Thunderbirds WHL title dream comes True

Seattle wins first league crown in team history with OT thriller

Mathew Barzal, centre, gives a cheer after the Thunderbirds OT win.

    REGINA – Alexander True came up true in the biggest moment in the history of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

    On Sunday night before a sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre in Regina, True’s Thunderbirds were locked in a 3-3 tie in overtime with the host Pats and were looking to close out the WHL Championship series with a Game 6 victory.
    At the 12:36 mark of the extra session, the 19-year-old import centre from Copenhagen, Denmark, broke down the right wing, fired a shot on Pats netminder Tyler Brown, followed the rebound and popped home the WHL championship winning goal.

    True’s marker gave the Thunderbirds a 4-3 victory in game, a 4-2 win in the best-of-seven series and the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The win marks the first time the Thunderbirds have claimed the WHL title in team history. The Thunderbirds date back to 1977, when the club was formed as the Seattle Breakers.

Alexander True (#16) fires home the WHL championship winning goal.

   “Unbelievable feeling. It is just really special,” said True, who said the OT winner was the biggest goal in his hockey career. “I don’t really know what to say.

    “I didn’t think much. I just wanted get the puck on net. Luckily, I got the rebound and saw the net was pretty open.”

    The Pats held a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Thunderbirds pulled even at 1-1 scoring the lone tally in the second. Regina shot out to a 3-1 lead in the third period, but Seattle replied with two markers late in the frame to force overtime.

    Feisty Thunderbirds right-winger Keegan Kolesar wired home a one-time feed from star defenceman Ethan Bear on the power play for the equalizer with 2:54 remaining in the third.

Alexander True celebrates his OT winner.

    “We’re a team that doesn’t give up,” said Bear, who had a pair of assists and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department in Sunday’s win. “We’re going to have to keep doing that moving forward.

    “Through all the adversities and injuries, a lot of guys stepped up. We really, really earned this, and it feels amazing.”

    Bear, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, had over 100 family and friends in attendance from his home stomping grounds in Saskatchewan’s Ochapowace First Nation. The 19-year-old big time appreciated his backers.

    “It is amazing to look at all my family and all my friends,” said Bear. “I am not the only guy from (Saskatchewan), so I bet they (his Saskatchewan teammates on the Thunderbirds) feel the same.

    “It couldn’t be any better.”

    Bear, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 205 pounds, said he draws motivation from his friends and family in Ochapowace.

    “They supported me a lot,” said Bear. “Everywhere I went, they all supported me no matter what I did.

    “That really helps me push myself to get a little bit further. Hearing and seeing all the crowd we had, you know it felt like home ice. Without them, I don’t think we could have done it.”

Seattle RW Keegan Kolesar (#28) tries to slip past Regina D Connor Hobbs.

    Sami Moilanen and Ryan Gropp both netted singles for the Thunderbirds. Sam Steel, Josh Mahura and Austin Wagner all netted singles for the Pats.

    For a moment, it looked Wagner was going to have a storybook type game. With the contest locked in a 1-1 draw, Wagner was nailed with a high hit in the open ice by Thunderbirds 19-year-old defenceman Turner Ottenbreit.

    Wagner, who had been battling bum shoulder in the playoffs, laid on the ice for a few moments before being helped to the dressing room. Ottenbreit was given a major penalty for charging, and that infraction will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    After missing the rest of the second period, Wagner returned for the third. The speedy winger got in alone on Thunderbirds netminder Carl Stankowski and netted his 16^th goal of the post-season to give the Pats a 3-1 edge with 6:48 to play in the frame.

Thunderbirds defenceman Ethan Bear holds up the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Bear said his Thunderbirds expected the Pats to be resilient. The Pats topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record and were rated first in the final Canadian Hockey League rankings released on March 22.

    In the second round of the playoffs, the Pats trailed the Swift Current Broncos 3-1 in a best-of-seven series and rallied for a 4-3 series win. In the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series, the Pats trailed that best-of-seven set 2-1 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes and rallied for a 4-2 victory.

    “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Bear. “Right from the get go, they were a team that every time they were down in a series they came back and won.

    “We knew that. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we just stuck to it. It feels amazing.”

    Stankowski made 28 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Brown was sensational turning away 39 shots to take the loss in goal for the Pats.

Austin Wagner (#27) celebrates his goal that gave the Pats a 3-1 lead.

    Thunderbirds star centre Mathew Barzal was named the MVP of the WHL playoffs.
    The Coquitlam, B.C., product missed the first round of the post-season due to illness, but he returned to piled up seven goals, 18 assists and a plus-eight rating in 16 playoff contests.

