Too bad about those high hopes we discussed yesterday following the last amazing game, folks—the Seattle Thunderbirds were not able to end the year with a win. During the annual New Year’s Eve game, the Portland Winterhawks came through with a 4-1 victory over our Birds. Overall, the Hawks outshot the T-Birds 41-29. The game was at the Portland Moda Center and there were 10,620 fans in attendance. The Birds are now 10-14-1-0.

There was a long lull during the first period, with no goals as well as no penalties. During the second period, Portland scored three of their four goals. The first was scored by Veloso with assists from Jones and Turgeon. The second goal of the evening was scored by Dougherty and assisted by Czaikowski and Overhardt. Dougherty made the third goal as well, with assists from Glass and Schoenborn.

Jerret Smith scored the night’s only goal for the T-Birds. Smith, who scored the goal during the third period, was assisted by new team member Andreas Schumacher and Ethan Bear. Schumacher has been a really solid player so far and it looks like he may be a huge asset to the team. We will find out soon enough.

The final goal of the evening was scored by Jones. Penalties were had during the second and third periods, with the most notable of them occurring during the third period for major fighting—the first between Neuls, Sea and the second between Hughes and Por. Some roughing penalties occurred between Schoenborn and Por, Kolesar and Sea, Volcan and Sea, and Abols and Por. Other penalties were given for high sticking, holding and tripping.

The Birds will have a chance at redemption soon enough on January 8 when the Hawks come to the ShoWare Center for another game. The Birds have made that a bit of a habit lately—taking a beating, then soaring up like a Phoenix from the ashes and making a quick comeback every time they face a team again. With this pattern, hopefully they will score a huge victory next week.

It is a definite bummer to lose the last game of the year, but the Birds certainly won’t let that get them down. With the energy displayed in the previous game against the Chiefs, we know that winning spirit is alive and kicking. Hopefully we will see it again on Saturday when they play the Tri City Americans again.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia