US, Bantam, and Import drafts are over. Kent Cornucopia Days has come and gone. We’re entering the dog days of summer which means it’s a great time to take our (almost) annual look at the upcoming schedule for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

For the fourth year in a row, the Everett Pre-Season Showcase takes place the weekend after Labor Day. I would say it is safe to assume that this no longer a holiday weekend event. It will be the 20th year that the Thunderbirds have participated in the Snohomish County tradition. This year, as in many of the previous ones, Seattle will be playing three games in the three days:

9/6 v Spokane 2pm
9/7 @ Everett 6pm
9/8 @ Portland 12pm

This is the exact same schedule that the TBirds played at last years tournament and is the second year in a row Seattle and Everett face off in this event.

For the second year in a row, the Thunderbirds will not be participating in the Tri-City Preseason Tournament. This year’s version in Kennewick excludes the two Puget Sound franchises and includes the Wenatchee Wild and Portland Winterhawks. With Wenatchee now in the league, Seattle might have already participated in this tournament for the final time.

This is the second year in a row that the TBirds and Ams have not met at all in an exhibition game, on either side of the mountains.

Seattle’s has two non-tournament preseason games to bring their exhibition total to 5. They will host the Victoria Royals on 9/11 and will go back to Everett to face the Silvertips once again the next night on 9/12.

The TBirds-Royals game is the first preseason game for Seattle against a Canadian team since the 2019 Everett tournament when they played Vancouver. It’s the first standalone preseason game against a Canadian team since 2015 when Seattle hosted Victoria to close the exhibition schedule.

With their 5-game slate over, let’s take a look at the regular season.

As has been the case since the 2018-19 season, there are 68 games on the TBirds schedule this year. 34 away games and 34 home games. Home games in Kent will have the normal start times they have held the past few seasons of 605pm on Saturdays, 505pm on Sundays, and 705pm the other days of the week.

2024-25 marks the 40th season as the Thunderbirds and the 47th as the Seattle WHL team.

Seattle starts on the road for the first 3 games of the season:

9/20 @ Vancouver
9/21 @ Wenatchee
9/27 @ Kamloops

This is the fourth straight year that Seattle has opened the season on the road.

Seattle hasn’t opened a season with three straight on the road since 2008-09. Now, that season is a bit of anomaly as that was the season the TBirds were getting ready to move to Kent so their home schedule was very back-heavy. You have to go back to the 2005-06 season to find them opening with 3 road games in a regular schedule. In that year, they opened the campaign with their two road games in Prince George. Something to be said about getting it out of the way early.

The TBirds last opened a season in Vancouver in 2015-16. Back then, the Giants were still playing at the Pacific Coliseum so this will be the first time they have played game #1 at the Langley Events Centre.

The home portion of the Thunderbirds schedule gets going on on 9/28. In a bit of a departure from the last few home openers (especially with fans in attendance), there will be no banners going up to the ShoWare Center rafters. Their opening night opponent this year is the Wenatchee Wild.

This is the first time the TBirds have ever had a home opener against the Wenatchee franchise in any of their iterations.

It is the second straight season that Seattle has started their home schedule against a US Division opponent.

Seattle stays home as the calendar flips to October and they host the Cougars on 10/4. Over to Spokane for a rare Saturday night game in the Lilac City on 10/5 and then the TBirds return for a 3-game homestand vs Tri-City (10/8), Kamloops (10/11), and Portland (10/12) before their 6-game Eastern Division swing to close out the month:

10/18 @ Brandon
10/19 @ Regina
10/22 @ Moose Jaw
10/23 @ Saskatoon
10/25 @ Prince Albert
10/26 @ Swift Current

In an interesting scheduling quirk, Seattle is in Swift Current exactly 365 days apart. Because of the Broncos move from the Central Division to the Eastern Division this year, it results in the TBirds making back-to-back visits to Speedy Creek. The Broncos won’t visit Kent until the 2025-26 season, assuming no other moves or scheduling adjustments.

November has the TBirds back at home for the start of a 5-game homestand. They play Edmonton on the 1st to wrap up 7 straight vs Canadian teams. This is followed by games vs Portland (11/2), Calgary (11/8), Victoria (11/9), and Red Deer (11/12).

A mid-week trip (11/13) to Kelowna breaks up the home games. Everett makes their first visit to Kent on 11/16, followed with Seattle hosting Lethbridge on the 23rd.

