Pickard won't get an easier shutout than that!

• Calvin Pickard meet Alexandre Fomitchev. The Seattle Thunderbirds best player now has a common bond with the Russian born netminder despite the two having never met. Pickard became the first T-Birds goalie since Fomitchev to register a shutout at Prospera Place in a 5-0 win Wednesday night over the Kelowna Rockets. Pickard made 23 saves in the win. It marked the first time the T-Birds earned a shutout in Kelowna since Fomitchev made 39 saves in a 1-0 win in October of 1999.
• Pickard appeared in his 66th game of the season Wednesday night. If he plays in the remaining three games of the regular season, which he will undoubtedly do, the 18 year-old will have played in 69 of the T-Birds 72 regular season games. The last WHL goaltender to play in 69 games in one season was Kevin Nastiuk of the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2003-2004.
  
• Awful would be putting it nicely to explain the home teams effort. Seattle had good jump and energy throughout the game and the Rockets made life easy for them. No one really stood out for the Rockets, who played without any enthusiasm and physicality. Outside of a three minute span late in the second period where the Rockets had significant territorial play inside the T-Birds zone, it was a rough effort for a team that had won five in a row coming into the game.
  
• Rockets d-man Tyson Barrie left the game early in the third period with an undisclosed injury. It sure didn't come as a result of a hit, as this one was a no-hitter. Head Coach Ryan Huska says Barrie was pulled from the game for precautionary measures. Even a healthy Tyson Barrie wouldn't have changed his teams fortunes. It was just an ugly night all around.
  
• Rookie Jordon Cooke received a rare home ice start and gave up five goals for the first time in his career. Cooke could be faulted on the second T-Birds goal but had no chance on the opening marker from Seattle's Burke Gallimore. Gallimore wired a shot that appeared to hit the far post, then hit the bar inside the net before striking the near post and coming out of the net. Video replay clearly showed it entered the net.
• The best T-Bird? I really liked defenceman Ryan Button. Twenty year-old Brenden Dillon was also poised with the puck throughout the night. I thought Luke Lockhart also had a solid game. It's no surprise that the T-Birds older players were working their tails off to earn the two points. You would too if you saw your playoff hopes slipping away.
• Despite the loss, the Rockets remain a point back of Tri City for the third most points in the Western Conference. The Americans lost Wednesday night to the Everett Silvertips, a team the Rockets would play if the playoffs began Friday night.
• Are the T-Birds a better team then their record indicates? Playing twelve games against the arch rival Portland Winterhawks will make your record look bad in a hurry. Playing in the U.S Division these days means you can look like a below average team when essentially you aren't.