Tbirds vs. Hawks - Game 58 · Sunday February 10, 2008

Seattle goalie Jacob DeSerres stopped 22 shots to get his third shutout of the season for a final score of 3-0.

The Hawks have lost all nine games in the 12- game season series with the Tbirds.

The Tbirds took a 1- 0 lead at 1:08 of the first period when Prab Rai beat Portland goalie Kurtis Mucha from the slot. David Richard had the only assist on the goal when he fed Rai the puck from the right of the goal.

Seattle took a 2-0 lead at 7:01 of the second period when Greg Scott converted a rebound. Bud Holloway came down the right wing on a three-on-one break with Scott and Lindsay Nielsen. Holloway passed the puck from the right circle to Nielsen in the high slot. Nielsen put a backhand shot on goal that Mucha stopped but the rebound fell to the left of the net. Scott slammed the puck past Mucha for his 24th goal of the year.

Seattle scored a third goal at 10:18 of the second when Holloway put a rebound past Mucha.Jeremy Boyer fed the puck up the right boards to Holloway who came in on goal and then passed across the slot to Ian McKenzie. McKenzie put a shot on goal that hit the left post and rebounded to Holloway in the crease. Holloway backhanded the puck into an empty net for his 27th goal of the year.

T-Birds defenseman Brenden Dillon was awarded a penalty shot when he was hooked from behind on a breakaway at 13:07 of the third period. Dillon shot just wide left on the penalty shot.

Mucha stopped 32 of 35 shots and his record is now 7-30-1-1.

Next up at Seattle on the road.

Attendance: 5626
Key Arena – Seattle, Wa.

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Tbirds  0  3  0  3
Hawks  0  0  0  0

SHOTS  1  2  3  Total 
Tbirds  9  15  11  35
Hawks  5  7  10  22

Game Description
Summary

Three Stars

Holloway (SEA), DeSerres (SEA), Acolatse (SEA)

Fight Card

Gabriel/Olson – Could have been a fight, should have been a fight but it wasn’t…just a few missed blows and they went down.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Raider vs. Hawks - Game 54 · Saturday February 2, 2008

In the first 54 seconds two goals from Ryan McDonald (21) and Matt Robertson (22) put the Portland Winter Hawks in a hole that they could not quite crawl out of losing to the Prince Albert Raiders for a final score of 4-2.

After the Hawks spotted the Raiders two goals they settled down and got back into the game when Tristan King (6) made a nice move to get free in front of the net and put it into the open side, 12 minutes into the period.

The Hawks evened up the score in the second half of the second period when Radim Valchar (9) took a long outlet from Travis Ehrhardt, beat Dustin Butler on a partial breakaway. The goal was a power play goal. Valchar, who assisted on King’s first period goal, had a two-point night.

The Raiders took the lead early in the third period when Justin Bernhardt corralled his own rebound in the slot and beat Kurtis Mucha over the glove on the power play just 2:07 into the final period. The Raiders wrapped up the scoring when Dustin Cameron scored into the empty net with just 12 seconds remaining.

Butler finished up the night stopping 42 of 44 shots in the win while Mucha stopped 42 of 45 for Portland. The 44 shots for Portland was a season high.

Portland went 1 for 5 on the power play while the Raiders were 1 for 4.

Overall a nice effort by the Hawks. This is a game the Hawks deserved to win, but not being ready to play at the drop of the puck cost them two quick goals that were the difference makers.

A competitive effort lead by Mucha at goal and strong floor checking by Valchar and Schmermund. Tonight was a sign of an improving team.

Next up Seattle home.

Attendance: 5466
MC – Portland, Or.

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Raiders  2  0  2  4
Hawks  1  1  0  2

SHOTS  1  2  3  Total 
Raiders  14  16  16  46
Hawks  13  17  14  44

Game Description
Summary

Three Stars

Bernhardt (PA), Butler (PA), Mucha (POR)

Fight Card

None.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks vs. Cougars - Game 45 · Thursday January 17, 2008

Radim Valchar and Kurtis Mucha carried the Portland Winter Hawks to a come from behind 3-2 win over the Prince George Cougars.

Radim Valchar scored the tying goal in the third period and then scored the lone goal of the shoot-out. Goaltender Kurtis Mucha was solid as usual giving up two power play goals in the first an then shutting down the Cougars the rest of the way.

The win was the first in four games and broke a 13 game road losing streak. It was also the first shootout overtime win and the second win against any opponent.

The Cougars battled hard to the net in the first period, forging a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals by Justin Maylan,

Portland got back within a goal in the second period when Chris Francis snapped home a shot from the circle on a 5 on 3 power play, set up by Travis Ehrhardt and Jacob Dietrich.