For the Thanksgiving holiday week, Seattle hosts Wenatchee (11/27) the night before the American holiday and then they head to Victoria for their annual double dip, on Black Friday (11/29) and Small Business Saturday (11/30). They wind that trip up with a game in Langley vs the Giants (12/1).

TBirds follow that 3-in-3 with another one the following weekend. At Kamloops (12/6), at Everett (12/7), and home to Spokane (12/8).

On the 10th of December, Wenatchee comes to Kent and then Spokane is back on Friday the 13th to close out the home portion of the pre-Christmas schedule. Seattle heads off for the winter holidays after a road game in Portland on the 14th.

That game on the 10th is the final time Wenatchee visits Kent, ending the home part of the series ver early in the season.

After the holiday break, the TBirds get back into the swing of things with a home and home vs Everett. The 27th is in Kent and the 28th is in Snohomish County.

For just the third time ever, the Seattle will host a game on New Years Eve. This year, the Cougars come to the ShoWare Center to close out 2024. Previous NYE games at home were against Kamloops in 2013 and Kelowna in 2022.

The game on 12/31 starts 3 in a row vs the Cougars as they start 2025 in the Northern BC capital with 2 against the Cougars on January 3rd and 4th.

Seattle alternates home and away games for the next 4 as they host Victoria (1/7), travel to Tri-City (1/10), entertain the Silvertips (1/11) and bounce up to Kelowna (1/17).

The game against the Rockets is the last time the TBirds leave the US for the remainder of the regular season. 1/17 is the earliest that Seattle has ever wrapped up the Canadian portion of their road schedule and just the second time it has ended in the month of January. In the 2008-09 season, it ended on 1/28, for reasons mentioned previously in this post.

That game is also the front half of a home-and-home vs the Rockets as they make the trip down the Coquihalla for the rematch on 1/18.

The “V” siblings make their final appearances to wrap up January with Vancouver showing up twice (1/21 and 1/31) and Victoria gracing Kent with their presence on 1/24. Amidst all that, the TBirds visit Everett on 1/25.

A full February begins with 4 out of 5 games at home against Medicine Hat (2/1), Spokane (2/7), Kelowna (2/11), and Portland (2/15). In middle of that stretch, the Thunderbirds and Winterhawks take the ice in the Rose City on 2/8.

Games in Wenatchee on the 16th and Portland on the 17th wrap up the very rare Saturday through Monday 3-in-3. The game in Portland is on the Presidents Day holiday with a special start time of 3pm.

The next few games are the final games of the season vs those respective teams. In Wenatchee on 1/21, home vs Everett on 1/22, and at Everett to wrap up the month on 2/28.

This is the second straight season that the TBirds and Silvertips don’t play in the final month of the season. It’s just the third time overall it has happened, the other occurrence being in the 2006-07 season.

March begins with a trip to Spokane on 3/1 before closing out the weekend with a home game vs Tri-City on 3/2.

The game vs the Americans on 3/2 is the first time Tri-City has been in Kent since 10/8, meaning it will have been 145 days between appearances. From what we can tell, this is the longest ever gap between home games vs a US Division team in Thunderbirds history.

Interestingly, the reverse is also happening a couple of times this seasons. The TBirds game in Spokane on 3/1 is 148 days after their previous road game vs the Chiefs on 10/5. The longest gap of the year, however, is between Wenatchee road games on 9/21 and 2/21, 153 days apart.

After the final Tuesday home game of the season (vs Kamloops, 3/4), there are 6 games alternating home and away with Portland and Tri-City. At Portland (3/7), vs Portland (3/8), at Tri-City (3/11), vs Tri-City (3/14), at Portland (3/15), and at Tri-City (3/16).

The final weekend of the season has Seattle going to Spokane for their final road game of the season (3/21) before game #68 at home vs the Winterhawks on March 22nd.

It will be the third straight year at the TBirds have ended the regular season at home vs Portland.

Here are the US Division opponents by day:

Everett
Home: Sat, Fri, Sat, Sat
Away: Sat, Sat, Sat, Fri

Portland
Home: Sat, Sat, Sat, Sat, Sat
Away: Sat, Sat, Mon, Fri, Sat

Spokane
Home: Sun, Fri, Fri
Away: Sat, Sat, Fri

Tri-City
Home: Tue, Sun, Fri
Away: Fri, Tue, Sun

Wenatchee
Home: Sat, Wed, Tue
Away: Sat, Sun, Fri

Seattle plays Portland at home exclusively on Saturday nights for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Well, that’s how that season was scheduled, at least. The final home game vs the Winterhawks was postponed (which ended up being a cancellation) due to the pandemic.

