T-Birds chasing WHL playoff spot as regular season nears end

Published 2:24 pm Monday, March 9, 2026

The Kent-based Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team is making a late-season run to capture a Western Hockey League (WHL) playoff berth.

Matej Pekar scored two goals and Brock England had three assists to help the T-Birds defeat the Tri-City American 5-1 on Saturday night, March 7 in front of 4,666 fans at the accesso ShoWare Center.

The win helped move Seattle, at the start of this week, into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with seven games remaining. The T-Birds play the Victoria Royals on Tuesday, March 10 in Kent; travel Friday, March 13 to Spokane; and return home against the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday, March 14.

The T-Birds are fighting to hold off Tri-City and Victoria for the final playoff spot in a close race. Spokane and Portland entered this week just a few points ahead of the T-Birds. Eight of the 12 teams advance to the playoffs.

Seattle hopes to move even higher than the eighth spot in order to avoid a first-round showdown with the Everett Silvertips, who entered this week with a first-place record of 52-7-2-1 (107 points). Seattle, with the win over Tri-City, is 26-26-5-4 (61 points). WHL records include wins, losses, overtime losses and shootout losses, with two points for a win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.

“It was a big win, for sure,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said after the victory over Tri-City. “It’s still a long way to go. We’re not trying to look ahead. We’ve been doing a good job of focusing on the next two points and our focus is the next game and blocking out the other stuff and controlling what we can control. I think we’ll stick to that approach.”