One year ago the Thunderbirds shook up roster to spark playoff run and set up future
Dec 30, 2019, 9:14 PM | Updated: 9:21 pm
Goalie Roddy Ross was signed by the Thunderbirds one year ago as part of a flurry of moves that changed the franchise. (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
(Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
New Year’s Eve is often a time of reflection of the past year’s events, the highs, the lows, the life-changing moments we all go through.
As the Seattle Thunderbirds head to Portland for their annual New Year’s Eve game with the Winterhawks on Tuesday, they don’t have to think too hard on their year’s biggest sea change because it came exactly one year ago.
The Winterhawks would explode for five unanswered goals in last year’s game to win 6-3 and send the Thunderbirds to a miserable sixth straight loss leaving them at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with the specter of a long, seven-game road trip through the Eastern Division in front of them. The plan after that game was to leave Portland on the team bus and head straight to Manitoba for a game with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
They eventually made it to Brandon but not without an unplanned, out of the way stop back at the acceso ShoWare Center.
General Manager Bil La Forge had swung some major trades and the team needed to get three players off the bus. La Forge, in his first season at the helm in Seattle, saw a chance to change the course of a roster that didn’t appear to have many future wins in its makeup.
In a flurry of moves, announced New Year’s Day, La Forge had traded number one goalie Liam Hughes, leading scorer Zack Andrusiak, and top-pairing defenseman Reece Harsch. The team also announced it had signed a new goalie, Roddy Ross, who was playing in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Three days later, Seattle picked up Henrik Rybinski from the Medicine Hat Tigers.
At first glance, the moves felt like a team that was blowing things up, throwing in the towel and giving up on the current season for future assets. Little was known about Ross and Rybinski was a player who was in the BCHL as he awaited a trade from the Tigers.
Certainly, these guys weren’t going to help over the second half.
“I don’t even own a white towel,” La Forge said of the trades. “That’s how I look at it… It’s not a give up, it’s a reset.”
It turns out that La Forge was spot on.
Seattle got hot while on the Canadian prairies, including handing eventual WHL Champions Prince Albert Raiders just their third loss at home. Ross backstopped that win, in his second league start, as Seattle suddenly realized it had a top goalie in its crease.
Ross would take over the number one goalie role and play so well that not only did the team win with him in net but he would be drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round of June’s NHL Draft.
Rybinski was a whirling dervish of a player, relentlessly forechecking, stunning defenseman into turning the puck over. He also produced by picking up 35 points in 33 games with the Thunderbirds. Like Ross, he would hear his name called at the draft, picked by the Florida Panthers in the fifth round.
There was a new vibe in the dressing room and on the bus as the new Thunderbirds bonded while on the road. Rybinski and Ross were sparks, and Seattle got contributions from Keltie Jeri-Leon – picked up in the Hughes deal – along with Zach Ashton, who was acquired in the Harsch trade with Saskatoon.
Despite a tough schedule, the Thunderbirds started winning games and soon had made up ground in the standings. They caught and passed the Kamloops Blazers to earn a playoff spot and pushed the Vancouver Giants to six games in the first round of the playoffs.
The offseason would bring about some key losses for the Thunderbirds, most notably graduating players Nolan Volcan and Noah Philp. La Forge realized that he had some key young pieces with Rybinski, Tyrel Bauer, Payton Mount and Brendan Williamson, whom he picked up in the Andrusiak move, already on the roster. Add to that a promising group of incoming rookies from the 2018 draft, including Kai Uchacz, Lucas Ciona, Mekai Sanders and the electric Conner Roulette and the path forward became clear.
La Forge saw an opportunity to acquire more assets and set up the Thunderbirds to be a team that could compete for potential titles on a consistent basis over several years.
That motivated him to make another stunning move at the Bantam Draft when he moved Dillon Hamaliuk, Jake Lee, and Cole Schwebius to the Kelowna Rockets. He would eventually follow that up with a trade that sent Matthew Wedman to the Rockets a month ago.
In return, he piled up draft picks, including three additional first-round selections.
The moves meant that this year would be one where the Thunderbirds would not only be young, but inexperienced. The expected growing pains that inexperience brings have been there in the first half of the season but the young players have improved as the season has progressed and the future does indeed seem like it’s bright.
La Forge and head coach Matt O’Dette have put their trust in the rookies, along with getting valuable leadership from the veterans on the club and are starting to get results.
Like last year, La Forge is still fighting to get into the playoffs and Seattle heads into New Year’s Eve tied for a postseason spot. While making a playoff appearance this season would certainly be a boon for the young players and give them more experiences to build on, ultimately this year is about the next step.
Time will tell if La Forge’s plan and vision ends up with the Thunderbirds back at a championship-contending level in the next few years. If it does, we can look back to one year ago, after a tough loss on New Year’s Eve in Portland as the day it all began.