The game in Portland on Presidents Day is the first ever game for Seattle at the Winterhawks on a non-New Years Eve Monday. With that, the TBirds will have played a non-NYE regular season game on every day of the week in the Oregon metropolis.

Some other stats and how they compare to the last few seasons:

Longest homestand
2024-25 5 games 11/1-12 (EDM, PDX, CAL, VIC, RD)
2023-24 4 games 3/10-22 (TC, PDX, KAM, SPO)
2022-23 5 games 3/5-17 (TC, KAM, TC, EVE, PDX)
2021-22 4 games 11/24-12/3 (KAM, TC, PG, VIC) and 3/6-15 (TC, PDX, EVE, TC)
2019-20 4 games 11/8-19 (KAM, EVE, PDX, WPG)
2018-19 5 games 2/8-16 (PDX, MH, TC, RD, EVE)
2017-18 4 games 3/4-10 (PDX, TC, SPO, EVE)
2016-17 4 games 10/1-14 (PDX, VIC, SPO, PG), 12/13-27 (SPO, PG, TC, SPO), and 1/28-2/3 (EVE, TC, KAM, KAM)
2015-16 4 games 12/11-18 (SPO, EVE, PG, TC) and 2/9-19 (KEL, PDX, VIC, SPO)
2014-15 6 games 2/15-28 (VIC, LETH, EVE, CAL, PG, PDX)
2013-14 4 games 2/22-3/2 (KAM, PA, PDX, EVE) and 3/8-14 (EVE, VAN, SPO, PDX)

Most consecutive road games
2024-25 6 games 10/18-26 (BWK, REG, MJ, SAS, PA, SC)
2023-24 6 games 10/20-28 (CGY, EDM, RD, LET, SC, MH)
2022-23 6 games 1/6-14 (REG, MJ, BWK, WPG, PA, SAS)
2021-22* 5 games 10/22-11/6 (TC, PDX, SPO, TC, TC)
2019-20 5 games 10/25-11/2 (RD, EDM, CGY, TC, PDX) and 12/31-1/20 (PDX, LET, MH, SC, TC)
2018-19 8 games 12/31-1/18 (PDX, BWK, SAS, PA, MJ, SC, TC)
2017-18 7 games 10/22-11/4 (EVE, KOO, CGY, LET, RD, EDM, MH)
2016-17 6 games 10/28-11/5 (SC, REG, SAS, PA, BWK, MJ)
2015-16 8 games 10/31-11/14 (KOO, CGY, RD, EDM, LET, MH, VIC, VIC)
2014-15 6 games 11/7-16 (PA, SAS, MJ, BWK, REG, SC)
2013-14 6 games 9/28-10/11 (PDX, TC, MH, LETH, KOO, KEL)
*no interconference games this season

3 games in 3 nights
2024-25 5 times (AAA AAHx2 HAAx2
2023-24 6 times (HAA AHHx2 AHA HAHx2)
2022-23 3 times (AAHx2 HAH)
2021-22 5 times (AHAx3 AHH AAH)
2019-20 5 times (HHAx1 AAAx1 HAHx1 AHHx1 AAHx1)
2018-19 4 times (HAAx1 HAHx1 HHAx1 AAHx1)
2017-18 7 times (AAAx1 HHAx1 AHAx3 HAHx1 AAHx1)
2016-17 3 times (AHHx2 AHAx1)
2015-16 3 times (AAHx1 AHAx2)
2014-15 5 times (AAAx1 AHHx1 HHAx1 AHAx1 AAHx1)
2013-14 7 times (AAAx2 AHHx2 HHAx1 HAHx1 HAAx1)

The AAA weekend isn’t too burdensome as it is the Victoria and Vancouver weekend so no travel between the Friday and Saturday night games. The first AAH goes Kamloops, Everett, Kent which means no extraneous travel. The other AAH goes Everett, Spokane, Kent so 2 Cascades crossings logging some decent bus hours. The HAAs are both circular routes going from Kent to two other US Division teams but no doubling back.

There are 3 “traditional” home-and-homes this season, which is a little lower than expected, especially given the additional divisional team. Traditional to us being games against the same team, home and away, on consecutive nights. This would be different than just home and away in consecutive games.

