Thunderbirds notebook: Head east, young man

After splitting a pair of home games this past weekend, the Seattle Thunderbirds now face a couple weeks of long bus rides and unabated views of the Canadian prairies.

It’s time for their eastern swing, which is a grueling trip that will keep them away from home and in six different cites between Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Nov. 5. This is the longest trip the T-Birds will take and, thankfully, they only take it every other season.

To make this trip tougher, the T-Birds’ roster will be a little thin. Elijah Brown and Carl Stankowski won’t be available as they are both competing in the U17 challenges. On the latest injury report, forwards Ryan Gropp, Layne Bensmiller and MacKenzie Wight were all listed as out with injuries. Gropp and Bensmiller were classified as day-to-day so we could see them back soon.

It hasn’t been the best start for Seattle, which sits in last place in the Western Conference with a 3-5-0-1 record. The struggles with the special teams have been well documented and the T-Birds continue to search for some consistent scoring.

They’ve given up a lot of goals, which is sure to be of some concern for head coach Steve Konowalchuk. Nine games into the season and the T-Birds are averaging 3.44 goals allowed per game. Last year they only allowed 2.5 goals each contest so this early trend is not good.

The T-Birds’ 5-1 loss to Kelowna on Saturday night was the third time in the first nine games that they allowed five or more goals in a game. It’s something they only had happen nine times total last season and something that has to be cleaned up.

So what’s going on here?

Clearly missing Jared Hauf and Jerret Smith, who both have graduated, is key, but there is still talent on the Seattle blue line. It is younger and less experienced than last season’s group but the numbers shouldn’t be what they are trending at.

Has the defense been as bad as the number suggest?

Maybe not. The T-Birds are second in the league in shots allowed, only giving up 26.67 per game. They have had games where it seems that just a couple of defensive breakdowns are costing them. This was evident on Saturday night against Kelowna. The Rockets scored three goals in the third period to put the game away, but only had five shots. They weren’t blitzing the T-Birds, but they did take advantage of a couple of bad turnovers and giveaways.

The trouble with Seattle’s defense isn’t a lack of skill but rather of consistency. The T-Birds need to do a better job of avoiding the breakdowns and play the same way each shift. It will be an issue to watch for over the next couple of weeks as they hit the road.

Here’s the latest surrounding the team:

Friendly faces

Most of the trades that general manager Russ Farwell has made over the past couple of seasons have been with teams in the Eastern Conference, which sets up some reunions over the course of this trip.

Friday in Swift Current the T-Birds will face several former teammates. The list includes goalie Taz Burman, Kaden Elder, Lane Pederson, Calvin Spencer and defenseman Sahvan Khaira. On Nov. 1 they will get a look at Logan Flodell with the Saskatoon Blades and the next night in Prince Albert they’ll face Nic Holowko and Cavin Leth.

Barzal decision coming soon?

Mathew Barzal played his second NHL game Wednesday night as the New York Islanders lost to the Montreal Canadians 3-2 in Brooklyn. Barzal was on the ice for 9:20 and ended the evening with a minus-2 rating and a Corsi number of -18. The later number represents shots-at-goal differential – including blocked shots – for each team while Barzal was on the ice.

Islanders beat writer Arthur Staple wrote last week that a decision on whether to keep Barzal may be coming in the next week. Islanders forward Shane Prince is set to come off of the injured reserve and that may be the point that the Islanders make a move with Barzal. Their choices are limited as they can either keep him for the season or send him back to Seattle.

Until that time comes, the T-Birds are going to have to move forward as if he won’t be there, as nothing is a guarantee.

The Islanders will be in action again on Thursday night as they travel to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

Around the U.S. Division

The T-Birds are looking up at everyone in the division but they’ve also played the fewest games. They are the only club to have played less than 13 so they have plenty of time to make up ground. Everett has continued its scorching hot start and leads the division with a 9-2-2-0 record. Goalie Carter Hart is still one of the best in the WHL and bounced back nicely from a rough start earlier in the week.

There are a couple of U.S. Division players on the league’s scoring leader board. Spokane’s Kailer Yamamoto, who is being talked about as a potential first-round pick in June’s NHL Draft, is second in scoring with 21 points and in goals scored with 10. Portland’s Cody Glass is tied with Yamamoto in scoring and Tri City’s Michael Rasmussen is leading the WHL with 11 goals scored.

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