Portland Winterhawks Salvage One Of Two Games On Swing

After dominating the two squads thus far on the Eastern Swing, the Portland Winterhawks traveled to the furthest north spot, home of the Prince Albert Raiders.  The Hawks didn’t fare well on this night. The Raiders popped in a pair near the midway mark of the first period, one as a powerplay goal and again seven minutes later, where they only shot seven times on net.  The second seemed to be a turning point for the Hawks, with Josh Zakreski bagging one just over a minute in and Tyson Jugnauth bagging a single just over six minutes later. The wheels fell off the Hawks wagon, with Prince Albert scoring a pair just over ninety seconds apart and sending starting netminder Ondrej Stebetak to the bench after just 12 shots, which resulted in 4 goals.  

That spark seemed to lift the Hawks as Kyle Chykowski scored just over ninety seconds later himself to make it close while on the powerplay. That didn’t last as Prince Albert answered with a goal a minute later and a 5-3 lead after 2. 

Josh Zakreski scored early in the third, but the Hawks couldn’t find the equalizer, falling 5-4. The Hawks dominated the shots with a 41-24 advantage, and Portland was 1-3 on the man advantage, Prince Albert 1 for 4. 

The Hawks headed an hour and a half south to Saskatoon for a date with the Blades. 

The Hawks started early, with Josh Zakreski hitting the twine 43 seconds in. The Blades, however, got that back just 19 seconds later and added another five minutes while on the powerplay after that to hold the lead after one. The Blades’ powerplay clicked again as they increased their lead to 3-1 after two. 

The Hawks played the comeback kids with time winding down, Less then five minutes left in regulation saw Tyson Jugnauth with a tally on the powerplay and two minutes later, Ryan Miller scored a crucial goal to send the game to overtime. The score was knotted at the end of overtime, so a shootout would have to settle the score. Saskatoon could not score its first two shots, where the Hawks scored on both, leading to a 4-3 shootout win over the Saskatoon Blades. Again, the Hawks held court on the shot clock 46-25 and went 1-4 on the powerplay. Saskatoon netted 2 on 6 tries as the Hawks ran into penalty trouble with three straight in the first period and an early in the second frame.  

The Hawks will complete the swing with games in Moose Jaw and Swift Current before returning home to face Tri-City on Pride Night, January 24. 

The WHL announced several games in January and February. One game with Spokane and Kelowna has already aired; however, several more are to go until February 19. 

The first three games will be at 7pm Pacific Time. On January 22, Everett visits Spokane; on January 29, Medicine Hat faces Everett; on February 5, Kelowna faces Victoria. February 12 will be Medicine Hat at Prince Albert (5pm Pacific Time) and Saskatoon at Lethbridge (6pm Pacific Time) 

These games will be on the CHL app, online watch.chl.ca, Apple, Roku, or Amazon Fire. People are encouraged to use hashtag #WHLWednesday 

A couple of other Hawk notes. They have announced Pacific Islander Night on February 8 vs Seattle, with several organizations collaborating with the Hawks. Included in the events starting when doors open at 5pm, according to the Winterhawks website, will be: 

  • Live pre-game Haka performance
  • Teva Oriata, Portland’s authentic Tahitian dance studio, will bring the beauty of Polynesia to life with dances and melodies representing the entire region
  • Northwest Blend, a unique Hawaiian band that offers an array of music with a special harmony

The annual Hall of Fame night, set for Sunday, March 9, will celebrate the careers of two former Hawks. Braydon Coburn, who played 17 seasons in the NHL after 4 years in Portland. Jim Benning is also being feted with his 4 years career in Portland, followed by stints in the NHL Front Offices of Anaheim, Buffalo, and Boston, and an 8-year run as General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks 

The Hawks are also on the radar of Central Scouting with four players on the list: Goaltender Ondrej Stebatek, defenceman Max Psenicka, and forwards Diego Buttazzoni and Ryan Miller are on the ranks for the draft in 2025. Diego was draft-eligible last year and has moved up the ranks this year.

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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.