Everett 12/27 (H) 12/28 (A)
Kelowna 1/17 (A) 1/18 (H)
Portland 3/7 (A) 3/8 (H)

Breakdown by day
2024-25
Sunday (5) 3A 2H (Fewest Sunday home games since 2018-19)
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (10) 2A 8H
Wednesday (3) 2A 1H
Friday (23) 13A 10H
Saturday (26) 13A 13H (This appears to be the most Saturday games in a season ever)

2023-24
Sunday (9) 4A 6H (Most Sunday home games since 2010-11 when they also had 6)
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (10) 4A 6H
Wednesday (6) 4A 2H (First time with multiple Wednesday home games since 2015-16)
Thursday (1) 1A
Friday (19) 9A 10H
Saturday (21) 11A 10H (Fewest Saturday home games since the 1996-97 season when they had 9. Appropriate for a Marleau retirement year, I guess)

2022-23
Sunday (4) 1A 3H (First time since 2008-09 season just 1 away Sunday game)
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (11) 3A 8H
Wednesday (6) 5A 1H
Friday (22) 13A 9H
Saturday (24) 11A 13H

2021-22
Sunday (7) 4A 3H
Tuesday (10) 2A 8H
Wednesday (3) 2A 1H
Friday (24) 14A 10H
Saturday (24) 12A 12H

2019-20
Sunday (7) 3A 4H
Monday (2) 2A
Tuesday (10) 4A 6H
Wednesday (4) 3A 1H
Friday (20) 12A 8H
Saturday (25) 10A 15H (This might be the most Saturdays ever on the schedule. The only Saturdays missing one are 9/28 and 12/21)

2018-19
Sunday (6) 4A 2H
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (9) 3A 6H
Wednesday (6) 5A 1H
Friday (22) 11A 11H
Saturday (24) 10A 14H

2017-18
Sunday (10) 8A 2H
Tuesday (11) 3A 8H
Wednesday (7) 6A 1H
Thursday (1) 1A
Friday (19) 10A 9H
Saturday (24) 8A 16H

2016-17
Sunday (7) 3A 4H
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (11) 3A 8H
Wednesday (9) 9A
Friday (22) 9A 13H
Saturday (22) 11A 11H (Fewest Saturday home games since 2003-04 season when they also had 11)

2015-16
Sunday (9) 7A 2H
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (11) 2A 9H
Wednesday (6) 4A 2H
Thursday (1) 1A
Friday (20) 12A 8H
Saturday (24) 9A 15H

2014-15
Sunday (7) 5A 2H
Monday (2) 2A
Tuesday (9) 1A 8H
Wednesday (5) 5A
Thursday (1) 1H (First home Thursday game since Dec 30, 1999)
Friday (24) 15A 9H
Saturday (24) 8A 16H

2013-14
Sunday (8) 4A 4H
Monday (1) 1A
Tuesday (13) 5A 8H
Wednesday (4) 4A
Friday (22) 12A 10H
Saturday (24) 10A 14H

New for this year, we take a look at the Kraken scheduling conflicts. Here are the dates where both the Kraken and Thunderbirds are at home. Also included are TBirds games in Everett.

October 8th: Kraken v Blues; Thunderbirds v Americans
(This is the Kraken home opener. However, it is at 130pm, so it would be possible to attend both)
November 8th: Kraken v Golden Knights, Thunderbirds v Hitmen
November 12th: Kraken v Blue Jackets; Thunderbirds v Rebels
November 16th: Kraken v Islanders; Thunderbirds v Silvertips
(This is a 1pm puck drop for the Kraken so it is possible to double dip)
November 27th: Kraken v Ducks; Thunderbirds v Wild
December 10th: Kraken v Panthers; Thunderbirds v Wild
January 18th: Kraken v Kings; Thunderbirds v Rockets
January 25th: Kraken v Penguins; Silvertips v Thunderbirds
(This is a 1pm puck drop for the Kraken so it is possible to double dip)
March 4th: Kraken v Wild; Thunderbirds v Blazers
March 14th: Kraken v Utah Hockey Club; Thunderbirds v Americans

10 conflicts this season, 9 of them TBirds home games. 2 of the home games and the road game in Everett are not time conflicts so you could attend both. 3 of the conflicts are 2-for-Tuesdays for the Thunderbirds which typically draw well even if there are other events occurring. Another mid-week conflict is the night before Thanksgiving which can be challenging for attendance no matter what if people are already traveling.