T-Birds Roar Back to Earn Point
KENT, Wash. – the Seattle Thunderbirds rallied from four goals down before losing in a shootout to the Penticton Vees, 5-4, Sunday at the accesso ShoWare Center. The Thunderbirds now prepare for a home and home next weekend against division rival Portland. The two-game weekend starts Friday at home. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
Seattle (18-22-3-3) got off to a slow start and it led to them trailing, 4-0, after the first period. “Not the start that we wanted,” said head coach Matt O’Dette. “We made some mistakes, weren’t mentally sharp. It’s tough to spot a team a four goal lead and come all the way back, but we showed some resiliency in the second and third and crawled back into the game.”
Penticton scored three minutes into the game, added a second ten minutes later, then tacked on two more in the first period’s final ninety seconds. “It’s fundamental stuff,” explained O’Dette of the mistakes that led to the early deficit. “Passes from A to B, playing line rushes properly. Correctable stuff that we go over on video and practice a lot. It’s mental mistakes and poor reads that are leading to these goals against.”
The Thunderbirds began the comeback with a two goal second period. Cameron Schmidt scored unassisted at 14:18. Antonio Martorana followed two minutes later on an assist from Vanek Popil.
Noah Kosick’s goal 36-seconds into the third period got the T-Birds within one at 4-3. “I thought our second and third were really good, coming back from 4-0,” he remarked. “But we have to come out harder in the first and not have to do all that work.”
Seattle tied the game at 17:48, pulling their goalie for the extra attacker, winning an offensive zone faceoff and taking the puck to the net. Coster Dunn scored the equalizer on a Sawyer Mayes assist. Neither team scored in overtime. Penticton got the only goal of the shootout to earn the win.
“There’s a process to winning a game and you have to get to that process right away,” said O’Dette. “In the first period, we didn’t do that. I thought in the second and third we did. We simplified a little bit, put some pressure on their D with our forecheck and spent more time in the offensive zone and got back in the game.”
T-BIRD EXTRAS
Seattle finished 0-3-0-1 in their four games against the expansion Vees.
The T-Birds were 0-for-5 on the power play Sunday, including a power play to start overtime. Seattle was a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Seattle outshot the Vees 36-17 after the first period and 44-28 in the game.
With 34 goals, Schmidt is second in the WHL in that category. Matthew Gard has seven points in his last three games on three goals and four assists.
Boxscore: Penticton Vees at Seattle Thunderbirds – Sunday, February 1, 2026
