Frustrations run high after Seattle drops second game of weekend to Everett

EVERETT — Saturday night was full of frustration both on the scoreboard and on the ice for the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

The Everett Silvertips scored three goals in both the second and third periods to skate away with a lopsided 7-2 score. That was frustrating enough for Seattle, but it was the officials that would end up adding to the Thunderbirds frustrations.

Things heated up in the third period with the Silvertips up 5-1. Everett’s Connor Dewar, who had scored four of the five Silvertips goals, caught Seattle’s Matthew Wedman with what appeared to be a knee on knee hit. There was no call from the officials however and a melee broke out in front of the Seattle bench.

When the dust settled, Everett ended up with a power play and Wedman, who was initially shaken up on the play, had been given a ten-minute misconduct.

Seattle’s head coach Matt O’Dette was demonstratively upset on the bench, looking for an explanation from the referee’s as to why Dewar was not penalized.

“They saw everything that we did obviously,” he said after the game. “We know what knees can do and we’re pretty sensitive about that. They continue not to call them. I don’t know why, but they continue to not call them.”

Seattle lost forward Dillon Hamaliuk for the season after a knee on knee hit earlier in the year during a game against the Portland Winterhawks.

With a four-goal lead, Everett went to the power play.

Dewar would assist on a Bryce Kindopp goal on the ensuing man advantage, one that was made a five-on-three after another penalty on a Seattle player during an after the whistle scrum. At 6-1, Dewar and Kindopp would come out on another power-play a minute and a half later. Dewar picked up another assist, his sixth point of the night, on a Wyatt Wylie goal.

“I guess that’s what teams do in the league now a days,” O’Dette said about the late power plays. “Put their best guys out there to pad their stats. (The officials) keep picking us for ticky-tack stuff over and over again.”

Everett (37-12-1-1) ended the night with nine power-play attempts and scored on three of them. Seattle only had two power plays but was awarded one briefly, late in the game, with just a couple of ticks left on the clock.

That was wiped out as O’Dette would be called for a bench minor.

“A typical referee move to give us a call with two seconds left,” O’Dette said. “No, no, no, no, we’re not taking that. We’re not making it look good on the box score. Typical cowardly ref move to do that. We didn’t want that power play.”

The loss was just the first time that Seattle (19-23-5-1) has lost back-to-back games in regulation since New Year’s Eve, when they lost the second game of a home-and-home with Portland.

Like in Friday’s night loss to the Silvertips, Seattle played a strong first period but failed to score. Dewar would score his first of the night for Everett however, with just 30 seconds left in the period after making a strong move at the Thunderbirds blue line.

It would be Dewar again, 2:55 into the second, to make it 2-0 on a power-play goal.

“We talk about it all the time, those are momentum goals,” O’Dette said. “Can’t give up a goal with 10 seconds left in the first. Those are key moments that we talk about all the time. It factored into the momentum of the game, especially on the road in a raucous environment.”

Everett would ride that momentum to score twice more in the second period. Jake Christiansen would make it 3-0 before Dewar completed the hat trick to make it 4-0. Andrej Kukuca stopped the bleeding late in the second with his 14^th of the year for the Thunderbirds.

Dewar scored his fourth goal, a single-game career high, 28 seconds into the third period to stem any Seattle ideas of a comeback.

Keltie Jeri-Leon would add a cosmetic goal for Seattle late but it did little to ease the frustration the Thunderbirds left the weekend with.

“Everett’s a good team,” O’Dette said. “I thought we played with them for good chunks of both games. Obviously, penalties and composure is an issue. It’s frustrating when the standard is not the same for both teams. I’ll stick up for my guys any day of the week when that’s happening. It’s a joke, really.”

Notes

• Cole Schwebius was the tough luck starter in net for Seattle Saturday night. He made 34 saves and the seven goals allowed weren’t an indication of how he played. “He battled,” O’Dette said of his goalie. “He’s always going to battle. I was hoping our guys would have stayed on task, helping him out in the third more.”

• Saturday was the ninth straight regular season loss to Everett for Seattle. The Silvertips have outscored the Thunderbirds 18-5 in the last four matchups.

• The loss dropped Seattle a point out of a playoff spot as the Kamloops Blazers jumped ahead after they earned a point Saturday in an overtime loss to Kelowna.

• Seattle will hit the road next with a pair of mid-week games in Victoria against the Royals starting on Tuesday night.

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