Kent-based T-Birds stay alive in playoffs with 4-3 win against Penticton

Published 10:17 am Thursday, April 2, 2026

Marek Sklenicka made 50 saves and the Seattle Thunderbirds held on to beat the Penticton (B.C.) Vees 4-3 Wednesday night at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent to remain alive in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

Penticton, an expansion team, had a chance to eliminate the T-Birds with a victory in game four of the first round, best-of-seven game series. The Vees lead the series 3-1. Seattle had a 4-0 lead in the game and held off a late rally.

Game five is Friday. April 3 at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton. If necessary, Game six would be back in Kent at 5:05 p.m. Sunday, April 5.

For the first time in the series, Seattle scored first with a Joe Gramer goal at 13 minutes, 59 seconds of the opening period, assisted by Matej Pekar.

“It was a pretty low event first,” said Seattle coach Matt O’Dette, according to an article on the T-Birds website. “We were pretty efficient, managing it well. We managed to get the lead, which was nice.”

O’Dette thought their second period wasn’t as clean as the first but they did manage to score three goals.

“We turned a few pucks over at their blue line but we managed to capitalize on some chances and stake ourselves to a bigger lead,” he said.

The T-Birds made it 2-0 at 4:07 of the second when Matthew Gard tipped in Tai Riley’s shot from the blue line.

“I got a puck low to high,” Riley said. “I was able to keep the puck in the zone. I was able to put it to the net and Gardo had a good tip.”

The T-Birds stretched the lead to 3-0 with Brock England’s goal at 7:53. Gramer and Antonio Martorana had the assists. Coster Dunn made it 4-0 with his second of the postseason at 12:31. Gramer earned another assist along with Noah Kosick.

Penticton pushed back, starting with a power play goal with three minutes left in period two. They cut the T-Birds lead to 4-2 with a goal 24 seconds into the final period, then made it a one goal contest with four and a half minutes remaining.

“They made a big push in the third,” said O’Dette as the Vees put 22 shots on the Seattle net the final 20 minutes. “We bent but we didn’t break. Obviously Sklenny (Sklenicka) was good. He held the fort and we live to fight another day.”

T-Birds extras

• Coster Dunn now has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 12 career playoff games with Seattle.

• The T-Birds only had one power play chance in the game and failed to convert. They are 0-for-13 in the series with the man advantage.

• In three games, regular season and postseason combined, Seattle has put up 13 goals against Penticton goalie Ethan McCallum.

• A small crowd of 2,087 attended the game in the 6,200-seat ShoWare Center. The March 31 game at ShoWare Center drew a crowd of 3,009, which was a Tuesday night discount ticket price. The T-Birds are the anchor tenant of the city-owned arena.