    The Thunderbirds will make their first appearance at the four-team Memorial Cup tournament for the first time since they hosted the event in 1992, when they lost out in a semifinal contest. The other three teams at this year’s Memorial Cup are the Ontario Hockey League champion Erie Otters, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs and the host Windsor Spitfires.

    The Memorial Cup begins Friday and runs through to Sunday, May 28 in Windsor, Ont.

    The Pats were making their first appearance in the WHL Championship series since 1984 and will host the Memorial Cup next year.

    After losing last year’s WHL Championship series in five games to the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Thunderbirds returned 14 skaters this season and had to survive missing key players to injuries and illness over extended stretches. Stankowski, who is in his 16-year-old season, played every minute in the post-season in goal for Seattle after star overage netminder Rylan Toth sat out with a lower body injury.

Seattle C Matthew Wedman (#21) is stopped by Regina G Tyler Brown.

    During the regular season, the Thunderbirds posted the WHL’s fourth best overall record at 46-20-4-2. In the WHL playoffs, Seattle rolled off a 16-4 mark.

    Thunderbirds long time veteran general manager, part owner and WHL legend Russ Farwell stood off to the side watching his players, coaches and staff enjoy the moment. Before he ever joined the Thunderbirds, Farwell was the general manager and architect of the Medicine Hat Tigers league and Memorial Cup championship teams in 1987 and 1988.

    After the 1988 Memorial Cup title win, he joined the Thunderbirds for his first stint as general manager, which ended with a departure to the NHL ranks in 1990. Farwell has continuously been with the Thunderbirds since getting back involved with the team in 1995.

    He wanted to savour this first personal league title win in 29 years.

The Thunderbirds get set for the team picture with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    “You appreciate it a little more I think the longer you have been doing it,” said Farwell. “This is a special group of guys.

    “It is a bigger challenge in the U.S. to build that kind of team. This year this group has really, really battled through a lot of things. It is the funniest year I have ever had right down to Carl (Stankowski) having to step in for us in goal.

    “They’ve just overcome so many things.”

    Farwell said he would always remember this league title win.

    “They are all big, but this is special certainly for our group, our scouts and everyone there in Seattle,” said Farwell. “It has been a long, long time coming.

    “We worked at it. We had a run last year. It is really special to get there and see these guys get there.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Mahura pulls out huge comeback win for Pats

Regina ties WHL title series with Thunderbirds 1-1

The Regina Pats pile on top of Josh Mahura after he scores his OT winner.

    REGINA – Josh Mahura’s playoff savvy showed through for the Regina Pats.

    The third-year rearguard showed why the Pats decide to acquire him in a WHL trade deadline deal with the Red Deer Rebels back on Jan. 10. The 18-year-old St. Albert product missed all but two games of last year’s regular season with the Rebels due to a serious knee injury.

    He returned to be a key contributor to the Rebels run to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series and a semifinal appearance as the host squad in the Memorial Cup tournament.

    On Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators at the Brandt Centre, Mahura was the key figure in powering the Regina Pats to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series. With the win, the Pats tie the best-of-seven set 1-1.

Josh Mahura scored twice for the Pats on Saturday night.

    The Thunderbirds built a 3-1 lead early in the second period scoring three times in a span of 56 seconds.
    To make matters worse for the host side, the Pats were without captain Adam Brooks with an undisclosed injury after he received a crunching open ice hit from Thunderbirds defenceman Turner Ottenbreit in Seattle’s 2-1 overtime victory in Game 1 on Friday.

    After going ahead 3-1 on Saturday, the visitors were controlling the game at that point, but they gave the Pats a chance to get back into the contest taking three successive penalties in the second half of the second frame.

    Working on the power play with 1:25 to play in the second, Mahura tapped home a loose puck at the right side of the Seattle goal during a net scramble to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 3-2. That effort turned out to the cue the comeback.

Pats D Josh Mahura (#5) defends against Thunderbirds C Mathew Barzal.

    At the 5:20 mark of the third, Pats import left-winger Filip Ahl stole the puck from a Thunderbirds defenceman and scored on a turnaround shot to tie things up a 3-3.

    When the contest proceeded to go to overtime, the Pats caught another break, when Thunderbirds right-winger Keegan Kolesar took a minor kneeing penalty behind the play on Pats defenceman Connor Hobbs.

    On the ensuing power play, Mahura blasted home the winner at the 5:22 mark of the extra session to deliver the Pats to victory.

