Eight is Enough in T-Birds Shutout Win
KENT, Wash. – In the fiftieth home opener in franchise history the Seattle Thunderbirds rolled past the Prince George Cougars, 8-0, Saturday at the accesso ShoWare Center as goalie Grayson Malinoski posted his second straight shutout. The Thunderbirds are back on home ice next Friday at 7:05 p.m. when they host the Wenatchee Wild.
“Obviously off on the right foot at home,” said head coach Matt O’Dette of the team’s hope opener. “We just wanted to build off last weekend (a 1-0 win in Wenatchee) and have progress and see our identity take shape. I thought we did that. Every guy had a hand in the win.”
The Thunderbirds got the only goal they would need late in the first period when Sawyer Mayes won an offensive zone face off and got the puck to Brennan Hocher who blasted home his first WHL goal. “ I came down the wall,” said Hocher of his game winner. “Mayeser won the face off for me and I just ripped the shot on net through a screen.”
Seattle pulled away with a five goal second period. Grayson Tash scored at 7:08 on another Mayes face off win. Simon Lovsin drove the net and banged home a rebound off a Brock England shot at 8:48. Marcus Laraque made it 4-0 at 14:24. The T-Birds tacked on two more, scoring them ten seconds apart. Noah Kosick’s first of two on the night chased the Cougars starting goaltender. Antonio Martorana got the first of his two on the very next shot.
Martorana struck again with a shorthanded goal on a nice passing play with Jonas Kemps at 4:19 of the third period. The T-Birds closed out the scoring at 11:01. Kosick scored, assisted by Martorana and Mayes. “It was just a good effort from every guy,” explained Mayes. “I don’t think I looked at one player on the bench and thought they were having a bad game. Great effort from all twenty guys and we’re looking to keep that going.”
Malinoski followed his 31-save shutout in game one last week with a 32 save effort against the Cougars. “He answered his performance from last weekend,” said O’Dette of his netminder. “That’s the type of consistency we want to see. He waited a while for his first shutout. He didn’t have to wait a while for his second one.”
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
The win snapped a six game home ice losing streak to Prince George dating back to 2023.
Twelve different Thunderbirds earned at least a point. Five different players had multiple point games.
The game saw the WHL regular season debuts of Reko Alanko, Knox Burton and Jonas Kemps.
Boxscore: Prince George Cougars at Seattle Thunderbirds – Saturday, September 26, 2026
