Wednesday, December 18, 2019

WSHL Showcase

By Lee Samuels

Las Vegas – Good things happen to teams which work hard on the ice and get awesome goal-tending. And, having a sharpshooter like Emil Svartbro who scored in OT as the WSHL Las Vegas Thunderbirds took down 20-4-0 Hinton Timberwolves of Alberta, Canada 2-1 this morning at the WSHL Showcase at the Las Vegas Ice Center.

Star goalie Rhett Bruckner of Las Vegas was awesome, as was sniper Tomas Urbanec who scored earlier in the game. The Thunderbirds are in their first season in the WSHL, the Timberwolves – whose home games are always sold out – are in their second season.

The Thunderbirds, coached by Dave Hyrsky with Matt Johnson on the bench as well, played a hard, smart, tactical game against a strong Timberwolves team. The early morning game with an 8 am faceoff drew a packed crowd.

This was a hard, physical game. The Thunderbirds got great efforts from many players including Joe Wheeler who worked at the left point and fired in hard, accurate passes to T-Birds forwards.

The ultra-skilled Tomas Urbanec scored first for the Thunderbirds. He and Svartbro last season played for the WSHL Long Beach Bombers who shut down their program last season. Each was immediately signed by Las Vegas.

Svartbro now has 18 goals this season. Urbanec has 21.

From the Blue Line – The high-action Hinton Timberwolves are from Alberta, Canada – pretty close to Edmonton….This is their second season in the WSHL….When at home the Timberwolves 600-seat Dr Duncan Murray Rec Center is totally sold out for every home game…Folks in Hinton primarily work in the coal industry…Timberwolves fans – and there were a lot of them – shook bells when the Timberwolves did well on the ice….There was a festive feel in the north rink at the Las Vegas Ice Center during this game…Star goalie Rhett Bruckner of the Thunderbirds has had many great games this season – this was his very best….and he did so with so many college scouts ringed around the rinkboards….Next game for Las Vegas is tomorrow vs the WSHL Dallas Snipers, 10:15 am, right here at the Ice Center.

Las Vegas scoring

LV – Tomas Urbanec from Emil Svartbro, Joe Wheeler

LV – Emil Svartbro from Tomas Urbanec, Filip Nordin

Shots on Goal

Las Vegas 28-19

LV goalie – Rhett Bruckner