    “We knew we needed to win tonight, and that was the bottom line,” said Mahara. “When it went in, it was like a sigh of relief for not just me but the whole team.

    “We needed to tie the series up here at home.”

Keegan Kolesar took a costly penalty in overtime.

    Last year, Mahura, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 185 pounds, ate up huge minutes playing the back end for the Rebels in the post-season. When he arrived in Regina via trade, he instantly gave the Pats more depth on their backend with his ability to play both ends of the ice.

    In 73 games this past regular season with both the Rebels and Pats, the third round 2016 NHL Entry Draft selection of the Anaheim Ducks piled up 17 goals, 36 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.

    “We made a big trade for a reason,” said Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock. “He is one of the top defencemen in the league.

    “He is part of our first four defenceman which I think is big for our team. We got him for this year, and we got him for next year.”

    The Pats gained a rearguard who has loads of playoff experience, which is key to helping counter the experience contained in the Thunderbirds, who returned 14 skaters from last year’s squad that appeared in the WHL championship series loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

    Coming from the Rebels, the Pats also gained a player in Mahura who has a team-first mentality. That showed when he was asked how good it was to come through in big moments for the Pats in the post-game media conference.

Alexander True (#16) was pumped after putting Seattle up 3-1.

    “You are not thinking about yourself or getting goal for yourself,” said Mahara. “You are thinking about getting that win for the guys that have been battling all year for you.”

    The Pats got out to a quick jump in Saturday’s game, when WHL MVP Sam Steel scored 50 seconds into the contest after being on the receiving end of a turnover by a Thunderbirds defenceman. Steel later drew an assist on Mahura’s first goal.

    While the Pats took a 1-0 lead on Steel’s tally, the Thunderbirds experience showed through as they started to carry play in the contest. Early in the second, the Thunderbirds broke through on the scoreboard as Austin Strand, Turner Ottenbreit and Alexander True all netted singles to go ahead 3-1.

    From that point, Pats netminder Tyler Brown slammed the door making 27 saves to pick up the win in goal as Regina battled back. Thunderbirds netminder Carl Stankowski, who is in his 16-year-old rookie season, turned away 22 shots to take the loss in goal for Seattle.

WHL MVP Sam Steel had a goal and an assist in the Pats win.

    With the comeback win, the Pats head into Tuesday’s Game 3 at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., with momentum. The Thunderbirds, who host Games 3 to 5 of the WHL title series, are already beginning to reset.

    Part of the reset comes from Thunderbirds head coach Steve Konowalchuk having faith in Kolesar, who took the overtime penalty that ultimately cost his side the game. Kolesar missed his team’s series opening win over the Pats on Friday serving a one-game suspension.
    Kolesar was suspended for taking a checking from behind major in Seattle’s Western Conference championship series clinching 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on April 30.

    As for Kolesar’s penalty in Saturday’s loss, Konowalchuk spoke about the importance of going forward.

The Regiment at the Brandt Centre celebrate the Pats OT victory.

    “You don’t want your player or any player to be in that situation and get a penalty,” said Konowalchuk. “Mistakes happen. We’ll go to battle with Keegan at any time.

    “He’s disappointed for our team. He is an emotional kid. They are kids and that’s part of it.

    “That is part of the process the highs and lows of playoffs. He has to move on, and we have to move on.”

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Thunderbirds gut out series opening 2-1 overtime win

Pats face an uphill battle losing third straight Game 1

Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls celebrates his OT winner.

    REGINA – The Regina Pats seem to like doing things the hard way in the post-season.

    For the third straight series, the Pats, who topped the WHL standings with a 52-12-7-1 mark, dropped an opening Game 1, and this time they face a different obstacle.
    On Friday night in the opening contest in the best-of-seven WHL Championship series, the Pats fell 2-1 in overtime to the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds.

    Just 14 seconds into the extra session, Thunderbirds winger Donovan Neuls knocked home a loose puck in front of the Regina net to send most of a sellout crowd of 6,484 home disappointed.

    Thanks the setback, the Pats will have to fight another uphill battle to pull out a series victory, but this time the challenge is different for the club the was rated first in the final CHL top 10 rankings released on March 22.

Donovan Neuls breaks up ice for the Thunderbirds.

    In the second round of the playoffs, the Pats dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Swift Current Broncos at home. The Broncos eventually took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven set before the Regina battled back with three straight wins to take the series 4-3 to advance to the WHL Eastern Conference championship series.

    In the opener of the Eastern Conference title series, the Pats again fell on home ice this time by a 3-1 decision to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven set before the Pats rallied back with three straight wins to claim the series 4-2.

