Bow pulling out all the stops for Thunderbirds

Goalie Landon Bow wasn’t sure what to expect when he was traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds from the Swift Current Broncos on Jan. 5.

“I was hearing some things kind of swirling around but it was still a shock when it happened,” Bow said of the trade. “I’ve never been traded before so I didn’t know how it would feel.”

The 20-year-old from St. Albert, Alberta, said it was difficult to leave the team he had played for since the 2012-2013 season.

“The emotions were kind of all over the place,” he said. “A little bit of sadness leaving all the guys there, but a bunch of excitement being able to come to a place like Seattle.”

Bow said he knew he would have to prove himself as a goalie to get playing time with the T-Birds. Logan Flodell had been Seattle’s primary goalkeeper this season.

“You don’t just get a free pass as soon as you get in,” Bow said. “There was a chance they were going to give me at the beginning, so I knew I had to make sure I jumped in there and do what I could.”

Bow seems to have made an impression for Seattle. Playing in nine games since making his debut with the T-Birds on Jan. 8, Bow has six wins and two losses, a 94.3 save percentage, with 217 saves and giving up only 13 goals.

The T-Birds acquired Bow in a trade for goalie Taz Burman, right wing Jamal Watson and a conditional second-round pick in a future Bantam Draft.

Bow said it has taken some time to adjust to his new home, which is a much larger area than the small town of Swift Current in southwest Saskatchewan.

“Coming from a town with 15,000 people to this giant area where coming to the rink takes 15 to 20 minutes, back in Swift it would take me two,” he said.

Bow said his new team seems to be a good fit.

“The team here has been great to me the entire time,” he said. “They are a bunch of good guys, good coaching. It has been real helpful for me being in here.”

Bow said he would like Seattle to win the Memorial Cup, which is a trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. The Western Hockey League, which the T-Birds are part of, is one of three leagues that make up the CHL.

The T-Birds had one appearance in the Memorial Cup tournament in 1992 but have never won.

“I know we have the team here that I think can do it,” Bow said of winning the Memorial Cup. “I think it’s going to be real fun coming down the stretch.”

At age 20, this is Bow’s last year of WHL eligibility.

“I am really hoping I can work hard and get myself a pro contract because that is what I wanted ever since I was a little kid,” he said. “Being able to do that would be really huge and be such an awesome thing to be able to go through with that.”

Bow started playing hockey when he was 6 but didn’t become a goalie right away.

“I started off as a player like everyone else,” he said. “Everyone wants to score goals, but I just wasn’t as good at the skating part as everyone else so I ended up in goalie when I was 8 or 9.”

Bow said he has grown to love the position.

“I have kind of gotten used to getting pucks shot at me all the time,” he said.