T-Birds notebook: Fancy stats, Russians and former Bird passes current Bird

The Thunderbirds had a day off on Thursday and after three straight losses, really needed one.

They have two more games to go on their Eastern swing, beginning Friday in Lethbridge, and then will return home for a week of practice before heading to Vancouver Island for a couple of games with the upstart Victoria Royals.

This has not been a pleasant week for the T-Birds to say the least. They played four games in five nights and dropped two games where they had two-goal leads heading into the final period along with a third where they played flat.

Before the three losses the T-Birds record was 9-2-1-0 and they were playing pretty dominant hockey. Are the three loses this week more indicative of how good Seattle is, or are the first 12 games a better indication of what the team can accomplish?

If you look at some of the underlying analytics, thanks to the good folks at CHL Stats, there is some reason to stay positive.

Looking at Seattle’s Estimated Fenwick Close numbers – a stat that examines puck possession – the T-Birds are the second best team in the WHL at driving the play with only Brandon sporting a higher Fenwick number. Seattle is taking over 55% of the shots towards the net so far this season – Brandon is a staggering 63% – which suggests that they are pushing the play more than they are chasing.

The theory is that higher puck possession will result in more shots, more chances and more goals. It also limits the chances and goals against. Your opponent can’t score if you have the puck and over a long season numbers like these should result in more wins.

Obviously those positive numbers don’t excuse them for the last three games. They played poorly for large stretches in those games and earned every loss, but the numbers suggest that the team we saw the first 12 games is more indicative to the type of team the T-Birds have.

Here’s what’s new with the T-Birds:

The Russians are coming

While the T-Birds will be returning home after Saturday’s game at Medicine Hat two players will be heading to B.C. to take part in the Canada-Russia Super Series as members of Team WHL.

Both Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp have been selected to represent the WHL in Kelowna on Monday the 9th and in Kamloops on November 10th. These games are used by Hockey Canada to evaluate potential players for this year’s World Junior Championships which will be held in Helsinki, Finland in December and January.

Barzal didn’t get to play in either these games or the Prospects Game last year due to injury and is looking forward to playing on a big stage next week.

“I’m stoked, I’m real excited,” he said last week. “There’s a lot of skilled guys and its going to be a good game…it’s going to be great, Groppy’s coming along so it will be awesome.”

For Gropp its a chance to play a big game in front his friends and family in Kamloops.

“With one of the games being in my hometown it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “Its a chance to show yourself in front of the national junior team and I’m going to just go and play my game, keep getting better and try to take advantage of the opportunity in front of me.”

Konowalchuk passed in the record books

The Washington Capitals took on the Boston Bruins Thursday night and former T-Bird Brooks Laich laced them up for his 694th game as a member of the Capitals. That passed Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk for 9th place on the Washington all-time games played list.

Laich played for Seattle from 2001 through 2003 and scored 63 goals for the T-Birds. He joined the Capitals full time in 2003 and has spent his entire career with the club. Konowalchuk was a third-round draft pick of the Capitals in 1991 after two stellar seasons with the Portland Winterhawks. He played 12 seasons with Washington before finishing his career with the Colorado Avalanche. Konowalchuk is in his fifth season as head coach with the T-Birds and is third in career wins for Seattle.

Around the WHL

What is going on with the Vancouver Giants? They finally got their captain, Tyler Benson, back from injury but have lost all six games he’s played in. They have made a flurry of trades already this season, highlited by two goalie moves on Thursday. They picked up Daniel Wapple from the Regina Pats and then sent Payton Lee to Edmonton in a separate move. This comes a week after they sent another goalie, Cody Porter, to Calgary as part of a five-player deal.

Seattle played the Giants on opening night and there are ten players who were on the roster for that game who no longer play for Vancouver.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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