Season to Savor, Be 'Proud Of'

After surviving six elimination games during the Western Hockey League playoffs, the Seattle Thunderbirds' elite juniors season ended Monday after losing 3-2 in Game 6 of the WHL Championship Series to the Edmonton Oil Kings. Monday's win gave the Oil Kings their third league title and denied the Thunderbirds a third trip to the Memorial Cup, which is the major junior hockey championship that begins Monday.
While the loss was disappointing for the Thunderbirds, they can and should hold their heads high for the season just completed. As coach Matt O'Dette said after the game, "There's a lot to be proud of."
Despite dealing with a ton of injuries and players out due to COVID-19 protocols, the Thunderbirds turned in a 44-18-4-2 record, good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference standings. Seattle started to get healthy at the regular season's end, finishing one win behind the conference's top-seeded Everett Silvertips.

As a No. 4 seed, the Thunderbirds dispatched the Kelowna Rockets in the first round in five games. Seattle fell behind rival Portland Winterhawks three games to one in the second round but won the last three in the series to win Game 7 in Portland.
Seattle went on to win the last two games, including another Game 7 in the conference final against Kamloops to advance to the Championship Series for the third time since the 2016 playoffs. The Thunderbirds opened the Championship Series with a Game 1 win in Edmonton.
But Seattle lost the next three, including a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat in front of a packed accesso ShoWare Center in Game 4 when the Oil Kings scored the game-winning goal in the game's final four seconds.
The Thunderbirds only had two home games in the series due to the unavailability of local arenas, but the fans filling the accesso ShoWare Center for Games 3 and 4 provided a fun, high-decibel atmosphere.
Seattle's resiliency and never-quit attitude was remarkable during the postseason. The Thunderbirds were the first team in WHL history to win two Game 7's on the road in the same postseason. They came up short but put up an impressive fight.
The summer ahead will be a shorter summer than they anticipated but the Thunderbirds will gladly take it. There will be some players bidding farewell to the WHL franchise. Twenty-year-old Henrik Rybinski (a Washington Capitals prospect) is aging out of the WHL - players are eligible from 16 years old to 20 - and same for defenseman Ryan Gottfried.
The Thunderbirds picked up Lucas Svejkovsky (Pittsburgh Penguins) at the trade deadline and he too will no longer be eligible. Svejkovsky was a big pick-up, scoring 22 goals and 46 points in 33 regular-season games since joining the Thunderbirds.
The futures of captain Tyrel Bauer (Winnipeg Jets) and 6-foot-9 center Matthew Rempe (New York Rangers) remain unknown. Both will be 20 next season, but are signed by their respective NHL teams and eligible to play in the American Hockey League. One, or both, may not return.
At least three Thunderbirds players should hear their names called during July's NHL Draft. Topping the list is defenseman Kevin Korchinski, who is projected as a first-rounder. He's a highly charged puck-moving defenseman who had 61 assists in 67 points in the regular season.
Powerful forward Reid Schaefer and all-around center Jordan Gustafson are projected as players to watch during the first two rounds of July's Draft. All three players, drafted high or not, will most likely be back with the Thunderbirds next season.
Undrafted Jared Davidson, 19, is in his last season of NHL Draft eligibility. After exploding with a career-high 42 goals, might an NHL team take a flyer on him? It seems at worst he'll get an invite by some NHL club to a development camp. In any case, he might take up an over-age spot next season - each WHL team is allowed three 20-year-olds on the roster.
Goalie Thomas Milic is in a similar position. Undrafted last year in his first eligible season, Milic, 19, did get an invite to Kraken training camp but suffered an injury that prevented him from participating. Healthy all season, Milic had a .912 save percentage while winning 27 regular-season games. He stepped it up in the playoffs with a save percentage of .925 and played a central role in must-win games, successful six of seven times in elimination games.
While the Thunderbirds will lose some quality players, they have a talented group returning. Along with the players most likely to get drafted, they will welcome back players who will be a year older and looking to be more productive. That group includes players turning 19, such as Conner Roulette (Dallas Stars) and Lucas Ciona (Calgary Flames). Gig Harbor's Mekai Sanders will return after a season-ending lower-body injury kept him out of the playoffs.
Rookie Sam Oremba will return a year older and could garner 2023 NHL Draft attention. So might forward Nico Myatovic. Alaskan speedster Gabe Ludwig will play a bigger role and incoming rookie Tij Iginla (yes, Jerome's son) has excited fans and team management.
General manager Bil LaForge has plenty of draft assets and if pulling off a big acquisition is needed to add, he has displayed no fear in making such a move. Don't be surprised if the Thunderbirds are right back in contention next postseason.