Due to COVID-19 the Thunderbirds next two home games will be played without fans

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced Wednesday that the State would be prohibiting social gatherings of more than 250 people in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

This will affect the Seattle Thunderbirds’ remaining home schedule at the accesso ShoWare Center.

In response, the Thunderbirds released the following statement concerning their final three games of the regular season.

“The T-Birds games on Saturday, March 14, against the Vancouver Giants and Tuesday, March 17, against the Spokane Chiefs at accesso ShoWare Center will be played with no fans in attendance. A determination on the status of the game on Saturday, March 21, against the Portland Winterhawks at accesso ShoWare Center will be made in the coming days.”

The Thunderbirds have yet to release any further details as to what will happen in regards to tickets already purchased but did send an email to season ticket holders that indicated that ticket holders would be ‘credited’ for tickets that had already been purchased.

Also affected by the prohibition, the Everett Silvertips announced Wednesday that they would play their March 20^th game at the Angel of the Winds Arena against the Victoria Royals without allowing fans to attend.

Seattle is close to clinching a WHL playoff berth and if they do, the playoffs would start the weekend of March 27th. The State’s prohibition is in effect through the end of March but Seattle would not have a home-ice advantage for the first two games and the remaining playoff schedule is unknown at this point.

Earlier in the day the World Health Organization officially characterized COVID-19 as a Pandemic and already there have been cancellations throughout the sports world. Several hockey leagues in Europe have canceled seasons.

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