T-Birds Fall in OT in Game One
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Seattle Thunderbirds lost a nailbiter, 3-2 in overtime, to the Penticton Vees in Game One of their first round, best-of-seven, playoff series Friday at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Game Two is Saturday, also in Penticton. The series shifts to the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent for Games Three and Four next Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We worked hard tonight,” said head coach Matt O’Dette of falling just short in the series opener. “There were a lot of good things, with the way we want to play, with our formula. Guys competed hard, were ready to play.”
Penticton the number two seed in the Western Conference, opened the scoring with a power play goal at 6:01 of the first period. The Thunderbirds, the seventh seed, tied it up with Noah Kosick’s goal at 13:24, assisted by Coster Dunn and Cameron Schmidt.
The teams traded goals in the second period as well. The Vees went back on top, 2-1, at 9:19 but the T-Birds got the game even with Antonio Martorana’s backhander at 17:31. Matthew Gard and Radim Mrtka were credited with the assists.
The Thunderbirds outshot Penticton, 21-19 through the first forty minutes but were outshot 26-6 the rest of the way. “I thought we fell off a little in the third,” remarked O’Dette. “There were a few times we let them off the hook, fueled their transition game and didn’t give ourselves the opportunity to forecheck.”
Seattle kept it a 2-2 game after sixty minutes thanks to two penalty kills and 15 third period saves from goalie Marek Sklenicka. “He gave us a chance to win,” explained O’Dette of his goalie’s effort. “He held us in the game. They throw a lot of pucks at the net, create traffic and chaos and he handled that pretty well.”
The Vees won the game with a goal at 6:48 of overtime, just two minutes after the T-Birds failed to capitalize on a power play. Seattle finished the night 0-fo-4 with the man advantage. “We’ll take a look at the video,” said O’Dette. “See what adjustments need to be made and get ready to play tomorrow.”
T-BIRD EXTRAS
This was the second straight T-Birds playoff game that went to overtime. Seattle lost Game 6 of their first round series to Everett last spring, 1-0, in double overtime.
The Vees first goal was initially waved off but went to video replay that confirmed the puck completely crossed the goal line.
Matthew Gard came close to winning it for Seattle in regulation with a shot off the cross bar in the third period.
Boxscore: Seattle Thunderbirds at Penticton Vees – Friday, March 27, 2026
