Penticton takes 3-0 WHL playoff series lead over T-Birds

Published 1:49 pm Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Dallas Stars prospect Cameron Schmidt scored twice but the Seattle Thunderbirds fell 4-3 to the Penticton (B.C.) Vees Tuesday, March 31 in a Western Hockey League playoff game at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent.

The victory gave Penticton, an expansion team, a 3-0 lead in the first round, best-of-seven series. The Vees won the first two games of the series in Penticton. Seattle needs a win at home at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday to stay alive in the playoffs.

Head coach Matt O’Dette said some of the small details are eluding the T-Birds thus far in the series, according to a T-Birds website post.

“The intangibles, every play matters,” he said. “A lost battle at the front of the net, a missed shot block. It’s that time of year where they get magnified and can be the difference in the game.”

For the third time in the series Penticton opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period. Seattle came back in period two to take the lead with the two Schmidt goals. The first at 1:07 was assisted by Noah Kosick. The second was an unassisted breakaway goal at 11:18.

The T-Bird first lead of the series lasted just a little over 3 minutes. The Vees got it even at 2-2 at 14:36 and that was the score heading into the second intermission.

“We had some scoring chances,” said O’Dette. “Their goalie made some saves. But when a goalie’s playing well you have to get more to the net, create traffic and get second and third opportunities.”

Penticton broke the tie midway through the third then added another goal 4 minutes after that. In desperation mode, the Thunderbirds pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and did close to within one, but the Joe Gramer goal came with just 21-seconds left and the T-Birds couldn’t muster another scoring opportunity. Gramer’s goal was his first of the playoffs assisted by Brock England and Simon Lovsin.

As was the case in each of the first two games, Seattle failed to convert on the power play.

“Obviously it’s been a factor in the series,” said O’Dette as the T-Birds went 0-for-4 on the man advantage. “There were a couple looks that we had tonight, but you want to gain some momentum of the power play and carry that into the 5-on-5.”

T-Birds extras

• The Thunderbirds did kill off all four Penticton power plays in the game but by going 0-for-4 themselves, Seattle is now 0-for-12 with the power play through the first three games of the series.

• The Vees have hit the 40-shot plateau in all three games, outshooting the T-Birds in game 3, 40-32, though Seattle did put 16 shots on net in the third.

• Earlier in the day the WHL named Schmidt a Western Conference first team all-star. Schmidt led the league in goal scoring during the regular season with 51 and was third in points with 100.

• A crowd of 3,009 saw the game, filling just half of the ShoWare Center.