Tigers beat Thunderbirds 5-3

KENT – The Thunderbirds ice one of the WHL’s youngest rosters and when matched up against an older club like they were Saturday night, the little things can make a difference.

Seattle dropped a hard-fought 5-3 decision to the Central Division-leading Medicine Hat Tigers at the ShoWare Center in a game that was closer than the score appeared. The Tigers have a more veteran lineup and they played an air tight game, capitalizing on some key T-Birds miscues.

“Pretty good hockey game for the most part,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “But they’re a good hockey team and we made a couple of extra mistakes when the game was tight.”

A big turning point came mid-way through the first period. After the Tigers (21-6-1-1) opened the scoring on a Matt Bradley goal, the T-Birds struck back. On the power play, Evan Wardley banged home a Shea Theodore rebound for his first goal of the season. Wardley was parked in front of the Medicine Hat bench and with his size, nobody was able to move him.

The goal gave the T-Birds the momentum and they began to pepper Medicine Hat goalie Nick Schneider, who ended the night with 34 saves.

Then Seattle had a bad line change and ended up taking a penalty for too many men on the ice. On the resulting power play, Medicine Hat’s Steven Owre was left alone in front of the net and was able to easily beat Danny Mumaugh. Mumaugh was filling in for Taran Kozun and battled all night, making 32 saves.

“The too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, that’s a casual moment,” Konowalchuk said. “We still need a kill there. Our PK needs to get the job done. You’re going to take penalties, mistakes are going to happen. We need to get the kill there.”

Another mistake just before the first period ended put Seattle in a tight spot. With 47 seconds left, the T-Birds over-skated the puck at their own blue line and turned it over. The Tigers pounced on it and after a couple of passes Zach Fischer put it in the back of the net to give Medicine Hat a 3-1 lead.

The T-Birds (12-13-2-2) calmed things down for most of the second period but another late mistake cost them yet again. This time with just 19 seconds left to go the Tigers picked up the puck on a turnover behind the Seattle net and Anthony Ast was able to jam it past Mumaugh at the side of the goal. The score gave Medicine Hat a 4-1 lead and was the second last-second goal they had scored on the night.

Goals just before the end of a period can be huge momentum changers.

“Today I don’t think it was the timing of the goals,” Konowalchuk said. “Their fourth line scores two goals, one of them being late. I think any time a team’s fourth line … gets two goals, there’s a good chance they’re going to win the hockey game.”

The Tigers’ fourth line was huge on Saturday night and the goals by Ast and Fischer were only their second of the season.

Heading into the third period, the T-Birds had a sizable three-goal deficit to try and erase against one of the tougher defensive clubs in the WHL.

“We tried to stay positive on the bench as best we can,” Keegan Kolesar said. “We don’t try to let things like that disrupt us and I thought we answered right back.”

Seattle did answer back. Kolesar got the T-Birds going just over 4 minutes into the final frame when Ryan Gropp found him in front of the net on a Seattle power play. Using his big frame to shield defenders, Kolesar beat Schneider to cut the lead to a pair of goals. It was the T-Birds’ second power-play goal of the night and their sixth in the last three games.

Six minutes later, Kolesar turned in the prettiest goal of the night to cut the lead to one. After out-muscling Trevor Cox for the puck, he turned on the jets and out-raced the Tigers’ defense down the ice. Fighting off a defender, he slid the puck between Schneider’s leg for his second goal of the night. At 219 pounds, Kolesar has surprisingly soft hands and a nice scorer’s touch.

“I guess not a lot of people would think a guy my size would have silky hands but it works out for me,” he said.

Seattle was feeling good all of a sudden and came close several more times in the third. Schneider stood tall, however, as the 17-year-old goalie made save after save. With just under 3 minutes to go, the Tigers would put a dagger into the T-Birds. Rookie defenseman David Quenneville positioned himself on the blue line and flung a deadly accurate puck through traffic. Mumaugh did not see it through the screen in front of him and could not stop it, ending Seattle’s comeback bid.

While losing the game surely is a disappointment for the T-Birds, they still found a way to hang in against a good, veteran hockey team. While there are no moral victories in hockey, it is another sign of how talented Seattle’s young players are.

“I believe in our young guys,” Konowalchuk said. “Even when we’re not winning hockey games we’re finding a way with our young guys to compete and at times push the other teams … our young guys are coming along and they’re good hockey players and they’re going to get better.”

Seattle won’t have to wait long to try and improve. The T-Birds head to Spokane to play the Chiefs Sunday evening in a big division battle.

“We’re determined to get the next two points here,” Kolesar said. “I think just come back and regroup tomorrow and just work harder to get these next two points.”

Notes

• Ethan Bear added an assist on Wardley’s power-play goal and it extended his point streak to five games as he has three goals and two assists over that span.

• We are reaching the time of the season where Seattle will lose some players to the World Junior Championships. The first to go is Florian Baltram, who will not play Sunday as he heads off to join Team Austria as it prepares for the championship.

• Medicine Hat is the top defensive team in the WHL, allowing a league-best 70 goals. The T-Birds were able to generate chances and threw 43 pucks on net. The two teams combined for 80 shots on goal.

• David Quenneville became the third Quenneville brother to score against Seattle – and Mumaugh – this season. David’s older brothers Peter and John both scored for the Brandon Wheat Kings in a 6-4 T-Birds victory on Nov. 14.

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