|
Seattle Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge today announced goalie Roddy Ross has signed a WHL Standard Player Agreement with the team. Ross, born in 2000, is 6’4” and 180 pounds and was playing with the Camrose Kodiaks in the AJHL. This season with Camrose, Ross appeared in 22 games and had a 2.94 goals against average and .920 save percentage.Seahawks Sign Pete Carroll to Multi-Year Contract Extension
The Seattle Seahawks have signed Executive Vice President of Football Operations & Head Coach Pete Carroll to a multi-year contract extension, the team announced this afternoon.
“I am excited to announce that we have extended Head Coach Pete Carroll through the 2021 season,” said Jody Allen, Seahawks Chair and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “This will continue the championship culture that we have created in Seattle.”
Carroll, hired as Seattle’s eighth head coach on January 11, 2010, has led the Seahawks to seven playoff appearances with a combined 97-59-1 record, back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in 2013-14, 10-plus wins in five-consecutive seasons (2012-16), and four NFC West Division titles. Prior to his arrival, Seattle posted 10-plus wins only five times in the previous 34 years.
“So grateful to Jody and the organization,” said Carroll. “I love this team and couldn’t be more proud to represent the 12s.”
Seattle has advanced to the divisional round in six of the last eight postseasons, winning two NFC Championships and one Super Bowl, while claiming the No. 1 seed in the NFC twice.
In partnership with Executive Vice President & General Manager John Schneider, the two have acquired and seen 18 different players selected to the Pro Bowl since 2011. Their roster has also included 12 first-team All-Pro selections since 2012.
The franchise’s all-time winningest coach, Carroll ranks 28th in NFL history with 131 combined wins (regular season and postseason).
Five Players Return To Work For Seahawks
Five of the 10 players who opened the practice week on the sideline were back on the field Thursday at Virginia Mason Athletic Center, with receiver Doug Baldwin (hip), defensive end Frank Clark (elbow), cornerback Shaquill Griffin (hip), defensive end Dion Jordan (knee), and tackle Duane Brown (not injury related) all taking part in practice ahead of Sunday night’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs at CenturyLink Field. Baldwin, Griffin, Jordan, and Brown were all upgraded to full participation on Thursday, while Clark worked in limited fashion.
K.J. Wright (knee), meanwhile, was a limited participant for the second straight day, which could bode well for his status this weekend after missing Seattle’s past five games to injury. Both Wright and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll have expressed hope that the linebacker will be ready for this week’s game. Safety Maurice Alexander (concussion) and running back Chris Carson (not injury related) were full participants Thursday after going limited on Wednesday.
More on Seattle’s injury situation heading into Week 16 will become available following Friday’s practice when Carroll meets with the media. Until then, here’s a look at Thursday’s report for both teams:
Seattle Seahawks
Did Not Participate
G D.J. Fluker (hamstring)
RB Rashaad Penny (knee)
S Bradley McDougald (knee)
S Tedric Thompson (chest/ankle)
DT Jarran Reed (oblique/groin)
Limited Participation
DT Shamar Stephen (foot)
LB K.J. Wright (knee)
DE Frank Clark (elbow)
Full Participation
S Maurice Alexander (concussion)
RB Chris Carson (not injury related)
WR Doug Baldwin (hip)
CB Shaquill Griffin (hip)
DE Dion Jordan (knee)
T Duane Brown (NIR)
Kansas City Chiefs
Did Not Participate
CB Kendall Fuller (thumb)
WR Sammy Watkins (foot)
Limited Participation
RB Spencer Ware (hamstring)
T Mitchell Schwartz (knee)
Full Participation
S Eric Berry (heel)
G Cam Erving (knee)
WR Tyreek Hill (heel)
DT Derrick Nnadi (tailbone)
K.J. Wright Named Nominee For Walter Payton NFL Man Of The Year Award
The Seahawks announced today K.J. Wright as its nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide.Considered one of the league’s most prestigious honors, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field. Each of the league’s 32 nominees were announced today.
Wright, a Pro Bowler in 2017 and member of the Super Bowl XLVIII championship team, has made a positive impact both on and off the field, expressing his desires to support others and give back.
“It has always been my pleasure to serve my community,” said Wright. “I’m striving to make this world a better place.”
As a nominee, Wright will wear a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year helmet decal through the end of the season in recognition of his accomplishments on and off the field.
During the offseason, Wright traveled to Kenya, where he delivered books and helped teach English to children in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region. As a result of the trip, he announced in October his continued commitment to make a difference in Kenya with a pledge to donate $300 for every tackle he records this season. The money will go towards the construction of a fresh-water well for the primary school in Maasai Mara. The campaign also includes a fundraising platform allowing fans to donate to the cause – the fund has raised more than $20,000 to date. Wright plans to return to Kenya in 2019.
Wright actively participates in the important causes of his teammates as well. In April 2018, Wright joined Seahawks Legend Cliff Avril on the former defensive end’s annual trip to Haiti, where he is building a school in La Chanm. In addition to helping lay a foundation at the school, Wright also assisted in coaching a youth football camp in Port-au-Prince.
Wright actively serves as a mentor for Future Leaders, a program of former Seahawks and current San Diego Chargers tackle Russell Okung’s Greater Foundation. As a mentor for Future Leaders, Wright works with inner city youth to help them learn basics of entrepreneurship and technology to solve problems in their community.
Locally, Wright is a mentor for area youth through Rainier Athletes, a local program to support and motivate students to achieve their greatest potential. He has also been known to be inspired by a quick interaction and turn that into a more lasting and meaningful encounter. After meeting representatives from Sawhorse Revolution following a Seahawks mini-camp practice, Wright spent a day later in the summer building tiny homes for the homeless.
For the past two years, Wright has also worked with area youth through the NFL’s Character Playbook, which teaches middle school students how to build healthy relationships and make good decisions.
New this year, all 32 team winners will be highlighted as finalists and recognized for their important work during the weekend leading up to Super Bowl LIII. The 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on February 2, the eve of Super Bowl LIII, on CBS. NFL Honors will be at Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
Five hundred thousand dollars will be donated in the name of the 2018 winner. Two hundred and fifty thousand will be donated in his name to expand Character Playbook, the NFL and United Way’s digital character education program. An additional donation of $250,000 will be donated to the charity of his choice. All other 31 nominees will receive a donation of $50,000 in their name to expand Character Playbook, and an additional donation of up to $50,000 to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation, Nationwide and United Way Worldwide.
Fans are encouraged to participate in Nationwide’s 4th annual Charity Challenge, a social media campaign designed to support and promote team nominees. Fans can vote by using #WPMOYChallenge on Twitter with their favorite nominee’s last name somewhere in the post between December 6 and January 13. The player whose unique hashtag is used the most will receive a $25,000 contribution to their charity of choice, courtesy of Nationwide. Hashtag information and official rules can be found at nfl.com/manoftheyear.
To learn more about Wright’s nomination, visit NFL.com/manoftheyear.
Seahawks Spread Holiday Spirit In The Community
Seahawks In The Community
With the holiday season in full swing, the Seahawks upped their presence in the community this week, with the team and several of its players giving time to those in need.
This past Monday, Seahawks offensive lineman George Fant and defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson hosted a holiday gift-giving event at Virginia Mason Athletic Center, inviting families from Renton Youth & Family Services to spend an evening at team headquarters interacting with a handful of Fant and Jefferson’s Seattle teammates, including Bobby Wagner, Elijah Nkansah, Nazair Jones, and Branden Jackson.
The Seahawks’ community spirit continued Tuesday across the state, where cornerback Shaquill Griffin and linebacker Shaquem Griffin, as well as Kam Chancellor, visited Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, delivering gifts to and spending time with young patients and their families. On that same day back in the Seattle-area, Seahawks defensive end Dion Jordan hosted a holiday party for 100 Special Olympics Washington athletes, while receiver Tyler Lockett and Sea Gal Bronwyn met with students at West Seattle Elementary to talk about the power of reading.
Seahawks Support Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center Through Fundraising Campaign
The Seahawks are raising funds for families experiencing homelessness and asking fans to join them in supporting the Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center. Starting today through the end of December, fans are encouraged to give by texting HOME12 to 44321 or clicking here. All donations made will be matched up to $20,000 by the Seahawks.
Fans can also make donations during check-out at all four Puget Sound Pro Shop locations during the month of December. Additionally, The Pro Shop will donate 12% of all blanket sales purchased on 12/23 to benefit the Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center.
The Seahawks’ online charity auction will also feature one-of-a-kind memorabilia with 100% of proceeds designated for Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center. The auction will run through December 31. Visit auctions.seahawks.comand click the tab “Charity” to view the items. Preliminary items include:
- #54 Action Green Jersey signed by Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner
- Pair of game worn Nike Air Monarch IV customized, worn and signed by Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll.
The Seahawks have committed to the Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center as part of their ongoing community engagement efforts, including regular activities at the center to encourage, educate and inspire youth through a variety of programs, events, and branding.
Studies have shown children who experience homelessness are five times more likely to become homeless as adults. In Washington state alone, 40,000 students are without stable housing — enough to fill over half the seats in CenturyLink Field.
Late Seahawks owner and philanthropist Paul G. Allen catalyzed the Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center with a $30 million donation to fund the development and construction. Additional funding came from the Seattle Office of Housing.
Expected to open in early 2020, the Mount Baker Family Housing & Resource Center will provide affordable housing and services to Seattle-area families with children experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Local partners such as Mary’s Place, Child Care Resources and Refugee Women’s Alliance will offer housing placement and services to help prevent families from falling into homelessness, as well as child care, mental health services, and employment assistance. Mercy Housing Northwest will provide health education and community engagement events. The center will be owned and operated by Mercy Housing Northwest, an experienced nonprofit housing group. Mercy has a sterling record for creating family housing with services that support parents and children to be healthy, financially stable and to find educational success.
Sincerely Making A Difference for Economically Disadvantaged Youth
The Sincerely Royal Foundation hosted the Third Annual SRF Dinner & Auction at Ford Sports Performance Training Facility. The Event was a great success raising $100k for Ford Sports Performance Academics. These contributions and donations will allow risk and economically disadvantaged youth to have a chance to participate in elite level sports, Travel, Transportation, Academic Tutors, Cost for SAT/ACT Prep Classes.
Master of Ceremonies, Gee Scott of The Scott Legacy and ESPN SportsRadio presented the Life Time Achievement Awards to Seattle Seahawks KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner for there personal support and mentorship given to the athletes at the FSP Academie. Justin Britt and other NFL Players who have seen the process, progress and success of Tracy Ford (CEO & Head Performance Coach, Ford Sports Performance) also donated to assist in achieving FSP financial goal.
Keynote Speaker Keyshawn Johnson spoke on some of the struggles he faced growing up in a single parent low to no income home. Beating the odds and becoming a wide receiver in the NFL for eleven seasons. Keyshawn spoke on his experiences playing for the University of Southern 
California, where he earned All-American honors. The first pick in the 1996 NFL Draft, he played professionally for the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys, and Carolina Panthers. Now retired from football and television broadcasting with ESPN. Keyshawn came to support The Sincerely Royal Foundation and Ford Sports Performance to help assist in making a difference and tackling the challenges that FSP is faced with.
Ford Sports Performance (FSP), is a dedicated program that is all-encompassing. The mission is more than just sports. FSP has been helping to mold the lives of young athletes, students, and young men; preparing them for life on and off the field for the past 10 years.
At Ford Sports Performance Academics Matters FIRST. The FSP program expects more from our athletes. Education is first! We raise the bar and help ensure those who are not achieving our minimum expectation of a 3.0 GPA are supported to get there 
through hard work and tutoring resources. Occasionally, economically disadvantaged students need tutoring more than others. With tutoring, our athletes have the opportunity to make enormous strides while compensating for the shortcomings of their schools.
The biggest challenge at FSP is some of the most skilled athletes come from broken homes, struggling or low-income households. Last year Sincerely Royal Foundation supported 15 of our 72 athletes; with full or partial scholarships and this year, Sincerely Royal Foundation is targeting to support 25 athletes and many more with academic tutors to prepare them for college. “Our goal is to increase the number of athletes we can help”. 
Because of these challenges and our passion around getting these athletes to college, the 501(c) (3)
Foundation called The Sincerely Royal Foundation was solidified. Its focus is to ensure young athletes are afforded the opportunity to develop their skills, play on select club teams such as 7v7, participate in national tournaments and get the academic support they may need to improve grades.
The mission of The Sincerely Royal Foundation is… “To support the FSP mission of commitment to
providing positive influences through sports, education, leadership, and community. We strive to develop youth into resilient leaders of tomorrow through encouragement, perseverance and the importance of setting goals, hard work and giving back.”
“We greatly appreciate the consideration and dedication of all those who are involved in the sponsorship and partnership in changing the lives of these young men in the FSP program”.
Kimberly Stephens, Executive Director Sincerely Royal Foundation
Seahawks And Snoqualmie Casino Announce New Transformative Partnership
Snoqualmie Casino and the Seattle Seahawks announced today a new partnership granting Snoqualmie Casino the use of the Seattle Seahawks logo and marks for advertising and collaboration for on-site promotions. The partnership is the first of its kind between a casino and the Seahawks franchise. Snoqualmie Casino CEO, Brian Decorah, and Chief Marketing Officer, Stanford Le joined Seattle Seahawks Senior Vice President of Revenue, Amy Sprangers, Director of Sales, Corporate Partnerships, Gina Martinez Todd and Seahawks Legend, Randall Morris, on the 12 Flag platform at CenturyLink Field for the announcement.
Following a change in sports betting laws by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, the NFL updated its guidelines to allow teams to form partnerships with casinos that include use of team trademarks. Snoqualmie Casino becomes just the seventh casino to partner with an NFL franchise to secure trademark usage in its marketing efforts.
“We can’t imagine a better way to cap our 10th anniversary than by announcing an updated alliance between two premier Seattle brands,” said Decorah. “We have been a Seahawks sponsor and suite holder since we opened in 2008, so we are looking forward to the enhanced opportunities our newly expanded partnership will create.”
“We are proud to formally announce an expanded partnership with our long-time partners at the award-winning Snoqualmie Casino,” said Sprangers. “We look forward to working together with Snoqualmie Casino to create exciting new activations for the 12s for years to come.”
Seahawks Support High School Football Through Gridiron Classic
Bleary-eyed after their nearly six-hour road trip from small-town Colville, Wash. to Renton, players from Colville High School’s football team emerged from their busses. Dressed in a variety of maroon and grey athletic gear, the team quietly filed into Virginia Mason Athletic Center’s indoor practice facility. With a kind of quiet confidence, the Colville Indians were less than 24 hours from playing in the State Championships at the Tacoma Dome.
Amid the bright lights of VMAC, the Seahawks welcome championship teams to the facility every year – this time hosting Colville High School one day of the week and Eastside Catholic High School on another day leading up to this past weekend’s Gridiron Classic. While the two teams couldn’t be more different – different cities, different divisions, different strategies – both enjoyed the Seahawks’ support going into the pinnacle of the high school football season.
Through partnerships with local high schools and this year’s “Blue Friday Night Lights” program that brought elements of the Seahawks’ gameday experience to high school football communities, the Seahawks have a long history of supporting youth football in the area. Welcoming various teams to VMAC is just a small part the Seahawks play in helping and supporting teams through the championship week.
Paul Johns, the Seahawks’ director of youth and high school football programs, coordinated this year’s visits with Colville and Eastside Catholic and touched on the importance of supporting the young athletes.
“For us to show our support to the high school football programs by allowing them to come and practice in our facility, it means a lot to us,” Johns said. “It also means a lot for these high school kids, because they can come see a professional facility, practice inside, and it means a lot to all parties involved.”
Colville coach Randy Cornwell especially appreciated the facility, noting that the harsh indoor lights, turf, and loud music were all elements that they were going to face inside the Tacoma Dome. He added, that the VMAC provided them a “perfect environment, facility, and it satisfied every need that [they] had to prepare for the state championship game.”
A few days prior, Eastside Catholic also enjoyed their support from the Seahawks, running through a fun and lively practice in preparation for its championship game. Having played in a “Blue Friday Night Lights” game against O’Dea earlier this season, the Eastside Catholic team had already experienced Sea Gals and Blue Thunder performances, visited with team mascots Blitz and Boom, and even met Seattle running back J.D. McKissic, but practicing at VMAC was the cherry on top.
“We’re making sure that we’re preparing for the big game coming up. It means a lot to have this experience to go here, it’s really cool,” said senior Jason Medeiros.
With the high school football championship stage set, both Colville and Eastside Catholic dominated at the Tacoma Dome, with Colville winning 48-7 over Newport and Eastside Catholic winning 31-13 against O’Dea. The wins granted Colville its first program title, and Eastside Catholic’s third title in five seasons.
We came here with a mission, and we took care of it.
The truth is in the play, On Sunday, the Seahawks arrived firmly in the playoff mix with a 30-27 defeat of the Carolina Panthers that was their second straight victory conjured from an apparent defeat.
“We have come a long way,” an ebullient Pete Carroll said. “We have a lot of young guys playing. We don’t feel like we have young guys playing anymore.” The victory makes the Seahawks 6-5 and catapults them over the Panthers, who are also 6-5, in the wild-card racefor now. And the Seahawks have a critical edge going into December — they play four of their final five games at home, and have two games against the punchless 49ers and one against the Cardinals. The Panthers, who have now lost three in a row, still have to face New Orleans twice in the final three weeks of the season, with the Saints unlikely to be able to rest players to stay ahead of the Los Angeles Rams for home-field advantage in the NFC.
“I take it personally,” a disgusted Cam Newton said after Sunday’s loss. “If somebody had said three weeks ago this would have happened, I would have slapped them.”
“We’re already in the playoffs as far as we’re concerned,” Carroll said.
The Seahawks’ rushing attack, which entered the game ranked first in the league, quarterback Russell Wilson enjoyed the kind of time and his receivers the sort of space that lend themselves to big plays. When Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson was injured and left the game on the first drive, Wilson went to work on the backups. The results: He was 22-of-31 for 339 passing yards and two touchdowns — and he hit two of the gutsiest throws you’ll ever see with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 22
- Next Page »