The Hawks evened the score early in the third period when Valchar found a rebound of a Scott Gabriel entry shot and filed it into the open net just 1:17 in the final period. Tyler Swystun also added an assist on the play.

Here are some quotes published in the Prince George Citizen:

“I thought we stopped going to the net,” was the blunt assessment of Cougars assistant coach Wade Klippenstein one night after the Cats (14-29-1-1) ended a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Hawks (9-35-0-1).

“We took some penalties, and (in the second period) we got a bad break when one of our guys shot the puck over the glass and it put us down two players. Their guy made a great shot to score, but we had chances to score in overtime.”

But at CN Centre, the first period was the only one in which Portland goaltender Kurtis Mucha would allow a puck to get behind him. The 18-year-old, who some call the best goaltender in the league in large part because of the heavy workload he handles backing the league’s weakest team, finished with 26 saves, none bigger than the rash of chances he turned aside in overtime.

“We had to find a way to get it done,” said Portland coach Richard Kromm, the former NHL player whose club won for just the third time in 21 road contests.

“We showed determination and Mucha was very good for us. He’s been steady all year. We haven’t been good defensively in front of him on most nights, and we’re starting to build. This is a young team and you’re going to see mistakes, and we have to stay patient. That can be tough for him.”

Next up Everett away.

Attendance: 2414
CN Centre

 SCORING  1  2  3  OT   SO   Total 
Cougars  2  0  0  0  0  2
Hawks  0  1  1  0  1  3

SHOTS  1  2  3  OT   SO   Total 
Cougars  13  4  7  4  0  28
Hawks  6  11  9  2  1  29

Game Description
Game Summary

Three Stars

Maylan (PG), Gardner (PG), Ehrhardt (POR)

Fight Card

Walker/Kowalski – didn’t hear it.

Gabriel/Riege – A few good blows in this one.

Edge to Gabriel

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks vs. Cougars - Game 44 · Wednesday January 16, 2008

As the Prince George Citizen put it:

Put the six-game losing streak to bed. Credit the league’s worst team with an assist.

First period goals by Gardner (17), Riege (5), and Poulter (12) was all that was needed by the Prince George Cougars to win 5-2 over the Portland Winter Hawks.

17 year old goaltender Ian Curtis earned his first win as a Cougar, stopping 33 shots. His counter part Jordan made 27 saves.

The Cougars scored the first goal of the game – the 18th time in 44 games the Cats have opened the scoring. Captain Greg Gardner parked himself in front of the net and tipped a wrist shot that Patrik Magnusson launched from the point.

The Hawks recovered that when Tristan King, who has five goals on the season and three of those against the Cougars, beat Curtis, who arrived last week in the deal that sent Jesse Dudas to the Swift Current Broncos.

Brad Riege, who poked home his own rebound when it sat deep in the crease, and Alex Poulter, who scored his 12th of the season but first since Nov. 6, put the Cougars ahead going to the second period.

Ex-Cougars draft pick Tyler Swystun was booed by fans with regularity. Swystun spurned the Cougars after being a first-round choice in the 2003 bantam draft, and it didn’t help that he bumped Curtis late in the first period. Cougars winger Colin Haas helped guide Swystun into Curtis, then Haas drove Swystun’s head into the ice as part of the retaliation.

Swystun finished the night with one assist.

“I thought (the fans in Prince George) would’ve forgotten about me by now, so I didn’t expect that,” said Swystun, a 19-year-old who played in the AJHL at 16, went to the University of Michigan at 17, then left the NCAA to join the Medicine Hat Tigers a season ago, his WHL rights traded for Brett Robertson.

“Sometimes it’s tough to play in those conditions, but we didn’t play our game tonight and it showed in the final score.”

The Tyrell brothers hooked up to put the Cougars ahead 4-1. Tyrell the younger, Corey, tipped his brother Dana’s shot during a power play, helping Dana record a career-high four assists.

Much-travelled Portland winger Keith Voytechek – the Hawks are his fifth team after stops in Vancouver, Tri-City, Chilliwack and Moose Jaw – beat Curtis on a power play seven minutes later, but that was all the scoring heading to the third.

It wasn’t a perfect night for the Cougars’ much-maligned penalty killing unit, but it was one of the best this season. Forget that they gave up that power-play goal in the second, but focus on the 1:28 of two-man time killed with the score 4-2. Curtis’s sprawling glove save, diving to his left to rob Jacob Dietrich, negated the best scoring opportunity.

