T-Birds Doubled up by Rockets
KENT, Wash. – Brock England scored twice but the Seattle Thunderbirds lost a 6-3 decision to the Kelowna Rockets Friday at the accesso ShoWare Center. The Thunderbirds complete their weekend action Saturday with the short trip north to Everett to play the Silvertips at Angel of the Winds Arena. Seattle returns home next Tuesday to host the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The T-Birds inability to capitalize on the power play played a major role in the loss as they finished the night 0-for-7 with the man advantage. “There was a lot of special teams play in the game,” said head coach Matt O’Dette. “In the first period, the power play was creating momentum for us, but we got off on the wrong foot with it in the second. We talk about, even if you’re not scoring on the power play, you want to create momentum off it. We weren’t able to create that momentum.”
The teams traded goals in the first period with Kelowna striking first with a goal 21-seconds into the contest. Seattle (17-20-3-2) answered at 4:20 with England’s first of the night, assisted by Antonio Martorana and Radim Mrtka.
In period two the T-Birds were outscored, 3-1 and fell behind, 4-2. The Rockets struck at 3:48 and 7:07 to build a two-goal lead. England got the Thunderbirds back within a goal at 12:45, on assists from Martorana and Simon Lovsin. But Seattle took a penalty shortly after the goal and Kelowna capitalized, regaining their two-goal advantage just two seconds after the penalty expired.
The Thunderbirds had a golden opportunity to climb back in the game after the Rockets were assessed a double minor penalty for high sticking just over a minute into the third period, but they failed to take advantage of the four-minute power play. Not long after, the T-Birds squandered another power play chance, instead surrendering a shorthanded goal.
“Frustration set in after not scoring on the earlier power plays,” explained O’Dette. “And once that happens it’s hard to get back on track. I think the other team fed off that and that was one of the biggest factors in the outcome of the game. It gave them lots of momentum, lots of life. It snowballed on us.”
The T-Birds got a spark with six-minute remaining when Cameron Schmidt scored his league leading 33rd goal to make it 5-3. Coster Dunn and Noah Kosick earned the assists. The goal also extended Schmidt’s point streak to 27 games. But the drama ended when the Rockets scored a power play goal with two-minute remaining to close out the scoring.
O’Dette said they didn’t play to their identity. “Honestly, I don’t remember a lot of forechecking opportunities. For us to be successful, we have to dig deep when it’s hard, control our attitude when it’s not going our way, and that was an issue tonight.”
T-BIRD EXTRAS
While Coster Dunn and Marcus Laraque returned to the Seattle lineup after both missed four games due to injury, the T-Birds played without third leading scorer Metaj Pekar.
Joe Gramer remains out with an upper body injury, missing his second game.
The T-Birds lost for just the sixth time this season in regulation on home ice.
Boxscore: Kelowna Rockets at Seattle Thunderbirds – Friday, January 23, 2026
