Thunderbirds Teed Up for Final

After facing a three games-to-one deficit against rival Portland in their last Western Hockey League playoff series, the Seattle Thunderbirds will be playing hockey deep into May. The WHL Conference Championship Series begins Friday with Seattle traveling to Kamloops, BC, for Game 1 Friday and Game 2 Saturday.
Then the Thunderbirds return home to accesso ShoWare Center in Kent for what will be a raucous crowd on hand to cheer their squad for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets are still available for both games-and local fans can enjoy the high-energy and entertainment value of high-stakes WHL hockey.

Both Seattle and Kamloops dominated their regular seasons. Kamloops posted a 48-17-3-0 record in the B.C. Division while the Thunderbirds were 44-18-4-2 in the U.S. Division.
Thunderbirds return to the WHL Western Conference Championship for the first time since two consecutive appearances in 2016 and 2017 (the latter with Kraken and American Hockey League forward Alexander True scoring the series-winning goal). It's the fifth trip to the WHL Western Conference Championship (1997, 2003, 2016, 2017) for the Thunderbirds.
The Blazers and Thunderbirds met three times during the 2021-22 WHL Regular Season, with Kamloops going 2-1-0-0.
Game 7 against Portland at the Winterhawks' Veterans Memorial Coliseum started out with all the tension and nerves of any elimination. But by night's end, Seattle was flying high and relaxed with a 6-3 victory.
Thunderbirds coach Matt O'Dette said getting the first goal in the seventh game was critical: "It was good to get that one to kind of break our nerves a little bit and get us off on the right foot."
After that Seattle scored three quick goals in the second period (in two minutes, 11 seconds) to build what turned out to be an insurmountable four-goal lead.
The T-Birds will host Games Three and Four of the next round next Tuesday and Wednesday at the accesso ShoWare Center. Game time both nights will be 7:05 p.m.
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