But Curtis was the difference, particularly with his 17 saves in a power-play-filled second period.

“It would’ve been nice to beat these guys like we did back in Portland,” said White, whose team has now lost four in a row, a slide that started after a 3-1 win over the Cougars on Jan. 6.

“Sometimes they don’t get 91 shots on ya… the Cougars capitalized on their chances.”

Next up Prince George again back-to-back on the road.

Attendance: 2302
CN Centre

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Cougars  3  1  1  5
Hawks  1  1  0  2

SHOTS  0  2  0  Total 
Cougars  11  9  8  28
Hawks  9  18  8  35

Game Description
Game Summary

Three Stars of the Game

Tyrell (PG), Gardner (PG), Curtis (PG)

Fight Card

McGill/Cumming – First period tussel. Not many blows thrown.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Chiefs vs. Hawks - Game 41 · Saturday January 12, 2008

The Portland Winter Hawks looked like a top tiered team for the first two periods before the Spokane Chiefs turned it on and scored three third period goals on to a 6-2 win.

For the Chiefs, Seth Compton scored twice and added two assists for a four-point, while Jared Spurgeon and Drayson Bowman each had a goal and an assist. Tyler Johnson and Mitch Wahl also scored for the Chiefs. Ondrej Roman chipped in two assists.

Portland got a second period goal from Jacob Dietrich, his seventh goal in his last eight games, to tie the score at 1-1 early in the second period on a tremendous up-ice rush.

After the Chiefs scored twice to make it 3-1, newcomer Phil Gervais notched his first goal as a Winter Hawk scoring on a tip in of a Tyler Swystun set up to make it 3-2 at the end of the second period.

Kevin Armstrong stopped 31 of 33 Portland shots to earn the victory for the Chiefs while Kurtis Mucha stopped 29 of 35 in the loss.

Chiefs went 1 for 3 on the power play while Portland went 0 for 3 with a short-handed goal against.

Next up Everett at home.

Attendance: 3603
Memorial Coliseum

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Chiefs  1  2  3  6
Hawks  0  2  0  2

SHOTS  0  2  0  Total 
Chiefs  12  8  15  35
Hawks  11  14  8  33

Game Description
Game Summary

Kemper’s Three Stars

Compton (SPO), Spurgeon (SPO), Gervais (POR)

Fight Card

A lot of good fights tonight.

McGill/Donaghy – The openning dance. McGill didn’t seem to get set up for this fight.

Edge to Donaghy.

Kelner/Gabriel – Not really a fight. Kelner jumped Gabriel after Gabriel put the clean big hit of the night on Bowman.

Bowman/Ehrhardt – Ehrhardt what a nice supprise. You just put a major ass whuppin on Bowman. I don’t think Bowman got a shot off. That was one of the most dominant one-sided fights I have seen.

No contest Ehrhardt may have found a new career in fighting after hockey.

Gervais/Donaghy – Donaghy’s second fight of the night. Gervais first game as Hawk.

Slight edge to Donaghy

Ponich/Kelner – Another nice suprise. Kelner didn’t have the advantage of jumping his opponent this time. Ponich showed a clear effective right hand that was decisive.

Edge to Ponich

Grecica/Letts – Not much of fight. A lot of flailing around by Grecica

Edge to Letts

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Blazers vs. Hawks - Game 21 · Saturday November 17, 2007

The Kamloops Blazers scored early in the third period and it was enough to defeat the Portland Winter Hawks 4-2. This is the third game in the Hawks/Blazers series with the Blazers winning all three.

The new guys Jacob Dietrich, Travis Ehrhardt, Ryan Kerr, Keith Voytechek, and Jason Grecica made a good impression and the Hawks looked like a more balanced cohesive team. Erhardt showed good skating ability and a take charge confidence that the back-line has not demonstrated to this point.

Dietrich’s goal was impressive when he took the puck from the side board went straight to the goal and bounced the shot off of Priestner. This was a pure effort goal. Dietrich also showed some dangerous offensive moves with the ability to get his shot off around the net.

This was also the Home debut of Riley Boychuk. Boychuk is big forward that moves well. He made an outstanding outlet pass to Schmemund to set up the first goal of the game.

Kurtis Mucha stopped 28 of 31 shots on the night for Portland while Priestner stopped 32 of 34 Portland shots for his third victory against Portland this season.

Portland finished the night 0 for 5 on the power play, while Kamloops was 0 for 6.

