Playoff Push – Portland Winterhawks Face High-Stakes Challenges With Eyes On The Postseason

With 20 or fewer games left, the numbers game starts when teams are full throttle on playoffs or packing it in. Most of the eight teams in each conference are pretty much locked into postseason play, and with it now comes the focus on ramping up their respective team to make a strong entrance into the postseason. 

Along the way, the Portland Winterhawks had two games this weekend, with the top Eastern Conference team, Medicine Hat Tigers, and BC Division leader Victoria Royals visiting Portland. 

The Tigers, who made some changes at the trade deadline, have been tough on opponents through the swing throughout the US Division. The Hat’s destruction of Everett 7-3 on Wednesday night led to Portland, so it was known this would be a very tough assignment. 

This is precisely what happened, though. To be fair, two disallowed goals by the Hawks, although they didn’t factor into the final score, created some issues in that the Hawks weren’t able to get on track. 

Josh Zakreski scored a pair of goals that counted in the Hawks’ 7-2 loss to Medicine Hat. Marek Schlenker was in for all seven goals as the Tigers were relentless in their attack. The Tigers ensured they took care of business by leading 3-0 at the end of one and 4-1 at the end of two. The Hat was 1-1 on the powerplay, with Portland 0-4 on theirs, and 32-28 were the shots favoring the Tigers, who kept the pressure on all night. 

The Hawks refused to roll over with the Royals the next night. Ondrej Stebetak took to the pipes on this night as the Hawks Fight Cancer was on. 

The Hawks and Victoria had their chances in the period, the closest was the Hawks shot just off the inside of the post The Hawks finally took the lead as Tyson Jugnauth fired towards the net with Josh Zakreski redirecting past Jayden Krause in net for the Royals. Towards the end of the period, Kyle Chyzowski was assessed a major for charging and game misconduct, and although Victoria also picked up a roughing penalty on the play, losing a goal scorer for the Hawks was tough. Weathering the 3-minute powerplay, the Hawks tilted the ice somewhat in the play as even though the shot clock didn’t show it, the control was Hawks all the way, just not rewarded. Victoria capitalized in the third period with a behind-the-net pass and a clear shot right out in front. 

The dagger was after a Hawks attack; Kenta Isogai, with a Hawk draped over him, got the puck past Stebetak for the go-ahead goal. With two minutes remaining, the Hawks pulled Stebetak and fired shots, made plays to undress the Royals, but couldn’t find the back of the net.  

Josh Zakreski was a highlight of his own when Victoria broke free on the empty net; with Tyson Jugnauth making it tough to get a good shot, Zakreski sprawled out with this stick and swept the puck away for what looked to be a sure goal. It may make the top ten plays of the week this coming week. The Hawks dropped a 2-1 defense-minded game, but they are still nipping at the heels of Spokane. Final shots favored Victoria 32-25, mainly from the major powerplay with Portland 0-2 and Victoria 0-3, including the major penalty. 

After losing to the Hat strongly, the Tips were blasted by the Chiefs on home ice and had to go to overtime to get past the Blazers. Although well in front, life hasn’t been easy for the Tips this week. The best has been the Tigers, who are 9-0-0-1, and the worst are the Rockets 1-7-2-0 and Moose Jaw Warriors 1-8-1-0. 

Teams 1-8 in the Eastern Conference are up at least ten points on the ninth spot, so they are relatively safe. The Western Conference is solid 1-7, with those teams at least 12 points up. The battle for 8th is Kamloops, and Seattle tied at 39 points, but look out as the Wenatchee Wild at 38 and Kelowna Rockets at 37 are going to make a run over the next 20 or so games to sneak in. Everett should clinch a spot by next week as they are 38 points above the last-place team, so they only need about three games to solidify. At 57 points, Portland is up 19 on the 8th spot, so it needs at least a .500 record to be in the postseason. Most of the remaining games are against teams scrambling to get into the postseason and could play part of the spoiler. 

This week, the Hawks are in Vancouver on Friday to face the Giants, followed by a quick turnaround to face Seattle on TV Saturday at 6 p.m.

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About Stuart Kemp 388 Articles
Stuart Kemp is the Immediate Past President of 15 years of the Booster Club. and has been following hockey from his native Canada since he can remember, though he can't skate, but played road hockey for several years. Loving hockey and professional wrestling, he has traveled to most of the WHL cities and with wrestling, has seen four provinces and five states. It is true that every Canadian city with more than 500 residents has a hockey rink, well at least it looks that way. Stuart has had his hand in every facet of independent Professional wrestling as he debuted as an announcer in 1986 which started his career.

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