    The Broncos, who posted a 39-23-4-6 mark in the regular season, and the Hurricanes, who had a 44-21-4-3 record in the regular season, were both strong clubs, but both also hadn’t made far ventures in the post-season for some time.
    The Broncos were looking to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2001 when they fell to the Pats. The Hurricanes were making their first conference final appearance since 2008 when they fell to the Pats.

    Regina is also making its first long run in the playoffs in some time. When the Pats won the conference final, it marked the first time they appeared in the league championship series since 1984.

Ethan Bear had a goal in his return from injury.

    Between 1984 and the current campaign, they only had one other conference final appearance coming back in 1993, when they were swept by the Broncos.

    In the Thunderbirds, the Pats are facing an experienced opponent when it comes to the post-season.

    Seattle made it to last year’s league title series dropping the best-of-seven set 4-1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Thunderbirds dropped three straight overtime games to make things really hard to try and win that set.

    This season, the Thunderbirds returned 14 skaters and posted the league’s fourth best record at 46-20-4-2. You have to think they were heading into the playoffs looking to take care of unfinished business.

    Still, Seattle entered the playoffs with some adversity. They haven’t had the services of star overage goaltender Rylan Toth, who missed the entire post-season with a lower body injury. Carl Stankowski, who in his 16-year-old rookie season, has been spectacular in Toth’s place posting impressive stats in the post-season with a 13-2 record, a 2.39 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.

    He was solid on Friday making 31 stops, which included turning away Pats captain Adam Brooks on a first-period wraparound and stopping speedy Pats winger Austin Wagner on a short-handed breakaway in the third period.

Thunderbirds goalie Carl Stankowski stones Pats centre Braydon Buziak.

    The Pats finally beat Stankowski on a spectacular power-play goal from star offensive-defenceman Connor Hobbs with 7:49 to play. Hobbs snuck in the point and potted a backdoor feed from winger Dawson Leedahl which tied the contest up at 1-1 and eventually forced overtime.

    The Thunderbirds also started the playoffs without spectacular star captain Mathew Barzal with what the team said was an illness. The Thunderbirds said Barzal was being tested for mumps in early March. Barzal missed the Thunderbirds first round series swept of the Tri-City Americans and returned for the start of the Thunderbirds second round series with the Everett Silvertips.

    In 11 post-season games, Barzal has been on fire piling up five goals and 14 assists. He had helpers on both his team’s goals in Game 1 against the Pats.

Connor Hobbs, left, celebrates his game-tying goal for the Pats.

    The Thunderbirds also had questions going into the series opener with Regina as right-winger Keegan Kolesar was sitting out a one-game suspension for receiving a major for checking from behind in Seattle’s Western Conference series clinching 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna on Sunday.

    Ethan Bear, who was named the WHL’s top defenceman, was returning to action after missing three games with a hand injury. The Ochapowace product blew home a power play goal from the top of the faceoff circle at the 4:55 mark of the second period to give Seattle a 1-0 edge and answer questions about his effectiveness.

    On top of all of those obstacles, the Thunderbirds got rid of some demons with regards to losing overtime games in the league title series from a year ago.

    To make matters worse for the Pats, they lost Brooks who was nailed in the open ice after cross the Seattle blue-line by Thunderbirds rugged defenceman Turner Ottenbreit early in the second period when the game was still scoreless. Brooks was held off the ice, had a cut on his head, looked groggy and didn’t return.

Pats captain Adam Brooks is tended to by trainer Greg Mayer.

    In a post-game press conference, Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock compared Ottenbreit’s hit to one thrown by former NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Scott Stevens. Paddock also didn’t give an update on Brooks’s future status.

    On replays, Ottenbreit’s hit appeared clean, and Brooks was at a size disadvantage in the collision, which helped cause the injury. Ottenbreit stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 200 pounds, while Brooks stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 177 pounds.

    The Pats won their second round series against the Broncos with Brooks missing the last five games of that set with a knee injury. He dressed for the last three outings of the series but stayed on the bench.

    Regina netminder Tyler Brown did his best to give the Pats a chance to win on Friday making 24 saves to take the loss in goal.

The Thunderbirds celebrate their overtime victory.

    The Pats now have their backs to the wall against an experienced opponent. They claimed Game 2 at home in both of their series wins against the Broncos and Hurricanes to put themselves in the fight in those sets.

    The pressure is on Regina to repeat recent history in Game 2 against the Thunderbirds on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at the Brandt Centre before going back for three straight games at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.