Attendance: 7044
Memorial Colisiem

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Blazers  1  1  2  4
Hawks  1  1  0  2

SHOTS 1 2 3  Total 
Blazers 10 8 14 32
Hawks 11 16 7 34

Game Description
Game Summary

period 1

7:59 – Matt Schmermund (4) took a feed from Riley Boychuk behind the Kamloops defense and beat goaltender James Priestner high over the blocker. The assist for Boychuk was his first career WHL point.

11:40 – A back line PP turnover by Ehrhardt left Calla one-on-one with Mucha to tie the game.

period 2

14:03 – Jacob Dietrich (3) bounced a shot off of Priestner to take the lead 2-1.

11:40 – Kamloop’s Bartley (3) scored with 22 seconds in the period to tie the game 2-2.

period 3

1:32 Kamloops took the lead with a goal by Rodgers (5) from a redirected Ivan Rohác’s centering feed past Kurtis Mucha.

Portland couldn’t break through the Kamloops defense and at 19:13 Shattock (4) scored an empty net goal.

Kemper’s Three Stars

Calla (KAM), Priestner (KAM), Dietrich (POR)

Fight Card

Gabriel/Golin and Betker/Wray

Give the edge to Gabriel and Wray

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Bruins vs. Hawks - Game 11 · Monday October 22, 2007

The Hawks looked like they were going to get their first win of the season with a 3-2 lead into the final period, but the Chilliwack Bruins scored two goals, one each by Michael Proudley and Colby Kulhanek in the first 3:30 of the third period to skate away with a 4-3 win.

Sunday nights game came with a small but enthusiastic crowd looking for the Hawks first Home win. It’s hard to not be negative about a team that can’t hold a lead and does not come back when down in the scoring column. But on the positives the team showed no quit, Sceviour’s goal in the second period was a real beauty that could make any highlight screen.

As a fan I found this one of the most entertaining games of the year. The Bruins wanted to go up and down the ice, the young Hawks where right with them, and the officials did not call many penalties.

Attendance: 2281
MC

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Bruins  1  1  2  4
Hawks  0  3  0  3

SHOTS 1 2 3  Total 
Bruins 12 19 7 38
Hawks 4 9 10 23

Game Summary

Game Notes:

Here are some of the highlights.

Period 1

Hawks came out of the box slow with only 4 shots on goal compared to the Bruins 12 and gave up an easy goal on a mistake by White in goal.

4:02 – Goaltender White got caught out of the goal mouth making it an easy score for Proudley (3) assists Moller and Santorelli.

Period 2

This is one of the best periods of the year for the Hawks.

1:55 – Goal of the year: Sceviour (1) jukes into the goal area then goes one-on-one with Esposito assists Swystun and Sjodin

6:03 – Another nice goal by the Hawks with a nice pass floor-check turnover by King behind the net that created a centering pass to Betker (1) for the Chilliwack natives first goal of the season.

7:02 – Moller hits the post, breaks his stick, gets another stick, finds the puck and screams it passed White off his glove hand to tie the game at 2-2 Moller (10).

14:41 – The Hawks break their PP streak with Swystun (5) goal assists King and Sceviour

14:43 – McCue/McLaren 2 – McLaren got in some nice shots in on McCue for the second scrap of the year. Give McLaren the edge and a 2-0 year advantage.

Period 3

1:57- Another early goal from Proudley (4) assists Potter and Campos.

3:30 – Bad turnover behind the net created by Proudley that feed Kulhanek (7) camping out in the front the net. White had no chance to stop this goal.

Pulled White with 1:57 in the period and created a torrid of activity in the Bruins in but could not get the tying goal.

Andy’s Three Stars

Proudley (CHK), Sceviour (POR), Swystun (POR)

Hit of the game: Portland’s Gabriel on Smuk. Clean centered hit chest high at mid-ice. Best hit of the year.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Americans vs. Hawks - Game 3 · Monday October 1, 2007

Another competitive effort with the Hawks showing signs of breaking through in the win column. It took Taylor Procyshen’s open net goal at 19:04 in 3rd to finally put them away.

Kurtis Mucha made 33 saves and his counter part Chet Pickard made 16 saves. Kruise Reddick scored the go-ahead goal 4:48 into the third period. Jason Reese chipped in three assists in his debut as a member of the Americans.

The Americans increased their season-opening win streak to three games (all on the road), while the Hawks lose their third.

Attendance Memorial Coliseum: 3317

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Americans  0  1  2  3
Hawks  0  1  0  1

SHOTS 1 2 3  Total 
Americans 7 13 16 36
Hawks 7 6 4 16

Game Report

Game Notes:

After a week long pause, the Hawks get back into action.

In the first period, the Hawks came out strong putting the Americans on the defensive and in the penalty box. Hawks had a power play advantage of 5-2 and shots were even at 7 a piece. The Hawks looked dangerous at times and Mucha played solid in goal to keep the game even.

