Konowalchuk on the Seattle-Portland playoff series

For the second year in a row, Seattle will open the playoffs with a rivalry matchup, this time against a Portland Winterhawks team that finished second in the U.S. Division and third in the Western Conference.

Nine players who are expected to be on Seattle’s roster this weekend have yet to see action in a playoff game. The five most experienced members of the team have participated in 16 postseason games each. On the other side, Nic Petan is the most experienced player on Portland’s depth chart, having participated in 21 playoff games just last season and 71 over the course of his career, which is more than most of the Thunderbirds’ roster combined.

Despite a Seattle depth chart that looks much younger on paper than last year’s team that beat Everett in five games in the first round, T-Birds head coach Steve Konowalchuk doesn’t feel that they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to experience.

“There’s not a lot of difference between [this year’s and last year’s teams],” he said. “I think where we’re at now is a lot different than where we started the season. I feel like a lot of our young players grew up pretty quickly this year playing in a lot of situations with adversity. I don’t feel like we have a young team. Our young players are smart players, have good character and work hard. I feel we still have a pretty deep team that’s built the same way. We can play four lines and six defense across a 200-foot game.”

Even if Konowalchuk doesn’t feel that his own roster is much different than last year’s, the one he’ll be game-planning against is. Last year’s Silvertips team scored 218 goals and allowed 206 during the regular season. The 2014-15 Winterhawks scored 287 and allowed 237.

Everett didn’t have the luxury of icing top-notch scorers like Oliver Bjorkstrand and Nic Petan as the Winterhawks do, and therefore were forced to emphasize their depth to get an upper hand. The Silvertips played four lines consistently and relied on wearing their opposition down and capitalizing on the opportunities their pressure would create.

Portland, on the other hand, does what it can to get its best players on the ice as often as possible.

“With Everett, they were a team that liked to throw four lines at you and grind it out,” Konowalchuk said of the differences between his opponents. “They really tried to outwork you and were a very disciplined team. Portland obviously has one of the best lines in junior hockey and that’s going to be a challenge for us. Bjorkstrand is playing at a very high level and I expect that line with Petan and Bjorkstrand to see a lot of ice in every situation.”

Keeping the WHL’s leading point scorer in Bjorkstrand and second-leading assister in Petan in check is going to prove to be a difficult task, and one that Konowalchuk admits is going to be a key to winning this series.

“Everyone is going to have be aware when (Bjorkstrand and Petan) are on the ice,” he said. “They play a lot of minutes and on the road you’re not always going to get your matchups, and even at home at times when they change on the fly. Everybody’s going to have to know where they’re at and where the puck is at and make sure, as much as you can, that you’re making them play a 200-foot game.

“They’re a good line and they’re going to score goals, but we want to limit what they can do against us. To do that, we’re going to need to have four lines rolling and six defensemen contributing.”

It’s easy to see that players on both sides come out of the gate with a bit of extra jump in their step when these two teams face each other. That intensity will only be magnified as the two teams face each other up to seven times consecutively with the added atmosphere of playoff hockey.

The buildings in Seattle and Portland are some of the loudest in the WHL, with the Thunderbirds’ home ShoWare Center holding over 6,000 fans and Portland’s two arenas holding potentially thousands more. For a number of players, these are the largest crowds they have ever or will ever play in front of and the energy on the benches and in the stands is always felt for at least 60 minutes.

With the inherent emotion attached to the rivalry, every player on both teams wants to be in the spotlight, whether it’s because of a timely goal, a bone-crushing check or a clutch save. If it works out, the bench and crowd get energized. If it doesn’t, usually the exact opposite happens.

“It’s very important (to maintain composure),” Konowalchuk said. “You have to be able to play hard and stay focused. If your emotions get out of check you can lose sight of what’s at hand, and that’s winning the hockey game. To do that, you need to win your next shift and if you’re thinking about different things or running out of position because you’re too excited it can cost you hockey games. You want to play a hard and intense game but not take too many penalties.”

Heading into the series, the game plan won’t change much for the T-Birds, who will make slight adjustments to accommodate their opponents as they do every game, but won’t go out of their way in an attempt to throw the Winterhawks off.

“For the most part you play the same,” Konowalchuk said about how Seattle is preparing for the playoffs. “You go into every game all season to win it, so you’re always game-planning to do what you need to do to win. In hockey you just have to make sure you’re playing your best game and the way you need to play. Hockey’s not that complicated – we don’t plan to change a whole lot.”

On Jan. 5, Seattle suffered what could have been a crippling blow when wing Justin Hickman was lost for the season. In addition to being the captain of the team, Hickman was contributing at nearly a point-per-game pace, so both his leadership and production would need to be replaced.

The loss didn’t get the T-Birds down, as they posted an impressive 19-9-2-3 record after his abrupt retirement from the WHL.

Seattle brought Roberts Lipsbergs back into the fold and he performed admirably over the season’s final two months, registering 36 points in 33 games, more than making up for the offense that would be missing when Hickman left.

The leadership would have been difficult to replace, but a group of veteran leaders, mostly on the blue line, was more than up to the challenge. Really, they had been playing that role since the beginning of the season, even when Hickman was still in the locker room.

“All year, even with Hickman, we stressed a leadership core,” Konowalchuk said of his veterans, which he has breathlessly praised over the season’s final few weeks.

“When Hickman left, that leadership core was still there. Theodore got the captaincy and stepped up his leadership role. He’s taken a lot of pride in our team and takes it personally when the team isn’t playing as well as he thinks it should be. Him and Wardley, Smith, Hauf, they get the team going. When the team has had a bad game they’ve made sure to buckle down and the team has followed them.”

The T-Birds took the season series against Portland, but Konowalchuk acknowledges that their seven victories don’t mean much now, except to let the T-Birds know that they’re more than capable of skating with their opponent.

“(The playoffs are) a brand-new season, but everything helps and you want to have the confidence that you can play against every team,” Konowalchuk said. “When you’re in tight games with a team every time it gives you the confidence that you always have a chance to win. They’re a real good hockey team and we respect them, but again, the playoffs are a new game and we’re just excited to get to Game 1 and get after it.”

They’ll have that chance when they head down to Portland for Game 1 on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Since becoming head man of the Thunderbirds before the 2011-12 season, Konowalchuk’s work with this year’s team may be his most impressive to date. He lost seven veterans who finished last season with the team – more if you include a combination of Lipsbergs and Hickman. He was missing two of the most talented players on his roster – and in the entire league – in Theodore and Mathew Barzal for about half of the season.

Yet, even with all of these changes and the abrupt decision by former backup goalie Danny Mumaugh to leave hockey shortly after the trade deadline, the T-Birds finished with only three fewer points as a team. Konowalchuk has managed to get the best out of this roster and turn late draft picks, rookies, and listed players into significant contributors.

How he prepares them for what is sure to be a passionate and exhausting playoff series will present a new difficulty for the fourth-year head coach, but he seems to be becoming accustomed to these challenges.