Seattle Thunderbirds shoot for playoff berth with 3 games left | Hockey

Published 10:47 am Friday, March 16, 2012

The Seattle Thunderbirds are aiming to capture a Western Hockey League playoff berth with three regular season games remaining, including a showdown against Everett on Saturday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent.

Seattle is in ninth place in the Western Conference playoff standings with a record of 24-43-1-1, which is good for 50 points. The T-Birds are two points behind the eighth-place Everett Silvertips (21-39-2-8) and three points behind the seventh-place Victoria Royals (23-41-3-4).

Everett has two games left and Victoria one.

The T-Birds play Friday night at Spokane, which will be televised at 7 p.m. on Root Sports. Seattle finishes the regular season Sunday at the Portland Winterhawks.

There is the possibility of a tie for the last playoff spot which would mean a tie-breaker game on Tuesday, March 20, hosted by the team with the most regular season wins.

Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a tie.

Western Hockey League race for seventh and eighth playoff spots:

Place    Team                             GP    W    L    OTL    SL    PTS

7    Victoria Royals                    71    23    41    3        4      53

8    Everett Silvertips                 70    21    39    2        8      52

9    Seattle Thunderbirds           69    24    43    1       1       50

10    Prince George Cougars    70    23    45    0        2       48