Period 2 started well for the Hawks with a goal at (1:35) by Schmermund (1) at the net with assists from Ponich and Hotson. But the Americans quickly made a score of their own at (4:48) with Lazo (2) assists Reese and Yellow Horn.

Lazo couldn’t handle success for too long and took a High Sticking penalty sending momentum back to the Hawks. Any momentum the Hawks had was quickly lost when Valcar took a double minor for High Sticking and for most of the rest of the period was spent by the Hawks killing the penalty.

The third period started off with Gabriel taking a tripping penalty that resulted in a power play goal at (4:16) from Reddick (2) with assists from Reese and Fast.

The Hawks battle through the rest of the period but could not connect on the game tying goal.

The Hawks were held to only four shots on goal in the third period, as goaltender Chet Pickard stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in route to his third win of the season. Meanwhile, Mucha turned aside 33 of the 35 shots he saw in the contest.

Kemper’s Three Stars:

Reese (TRC), Fast (TRC), Mucha (Port)

My Son’s Three Stars for Portland

Scevior, Mucha, (no third star)

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks vs. Bruins Game 2 · Tuesday September 25, 2007

For the Bruins it is deja vu all over again

The Bruins who were coming off a big 2-1 win last night over the Kamloops Blazers, got the shut out tonight. Goaltender Matt Esposito stop 16 shot and for the most part had an easy time of it. The 23 shots by the Bruins in the second period set a new team record for most shots in one period. The previous record was 20, also against Portland in the second period of a 3-2 shootout win over the Hawks last March in Chilliwack. The Bruins also tied a team record in the game for fewest shots against in one game with Portland managing just 16 shots on goal.

For Portland only the stellar play of Winter Hawk net minder Jordan White kept it from being a five or six-goal difference.

Attendance at Prospera Centre: 4438

 SCORING  1  2  3  Total 
Bruins  1  1  0  2
Hawks  0  0  0  0

SHOTS 1 2 3  Total 
Bruins 3 23 6 44
Hawks 4 5 7 16

Game Report

Game Notes:

After a long bus ride getting in at 5:00am that Hawks couldn’t seem to muster enough to make it a close game.

Period 1

Not a lot of action. Both teams seemed tight. Hawks started out making mental errors with too many men on the ice and goalie ineligibility penalties. Hawks out shot Bruins 4-3.

8:19 – Frazer McLaren and Matt McQue went at it. A few good hay makers on both sides with the ringside announcer giving a slight edge to McLaren. Both Bruin announcers where impressed with McLaren’s play and believe he has a good shot and making it with the San Jose Sharks.

The fight gave the Bruins a lift and 29 second later, Luke Walker was checked into the boards coming out of the defensive end, freeing the puck with both defenseman Devon Marshal and Scott Gabriel out of position. This created a 2 on 1 at the net with Kulhanek nice pass to Potter far post for an easy score that goaltender White had little chance to stop.

CWK Potter, (1) (Kulhanek, Howse), 8:48

Period 2

In the second period the Bruins out shot the Hawks 23-5.

6:49 – The Hawks got into penalty problems with Pachyson (delay of game) and Betker (holding on Moller) giving the bruins an extended 5 on 3 that setup the second goal. The power play goal was setup with Santorelli’s pass some how making it to Smuk for the deflection into the net. Again no chance for White.

7:00 – (PP) CWK Smuk, (1) (Santorelli, Holden),

11:10 – Gabriel came to the defense of Nick Hotson after a big hit from Meropoulis. Gabriel won the fight but required 8 stitches for his effort and added a 2 minute for instigating. For the Bruin’sMeropoulis broke his hand and will be out of the lineup up to six weeks. Meropoulis with only his first fight in the WHL better work on his technique trying to hit hard headed bruisers like Gabriel.

Great save by goaltender Matt Esposito on Tristan King shot.

Period 3

Hawks started the third period in the hole again with Swystum (interference) and Schmermund (hooking).This gave the Bruins another 5 on 3 and the momentum for most of the third period.

Great save by goaltender Jordan White on break away shot from Ken Petkau.

Swystun, Valchar and Panchyson line provided some good pressure and scoring chances.

Bruin’s Three Stars:

Holden (Chill), Moller(Chill), White (Port)

Video

Jadon Potter’s first WHL goal
Cody Smuk’s first goal of the season
Matt Meropoulis tangles with Scott Gabriel

— S. Blanchard

Comment

US Divisional News · Friday January 18, 2008

— S. Blanchard

Comment

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