Monday, November 16
I see a lot of you fans are asking, "Who are these guys?" after the T-Birds swept all three games this weekend and ran their overall winning streak to four. I think the simplest answer is that they are a young team that is just now learning how to play together. The stretch of 12 of 13 games on the road seemed daunting when it began in late October but in reality it may have been the best thing that could happen to this club. Just remember how many new and young faces the T-Birds have on this year's team. It takes time to gel with that many new skaters and spending a month on the road allows them to bond and develop some chemistry.
Secondly the team has played these last four games at nearly 100 percent health. Only Brenden Silvester is currently sidelined with an injury. Remember too, that they are still a young team and they still are going to have growing pains as they progress from here.
Two of the oddest thing I've seen in this game in recent vintage occurred Saturday night in Everett. First of course was the "own goal" scored into his own net by Silvertips goalie Kent Simpson. What made it even stranger is that it was the second time in the past three seasons that an opposing player has helped the T-Birds out by putting a puck into their own goal. Remember Tri-City defenseman Tyler Schmidt in the playoffs of 2007 snapping one past his own goalie, Cary Price, at KeyArena? The second oddity of that game in Everett was the fact that not one of the three stars announced in the building earned a point in the game; not a goal, not even an assist. Tips defenseman Radko Gudas was the third star, primarily for one big, highlight making hip check. T-Birds goalie Calvin Pickard was the second star with a 29 save shutout; scoring was the only thing he didn't do. Meanwhile, Pickard's teammate Prab Rai was the first star. Rai, while dangerous nearly every time he touched the puck, also did not have either a goal or an assist.
Rai's game that night is an example that you don't have to score to be the best player on the ice. I also think Rai was given a star because there was some confusion over which T-Bird player should be credited with that "own goal". It was initially awarded to Rai because he was the closest Seattle player to the puck when it went in. But the WHL rule book clearly states it's the last Seattle player to touch the puck who gets credit for the goal and in this case it was Brendan Rouse. Rouse also added two assists in the Everett game and probably deserved a star for his performance.
Some nights there just aren't enough stars to go around. And sometimes players go about their business so quietly but efficiently they sometimes get overlooked by the media doing the voting. They don't, however, get overlooked by the coaching staff and that is the case with Rouse. All he's done since coming to the T-Birds in the Jacob DeSerres trade is compete. He wins face offs and he sets up his teammates who are now starting to bury the puck. Seattle outscored their opponents 20-3 the last four games and Rouse contributed with one goal and five assists and was a plus-5. I heard from many who thought the 'Birds should have been able to extract more compensation from Brandon in this trade but I don't know what more you can ask with the way Rouse is playing. You have at a minimum three years of Rouse and he's only going to get better. More importantly, he's developed great chemistry with his line mates, Sena Acolatse and Colin Jacobs. Just another tremendous acquisition by GM Russ Farwell.
I got to eavesdrop on the Vancouver Giants radio postgame show Sunday at the Pacific Coliseum. It was interesting to hear Giants coach Don Hay say he couldn't remember the last time a visiting team came to town and left with such a one-sided win and all three stars. And not to harp on this topic too much but when is the last time a goalie put together back-to-back shutouts and wasn't the first star in either game? When your teammates step up their game in front of you and make your job easier, that can happen.
If the T-Birds are to increase the winning streak to five games, they will have to do it like they've done the first four; on the road. Seattle travels to Kennewick Tuesday to take on the Tri-City Americans for the third time this season. The first two games were at the ShoWare Center and Seattle earned a split, winning 1-0 and falling, 5-4 in a shootout. With winning come increased expectations, so we'll see how the team handles its new found success against the top team in the U.S. Division.
