Seattle Thunderbirds fans were crestfallen on Saturday night. The Birds were on such a roll but the Everett Silvertips still managed to defeat them. After several hefty losses to the Tips over the past few months, however, fans can take heart in this: It was a very close defeat, which means that the Birds could also be quite close to taking the Tips on and winning once again.

Birds fans have been lamenting for weeks that the Tips simply know the Seattle team too well, pinpointing all of their tricks and figuring out their moves before they even make them. If that is true, then Seattle finally seems to have some hope on the horizon; the Tips made the tie-breaking goal only during the last 16 seconds of the game.

The Birds played a very strong game. Donovan Neuls scored the first goal of the night, which was an unassisted power play and his 11^th goal for the season. Everett scored next when Devon Skoleski made an unassisted goal. During the second period, Everett took the lead when Carson Stadnyk scored, assisted by Matt Fonteyne. Laurencelle scored again during the third period with an assist from Noah Juulsen, but Ryan Gropp scored the next goal with an assist from Ethan Bear. Bear then scored the next goal, tying the game back up to 3-3. Mathew Barzal and Gropp made the assists. Laurencelle may have scored the winning shot during the end of the third period, but it was a close, good game—one that reminds the fans that the Birds may have it in them to win against the Tips again.

Flodell worked as goalkeeper for the night and his record now stands at 18-13-3-0. Seattle is now at 32-23-3-0 overall.

The game occurred at the Xfinity Arena and it was Remi Laurencelle who made the winning goal for the night. The Birds are now back to being five points behind the Tips, but like any hockey fan knows, it all comes down to the playoffs. As long as Seattle stays in the game—and they are very much in it at second place—they still have a great shot at the cup. Even so, they do need to master the art of beating the Tips if they want to actually bring that cup home this season.

The Birds will play at Tri-City on Friday, February 26. The puck drops at 7:05.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia