Thunderbirds show appreciation

Seattle hockey team hosts military appreciation night during its Western Hockey League game with Tri-City

David Poe / Northwest Guardian

Comedy icon Rodney Dangerfield once said he “went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” If he’d somehow worked in a respectful nod to American servicemembers past and present, he would have wrapped up Friday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent perfectly. The Seattle Thunderbirds saluted three 17th Fires Brigade Soldiers and others during a mid-season tussle with the Tri-City Americans during military appreciation night hosted by the Western Hockey League club.

Mired in fourth place in the WHL Western Conference’s U.S. Division and trailing first place Tri-City by 14 points, the squad may have set the resilient tone of the evening before they even stepped onto the ice. Decades of courageous military service were on display for the national anthem as veterans from Kent-Meridian Post 6785 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars were on hand to present the colors. R.C. Sample, a veteran Soldier who was a part of that color guard, said remembrance and recognition, whether they be trumpeted at a hockey game, or quiet reminders in Americans’ daily lives, are two things that can never fall by the wayside.

“It’s an honor to our country and it’s an honor those who have fought for all the rights we have in this country,” Sample said, who served on the Korean peninsula. “Veterans put their lives, careers and families on the line for us.”

Coming off a Nov. 2 through 4 road trip through Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, where T-Bird defenses allowed almost five goals a game, Tri-City shooters looked to pick up where the victorious Kootenay (B.C.) Ice left off two nights before. Seattle Goalie Calvin Pickard set the tone in the first period as he turned away 13 shots and his penalty killers kept the ship afloat heading into the first intermission scoreless.

Between periods Soldiers from 17th Fires Bde. and other servicemembers were introduced to the crowd from ice level at the north goal, and while they all appreciated the public thank you from the fans, one was especially happy it happened on a top-tier hockey rink and with a team with respected alumni such as NHL all-star Patrick Marleau, and retired greats Chris Osgood and Petr Nedved, among others.

“I grew up right outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania, so everyone I knew growing up was a Hershey Bears fan,” Staff Sgt. John Bulley, a Soldier from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 17th Fires Bde. said. “In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s I was a big Ron Hextall fan. I’m a huge hockey fan, especially of the goalie. The quick reaction time and the athleticism blows my mind.” Hextall starred in goal for 11 seasons with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers after playing for its minor league club in Hershey.

The dogfight, full of heavy hits and power plays outmuscled by trapping defensemen, continued across the second period and into the third before newly acquired Sean Aschim (arrived from Moose Jaw Nov. 5) lit the lamp for the T-Birds with a goal at 1:37. Chance Lund scored his sixth goal of the season at 14:18 and Burke Gallimore notched an empty-netter at 18:18, all shining behind Pickard with 47 saves, culminating with a 3-0 Seattle win.

Undoubtedly a hockey fan, Bulley said he’s a bigger fan of the American public and while being thanked for his service used to make him feel uncomfortable as he feels service is its own reward, he said he’s realized that the “thank yous” he receives are a part of something bigger.

“When they’re thanking me, they’re not only thanking me as an individual, but I think they’re really thanking everyone in the uniformed services,” Bulley said. “At first it’s a little awkward, but the more people that do it, the more it makes me realize how much more meaningful it is what we do; it means a lot.”