Conner Roulette’s big night helps Thunderbirds edge Winterhawks

PORTLAND, Oregon – Seattle Thunderbirds rookie Conner Roulette had yet to attempt a shoot out in the WHL prior to Sunday’s game against the Winterhawks.

When head coach Matt O’Dette called his name, with a chance to win the game, on television, against a top rival, Roulette said the blood started pumping.

“He said my name and I didn’t know what to do,” the rookie said after, with a smile.

Serenaded by a chorus of boos from the Moda Center crowd, Roulette skated in on Winterhawks goalie Isaiah DiLaura and faked to his backhand. The move got DiLaura to lean that direction, opening up a seam, and Roulette buried it to give the Thunderbirds a 4-3 win.

It turned out that he did know what to do.

“It felt good to see the team happy,” Roulette said. “Going into this break, we’ve got one more game, but it puts a smile on my face to see the guys happy like that.”

It was a banner evening for the 16-year-old rookie as he scored twice during regulation, including a game-tying marker with 45 seconds left on the clock. The decision for O’Dette in the shootout was easy.

“I think in these situations when he’s feeling it and he’s having a good game and he’s already scored on a breakaway you let karma take over there,” O’Dette said.

While Roulette was providing the flash Sunday, the win was a team effort for Seattle  (11-17-2-1) as they end a grueling weekend winning two of three games. Another rookie, Matthew Rempe, chipped in with a goal and assist while Roddy Ross stood tall in net, stopping 30 of the 33 Winterhawks shots he saw.

Portland (22-6-1-3) took leads in the second and third periods, only to see the Thunderbirds fight back.

“In this building, things can get away from you quick if you lose your composure,” O’Dette said. “That was a major key, to stay calm. They went ahead in the third there and we didn’t panic, stayed calm and kept pushing. We stayed in the fight, and got rewarded for it.”

The Winterhawks took a 2-1 lead eight minutes into the second on goals from James Stefan and Seth Jarvis to build momentum and get their crowd behind them.

In response, Seattle got a strong shift from Henrik Rybinski’s line. They didn’t score, but it led another strong shift from Rempe’s line. Andrej Kukuca took a shot that was stopped but Rempe crashed the net and scored on the rebound to tie the game at 2-2.

“We talk about it all the time, response after goals,” O’Dette said. “You have to focus on your next shift. Try to get the puck in their end and calm the building down, kind of get reset. I thought we did that.”

Rempe, 17, has had a strong start to his WHL career. He missed the first part of the season to injury but the 6-foot-8 center has made up for the lost time.

In the 16 games he’s played in, he’s scored five times and recorded 11 points. He’s physical, he wins faceoffs, and is involved in the play when on the ice.

“The first 15 games I had to miss,” Rempe said. “Lots of recovery, lots of rehab, it made me stronger. I was really hungry to play. I’m just really happy to be back. I play with great guys.”

Portland would test Seattle’s composure again in the third period when they got some help from an errant water bottle.

Ross’ bottle had fallen off the back of the net and the puck hit it, causing the Thunderbirds defense to be out of position. Robbie Fromm-Delome sent it in front to Jake Gricius who banged it in for his 12^th of the season to put the home team ahead 3-2 just under four minutes into the third.

The Thunderbirds pushed but had to wait until the dying seconds to get the game equal.

With Ross pulled for an extra skater, Kukuca got the puck in behind the net and threw it in the mixer in front of DiLaura. Rempe was in close hacking at it, as was Roulette. It would be Roulette who found it and scored his second of the night, and eighth of the season, to tie the game and send it to overtime.

“Andrej walked out with the puck,” Rempe said. “Me, Andrej and ‘Rue were all jamming at it. When ‘Rue banged it in, I was so happy.”

It was a big goal for Roulette who had given the Thunderbirds a first-period lead with a breakaway goal.

He anticipated a turnover in the Seattle end and had snuck out into the neutral zone. Defenseman Ryan Gottfried saw him and hit him with a pass in stride. Roulette skated in — a preview of what would come later — and scored his seventh goal of the year.

Earlier in the year, Roulette missed on some breakaway chances and felt it was something he needed to improve on.

“I’ve been working on it before practice before everyone gets out there,” he said on Sunday. “I’m trying to get better at it every day and it’s been working. We’ve been doing a lot of breakaways in practice and its finally starting to work.”

Sunday’s win was another clip upwards in the way the Thunderbirds have been playing of late. They still have work to do on the power play – which went 0-for-7 – but are playing good hockey at even strength.

With four points on the weekend, they’ve moved to within two of the Tri-City Americans for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“Credit to the guys,” O’Dette said. “Consistency is coming because they’re seeing what makes us successful and they’re starting to believe in it. That’s contagious throughout the room and when we have that 100-percent buy-in we give ourselves a chance to win.”

They’ll have another chance Tuesday night before heading home for a holiday break.

Seattle will travel to Kennewick for the final game of the first half and do so with a chance to tie the Americans in the standings. They’ll worry about that game Monday morning.

Sunday, they were enjoying a win and a successful weekend.

“We wanted this win so bad,” Rempe said. “Coach said we’d get ice cream if we won. We were hungry for it and it was a fun atmosphere.”

Game Notes

• Kukuca ended the evening with a pair of assists and has five points during a modest three-game streak.

• The Thunderbirds struggles on the road power play continued. After Sunday they are 1-for-63 on the road.

• Ross stopped all three Portland attempts in the shootout to set up Roulette’s chance to win.

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