Barzal and Co. turned Thunderbirds into winners
WINDSOR, Ont. — When the Seattle Thunderbirds fell 7-0 on Tuesday to the Saint John Sea Dogs at the Memorial Cup, it signalled the last time the team’s core group would play together.
It’s the end of a four-year journey for a group of teens now forced to take the next step in their careers.
Forwards Mathew Barzal, Ryan Gropp, Keegan Kolesar, Scott Eansor and defenceman Ethan Bear — all rookies with Seattle in 2013 — will be moving on, with four full seasons of junior under their belt.
“After we lost, I was kind of having flashbacks from when I was 16 to now,” said Bear, an Oilers prospect. “Very sad. Probably the last day I’ll throw on the jersey with those guys.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished, though it’s tough to go out the way we did.”
The future looks bright for the soon-to-be T-Birds graduates.
In 2015, four of them had their named called at the NHL Draft, with Barzal leading the way as the 16th overall pick by the Islanders. Gropp went 41st to the Rangers, Kolesar 69th to Columbus and Bear 124th to Edmonton.
Eansor, an overager who serves as Seattle co-captain, is undrafted but hoping to earn a contract. All five attended an NHL camp last fall.
But after their second straight thumping at the four-team tournament for the biggest trophy in major junior hockey, the future was the last thing any of them were thinking about.
“We obviously had different plans for this tournament, not to score three goals and get outscored 18-3 or something,” said Barzal. “It hasn’t really sunk in that the season’s done yet, it just happened so fast.”
In 2012-13, the Thunderbirds finished 24-38-10 and exited the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. Seattle had used the 2012 bantam draft to stock up for the future, selecting Barzal from Coquitlam, Gropp of Kamloops, Winnipeg’s Kolesar and Bear, from Ochapowace, Sask., as 15-yearolds. Eansor, of Englewood, Calif., signed a WHL contract in 2013 and the five joined the team for the next season.
Seattle never had a winning percentage below .590 in the four seasons they were together. They made two league championship series, winning the franchise’s first WHL title this season.
Barzal (278) and Gropp (254) cracked the franchise’s top-10 alltime scorers, sixth and 10th respectively.
“They’ve grown up with me as a coach, we’ve had our battles and they’re good, young men,” said Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk.
“I have respect for all of them. I’ll miss those guys.”