The Portland Winterhawks had three games in four nights this week as they took on the sixth-place Western Conference team in the Kelowna Rockets and then traveled 8 hours further north to battle the Prince George Cougars.
Similarly to the Northwest’s snow and ice, the temperatures hovered close to zero in the three meetings, but inside the arenas, the heat from the hockey more than made up for keeping the faithful warm.
The Hawks welcomed Nate Danielson in his first games since being traded by the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Hawks scored first on a goal credited to James Stefan, but it appeared to have been accidentally redirected by a Rockets stick. Replays then showed Stefan poking in the rebound. Nonetheless, the Hawks were up 1-0. Kelowna would score several minutes later in a similar fashion where the puck appeared to have been stopped, only to have the rebound tip in.
From there, the Hawks welcomed Nate Danielson. While camping on the doorstep, he shot into the open cage. The Hawks would carry the lead into the second period, where Diego Buttazoni finished off the Hawks’s play less than a minute into the period for the 3-1 lead. Less than 5 minutes later, the Rockets cut into the lead.
The Hawks Kyle Chyzowski and Marcus Nguyen scored six minutes apart to put the Hawks up 5-2. Chyzowski got him with the teams four on four and Nuguyen with a powerplay marker.
Kelowna would make it interesting with a goal nearly six minutes into the third and then a penalty shot goal awarded with less than a minute to play. The Rockets could come no closer, and the Hawks won 5-4. The Hawks led heavily in shots at 37-17 and went 1-4 on the powerplay, shutting down the Rockets 0-1 on theirs.
Two days later, it was the trek to the furthest north WHL team in the Prince George Cougars for a pair. The snow was piling up, but again, fans were treated to some incredible hockey.
After a combined 23 shots in the first period, the score remained deadlocked at zero. The period also saw the Hawks killing off four consecutive penalties. The Cougars took the lead just over 12 minutes into the second period and held through the period. The Hawks would return with a powerplay goal early in the third period to tie the game, with Gabe Klassen notching his 14th on the year. Seven minutes later, Klassen hit a powerplay marker again, and the Hawks had their first lead. Three minutes later, on the powerplay, Riley Heidt scored for Prince George and added a dagger with just 45 seconds left to give the Cougars the win at 3-2. Shots favored Portland 27-26, and the Hawks were 2-5 on the powerplay versus 1-7 for Prince George.
The next night was Indigenous People’s Night, which celebrated the robust Native populations in the north. With a capacity crowd of 6,009 in attendance, the two teams displayed a clinic that could only be found in the playoffs.
Nate Danielson, who had rushed up the ice to prevent an icing call, was rewarded with a goal seconds later as they fired into the open cage of Ty Young to give the Hawks the lead. Prince George would get the only goal of the second period as both goaltenders made highlight reel saves to keep their teams in it. The deadlock was broken just over six minutes into the third with Diego Buttazoni on the powerplay, and despite the heavy barrage of 15 shots in the third period, the Cougars could get no closer. The final saw Portland split the series and season series with the Prince George Cougars on the heels of a 2-1 win. Shots favored the Cougars 35-27, and the Hawks went 1-3 on the powerplay while holding the Cougars off the scoresheet 0-1. Avakyan and Young were listed as 1 and 2 in three stars of the game.
Next up for the Hawks as they head home to practice are three US Division games: on the road in Kennewick vs. Tri-City Americans, then up to Spokane to face the Chiefs, and then Sunday at home to host the Seattle Thunderbirds. That game versus Seattle is a makeup game from January 13, where Seattle and Portland postponed due to weather.
