T-Birds bounce back to double up Americans 4-2

KENT – Sunday afternoon, Thunderbirds defenseman Shea Theodore was sporting a new look for his first home game since rejoining the club. With Justin Hickman out for the remainder of the season, Theodore was named Seattle’s new captain and wore the “C” on his uniform.

The new captain led the T-Birds with a goal and assist in a dominant 4-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans in front of 3,602 fans at the ShoWare Center. The two points were Theodore’s fourth and fifth in the two games he’s played since returning from winning gold for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships.

Theodore’s return has sparked Seattle’s offense and now he is being asked to be a leader on the team.

“It means a lot,” Theodore said of being captain. “I take pride in it. I know I’m one of the leaders on the team and we have a lot of them … Nothing’s really changing in the room.”

On the ice things have been changing for the T-Birds. Sunday’s win was their seventh in their last nine and they have picked up points in eight of those games. Their power play has come to life, they’re scoring more and getting off to good starts.

Theodore opened the scoring for Seattle on Sunday with his third goal in two games when he fired a shot from the face-off circle past Tri-City goalie Evan Sarthou. It was the eighth time over the last nine games that Seattle has opened the scoring first and helped set the tone for the night.

“We try to make sure the guys are ready,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said of the starts. “I think they’re holding each other accountable and to be ready for the start and to be ready to go.”

Seattle out-shot Tri-City 20-6 in the first period, setting the stage for a dominant night. The T-Birds would extend their lead in the second when Theodore’s point shot was deflected in front of the net and past Sarthou by Alexander True.

The assist for Theodore finished a stretch where he had a hand in five straight Seattle goals, reaching back to Friday’s game in Kennewick. Seattle has missed Theodore for most of the season and now with the World Junior Championships wrapped up, Theodore will be a huge key for the T-Birds down the stretch.

“The confidence is there for me right now and I feel like I’m playing good hockey,” Theodore said. “I was ready to go. I know the fans were loud tonight, good Sunday night game. It’s good to be back, for sure.”

The two points he picked up tied him with Thomas Hickey for second in the franchise’s history for points by defensemen. Theodore’s 177 career points puts him 10 points away from the top spot held by Craig Channell. The high-flying offensive defenseman should have no problem catching Channell before the season is done.

During the World Juniors, Theodore was asked to play more of a stay-at-home style of defense, which allowed his partner, Darnell Nurse, to free-wheel. Now that he’s back in Seattle, you can expect more offense from Theodore.

“To really jump back into it and get going is fun,” Theodore said. “Going into (The World Junior Championships), I knew I was going to have a bigger role with the team. I felt like I embraced that and played the best hockey I’ve played.”

Konowalchuk said that the decision to make Theodore the captain was made by the coaching staff.

“He was a leader for us anyway,” Konowalchuk said. “Theodore hasn’t been around much for us. So we haven’t had that leadership in the room too much. We lose ‘Hicks and Theodore steps right in and he can take some of that. We have a pretty good group of guys who hold each other accountable.”

With their new leader heating up the offense, another newcomer made an impact on Sunday. With a two-goal lead in the second period, newly acquired Cory Millette got on the board when a centering pass from Roberts Lipsbergs went off his skate.

“Lippy was going down the wing and I was just trying to get to the net as quick as I could for a rebound,” Millette said. “He threw it in front and as I was stopping it went off my skate and in.”

Millette was making his T-Birds debut Sunday rather than last Friday due to his equipment being delayed at the Vancouver airport. He had one practice with the team on Saturday but felt that it was easy to fit in. He would add an assist later in the game for a two-point debut.

“He’s a good smart hockey player,” Konowalchuk said. “I’ve been watching him and that’s what we expect there. He’s going to make some plays.”

Before the second period was over, Seattle would score again when Kaden Elder feathered a pass to Nolan Volcan for a one-timer that beat Sarthou. The T-Birds would enter the third period with a commanding four-goal lead.

Tri-City scored twice in the third on goals by Lucas Nickles and Richard Nejezchleb. The Nejezchleb goal was with the extra-skater and was the third straight time that the Americans have scored late against the T-Birds. Coming only 48 hours after they blew a 3-1 lead late against Tri-City, there were a couple of raised eye brows after the two goals. It wouldn’t be enough for the Americans, however, as the T-Birds steered home their 20th victory on the season.

“They got the one goal on the faceoff there and of course that gave them a little life,” Konowalchuk said. “But you know they’ve got nothing to lose at that point and they’re going to keep coming at you.”

The T-Birds ended up the weekend by gaining three points out of the four possible. They removed the bad taste of Friday’s loss with a strong response to make it a successful weekend.

“It was good,” Theodore said. “It kind of looked scary with giving up those last two but we knew we had to be solid coming in and I thought we played a pretty solid game.”

Notes

• Lipsbergs assist on Millette’s goal was his first point since rejoining the T-Birds last week. The Latvian winger had 58 points for Seattle last season.

• Since Theodore’s return to the T-Birds’ power play, they have been cooking. They were 2 for 6 on Sunday and in the last two games are now 4 for 8 with the man advantage. That doesn’t include Theodore’s first goal on Friday, which came a second after a power-play chance had ended.

• Alexander True’s goal in the second period was his sixth of the year as the Danish center has been playing well. Like Theodore, he is also returning from the World Junior Championships and Konowalchuk feels that the experience could give True some momentum moving forward. “True was playing really good hockey before he left,” Konowalchuk said. “He went out there and played a big role and that can help.”

• Taran Kozun was in net again for Seattle and played well, stopping 31 of the 33 shots he faced.

• The T-Birds ended the night with 46 shots on goal, which was a season high for the them. They previously had 45 shots on a Dec. 16 win against Victoria.

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