division down to just one point when they hit the ice in Everett on a Friday night. They had yet to win in Xfinity Arena all year, but one here and they could take over first place in the U.S. Division.

The last time they had played a game in Everett, they lost on a late goal after Nolan Volcan’s innocent dump-in attempt took a bad bounce off the glass. It ended up on an Everett stick and in the Seattle net for a late game-winning goal. The series with Everett had been like that for Seattle: full of frustration.

Even in this game, the T-Birds had a late lead only to see the Silvertips tie it up and send the game into overtime. It had all the makings of another frustrating loss.

Neither team would score in overtime and the game would be determined in one of the more dramatic shootouts you’ll see. Overall, it took seven shooters to finally get a winner, but it sure looked like Everett’s Remi Laurencelle had won it for the Silvertips in the fifth round.

“He made a good move and he beat me,” Seattle goalie Landon Bow would say after the game.

He was beat, he was down but he found a way to get his stick back and somehow deflected the puck out of harms way.

Two shooters later, Volcan would get his Xfinity payback. He slid the puck past Everett goalie Carter Hart for what would be the lone conversion and the game-winner for the T-Birds.

Bow was the star of the game as he outdueled Hart and made 40 saves on the night. Seattle would go on to beat the Silvertips in five games during the second round of the playoffs. How much did this big win have an impact on that?

1. April 27, How the West was won

It would end up as a sweep, but Seattle’s Western Conference-clinching win in Game 4 against Kelowna may go down as one of the franchise’s biggest moments to date.

The Rockets were the defending champs and they didn’t go away easily despite starting the game down 3-0 in the series. Kelowna goalie Michael Herringer put his team on his back and would end the night with an astonishing 71 saves.

Seattle got down early by two goals in the first period. They would get one back in the second from Gropp, but Kelowna’s Justin Kirkland would answer to restore the two-goal lead for Kelowna. Late in the second Ethan Bear scored to give the T-Birds life at 3-2 heading into the third period.

Seattle threw everything it had at the Rockets in the third period, but Kirkland would score again to make it 4-2 with just over four minutes left. It looked like the defending champs would stay alive and force a Game 5 back in Kelowna.

Not giving up, the T-Birds pulled Landon Bow for the extra skater with a couple minutes left in the game. Bear would then score from the point with 1:15 on the clock to cut the lead to 4-3. That was exciting but it still felt like another goal was just too much to ask for.

Bow skated to the bench again and Bear took another shot from the point as the clock was winding down. This shot got deflected in front but found Keegan Kolesar’s stick. The big winger banged it home with just three ticks left on the clock.

The ShoWare Center went crazy as the T-Birds had somehow scored twice in just over a minute to tie the game and force overtime. Little did they know, the excitement was just beginning.

Seattle threw 21 more shots at Herringer in the first overtime period but the goalie wouldn’t budge, he wouldn’t give in. The game then would go into a second overtime where the most unlikely of heroes would step up.

Matthew Wedman, a 16-year-old rookie, hadn’t seen the ice in quite some time. During the third period and in the first overtime he didn’t get a shift, but that meant he had fresh legs. Just before the eight-minute mark, Gropp got the puck at the Seattle blue line and fed it to Wedman. The rookie turned on the jets and flew past a tired Kelowna defender and in on Herringer. He swept the puck past the goaltender for the win and Seattle’s first conference championship since 1997.

While Herringer lay face down on the ice in despair, the T-Bird bench emptied in delight and celebrated to his left. They had done it, they were the best in the West for the first time in nearly 20 years.

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