Last week was not the luckiest of the season for our Seattle Thunderbirds. They lost their own Teddy Bear Toss game to the Winterhawks, and on January 29^th they lost again to the Spokane Chiefs with a score of 5-4. Even so, it was one of their more lively games, and held at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. In fact, it was one of those games where you take someone to introduce them to hockey and leave with them having become a huge fan in the process. It was such a close game and most fans in attendance reported having a wonderful time.

During the first period of the game, Seattle outshot the Chiefs 11-8 and started off leading the way with a goal from none other than Scott Eansor, making a shorthanded shot assisted by Jared Hauf, who stole the puck. In the second period, Markson Bechtold tied the game with an assist by Keanu Yamamoto, but Seattle was still leading in shots and the crowd was not perturbed just yet.

However, the Chiefs took the lead by scoring another two points right away during the beginning of the third period. With goals scored by Evan Fiala and Nik Anderson, the game was 3-2, Chiefs. The Birds quickly tied the game back up again when Keegan Kolesar scored with a wrist shot, but then the Chiefs came back and scored another two goals! Dominic Zwerger and Presten Kopeck put the Chiefs ahead, 5-3.

What a third period! Kolesar scored another goal in the third period but it just wasn’t enough to catch up, making the final score of the night 5-4, Birds. The action was tight and paced out to create enough tension in the crowd to keep T-Birds hanging in for that very last breath, hoping that they would come through. Even with the loss, the game was still an incredible one to watch. It is games like this one that demonstrate each player’s incredible skills but also their love for the game, making it even more fun to take part in for people of all ages.

Overall, goalie Bow made 20 saves on 25 shots during the evening. Now his record is 15-17-4-0. Penalties were had throughout the game for tripping (Bechtold, Spo), major fighting (Fiala, Spo), misconduct (Kolesar, Sea), high-sticking (Hauf, Sea) and roughing (Leth, Sea and Bechtold, Spo). Refs for the game included Tyler Adair and Jason Cramer.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia