Two games this week, both in Kelowna, took place as the wind-down happens to the regular season. The Portland Winterhawks captured a 7-3 win and then the next night won 4-2 as they continue to lead the US Division by nine points as they look to less than 20 games in the regular season.
The Hawks went 2 for 6 on their powerplay while shutting down Kelowna on their two chances. They led 3-0 before the halfway mark of the first period, which marked the exit of Cole Schwebius from the Kelowna net to be replaced by Roman Basran. It was only a pair of goals by Kelowna in that frame. Two goals in the second and a pair in the third salted the win for Portland. The Winterhawks, with their 33-20 shots-on-goal advantage showed their power when they needed to and awaited the next night in the two-game series.
Portland faced Kelowna and Roman Basran in game two and once again took the lead after a scoreless first period. The Hawks scored the first two within the first five minutes of the second period. Kelowna got one back midway through the second period, but the Hawks, a minute later, added another goal. Seth Jarvis who has been on a tear in his draft year, scored twice to put him up to 30 goals on the season. Reece Newkirk added an empty-net goal, with Kelowna using the extra attacker to get one more goal with seconds remaining. Neither team scored on the powerplay with Kelowna getting five chances, the Hawks with 4. It was also the first time that Kelowna outshot the Hawks with a 38-36 advantage.
The Hawks are off until Friday with three games in three nights. With the exception of the last week, the Hawks will play two games at home with one on the road. The last three-game pack will be strictly on the road.
Portland also signed three players that they had drafted in the 2019 Bantam Draft. The Hawks started with Josh Mori from Richmond, BC as a defenceman. A day later it was forward Aidan Litke from Winnipeg who was signed. The final signing was defenceman Brody Tallman from Lethbridge, Alberta. They will all be in the Hawks camp next season and compete for spots, though the Hawks will most likely reassign them to Junior teams. In signing the players, the depth continues for the Hawks who seem to find great players in later rounds of the Bantam Draft.
The Hawks have also shown the spotlight on alumni heading to University, Several players are taking advantage of post hockey Universities. Here is a list of former Hawks in University.
Brett Clayton , Shaun Dosanjh, and Matt Revel all attend the University of British Columbia, Brendan DeJong who suffered a season-ending injury, and Jared Frederich and Brendan Burke attend the University of Alberta. At the University of Calgary Josh Paterson attends. Adam Henry and Colton Veloso attend the University of Manitoba. Josh Hanson attends the University of Toronto, with Jack Flaman attending Acadia University. Keegan Iverson is attending Mount Royal University with Reed Morrison attending the University of Western Ontario. At the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Michael Bullion plays and Conor MacEachern all the way east plays hockey for the University of Prince Edward Island. These former Hawks are playing hockey. There are several who for one reason or another do not play hockey or are ineligible to play, Carter Czajkowski, Nick Heid, Justin Greer, Alex Overhardt, Ethan Price and Mitchell Walter attend Universities, but do not play hockey.
Ice Chips:
The Winterhawks will host a viewing party at Buffalo Wild Wings 11995 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. The Portland Winterhawks Booster Club will be running a membership drive there. Regular away games are also regularly shown at Oregon City Icehouse 1200 Main Street in Oregon City.
