T-Birds prepare for two games against West leader Victoria

The Thunderbirds were able to stop the bleeding of their four-game losing streak in the final game of their Eastern Conference road swing, defeating the Medicine Hat Tigers with a 60-minute, all-around effort that was assisted by a couple of fortunate bounces.

Sometimes when things aren’t going well, all it takes is one lucky bounce for a team to get back on track, and the T-Birds will hope that’s the case for them. In the contest against Medicine Hat, Seattle scored just nine seconds in when Ryan Gropp was able to bat a bouncing puck out of the air and into the net to give Seattle a much-needed early lead.

At the end of the second period, another bizarre play occurred to give Seattle a two-goal advantage when Matthew Wedman was able to slap the puck off of a Medicine Hat defenseman’s stick and over goalie Nick Schneider’s shoulder into the back of the net. It appeared that Schneider didn’t even see what ended up being the game-winning goal until it was already in the back of the net.

It had been a rough road trip for Seattle up until Medicine Hat, and it will hope to stay on the right track with two contests against the Western Conference’s first place team, the Victoria Royals. Both games are at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, which will conclude an eight-game road trip that saw the T-Birds play games for over two weeks away from home.

The two teams played once earlier this season, a 4-2 T-Birds victory in which Mathew Barzal and Keegan Kolesar each had a goal and two assists. Seattle got out to an early 3-0 lead before Victoria clawed back to make it a one-goal game. Nolan Volcan added an insurance goal late in the third to seal the win for the T-Birds and give them their fourth straight victory.

Victoria has established themselves as a contender in the Western Conference, balancing strong offense and defense with quality goaltending. The Royals are allowing fewer than two goals per game while averaging just under 3.5 scores of their own. They’ve developed a winning recipe and have added themselves to the conversation as one of the best in the West, joining Seattle and Kelowna.

Alex Forsberg, a former first overall Bantam Draft selection by the Prince George Cougars, looks to finally be showing why he was such a highly regarded prospect all those years ago. He leads Victoria in points with 22 in 20 games. Forsberg has bounced around in his WHL career, playing for three different clubs, as well as leaving the Cougars in the middle of the 2012-13 season in an effort to force a trade. All of that is past now, as he’s in his final WHL season with Victoria and looking to play his way to an NHL contract.

On the blue line, the Royals are led by Joe Hicketts, an undersized but supremely talented defender who went undrafted in the NHL Draft but was able to earn a contract with the Detroit Red Wings. He has 21 points in 20 games and is a plus-seven while playing against the opposition’s top line.

Seattle will have their hands full with their two games in Victoria this weekend, but possess a talented roster that should have some renewed confidence. Barzal and Ryan Gropp both played in the Canada vs. Russia Series this week in Kamloops, but should be back in time to make it to both games.

The biggest question mark remaining for Seattle is the health of Scott Eansor, who wasn’t able to lace them up for a single game on Seattle’s Eastern Conference trip after taking an ugly hit after the whistle from Brandon’s John Quenneville two weeks ago. Eansor’s status remains day-to-day, so it’s likely we won’t know if he’ll be playing until shortly before puck drop on Friday night.

These two games provide a big early test for both teams in their quest to establish supremacy in the Western Conference. It’s a race that will likely continue until the final day of the regular season, so by no means are these games a be-all and end-all, but for two teams who will be vying for seeding all the way through next spring, every point will count.