What is in the ice at the ShoWare Center? The Seattle Thunderbirds seem to be on a losing streak lately and it just keeps getting longer. After what proved to be such a strong streak of wins not only once but twice this season, they are back in the red. Last weekend, on Friday, December 18, the Birds lost to the Tri City Americans in a an exciting 3-2 game. The good news is that, while the Birds lost, it was by a narrow margin, giving fans hope that this string of losses will fray and end soon.

The victory, in fact, occurred during overtime while fans waited with bated breath to find out the fate of their favorite team. Jordan Topping scored the winning shot in 42 seconds of overtime, breaking the tie and securing the win for Tri City. Fans had mixed reviews about the game, some saying that the refs were behaving quite inadequately during the game. Could the Birds have done better with better refs? Who is to say? During the first period, there was no scoring but plenty of penalties to be had. From delaying the game for deflection to making calls that seemed unnecessary, some fans thought that there was unsportsmanlike conduct from the non-players that night. Even so, ref blaming is a favorite crutch for any fan when your team is suffering, right? Refs present on Friday night were Curtis Marouelli and Nick Swaine.

Goals began to tally up during the second period when Beau McCue made a power play assisted by Brian Williams and Parker Bowles, creating a 1-0 right off the bat for Tri City. In the same period, Jerret Smith made his fourth goal of the season and tied the game up, 1-1. After that, the T-Birds took the lead when Donovan Neuls scored another goal in the third period. Parker Bowles made the next goal of the evening, tying it up again until Topping took the winning shot in overtime.

Flodell defended the team valiantly on Friday, saving 31 out of 34 shots. Even so, it dropped his record to 11-7-3-0. Tri City also outshot the Birds in the game overall, with 34 to Seattle’s 29, and Tri City goaltender Sanders actually improved his record during the game. Overall, it was a tight game to watch, but the Birds just weren’t able to pull through like fans had hoped.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia