Hawks Start New Era with a Win · Saturday November 1, 2008

The Portland Winter Hawks (3-12-0-0, 6 pts) start the Gallacher era with a 4-1 win over the Tri-City Americans.

New Hawk coach Mike Johnston must be asking himself “what’s the big deal?” we just go out play sound fundamental hockey, add good goaltending (Kurtis Mucha 31 saves) and the puck finds its way into the net. once in awhile (Francis, Reddin, Boychuk, Valchar) .

I guess Mike didn’t know that we hadn’t won in the Toyota Center the last 9 times, and that last year we only had 3 road wins and we hadn’t beaten anyone by three goals since 10/5/07 (3-0 against the Everett Silvertips). It is best to forget these facts as quick as possible and move on to the New Era.

Summary

Three Stars

Mucha (POR), Reese (TRI), Boychuk (POR)

— S. Blanchard

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Letter to New GM/Coach Mike Johnston · Thursday October 30, 2008

Welcome aboard!

It is great to have new leadership at the top. You do have solid qualifications with strong ownership backing. Your summary at the press conference was accurate: years dropped in scouting, drafting, recruiting and signing players; with many high-end players choosing to not play for the Winter Hawks.

I know it is just your first week on the job but let me tell you what I think needs to be done right now. Why now? There are many hockey-loving season ticket holders like myself that have been thrown under the bus for the last 3 years. You might say that we have been in the life boat watching the Titanic go down and yes there are some bodies left in the water that need to be saved. This is my third year of record breaking losing. When I start thinking about it, I start sweating and become anxious and depressed, not because of the last three years but for the rest of this year.

You have a good group of young kids coming up the pipe, but as of today you are not going to win many games, in fact I don’t think collectively you are any better than your last year’s 11 win season.

Desperate times need desperate acts. I know you need time to evaluate players and make your decisions. Here are some suggestions:

Bring Maxim Trunev the Hawks number one pick in the CHL Import draft to Portland. As the story goes, his agents/representatives gave conflicting messages to the Hawks. One agent told the Hawks he wanted his client to play in the WHL. The other wants Maxim to come after “special compensation.” Hawk management is not sure which one to believe. Special compensation was the sticking point, may be new management could respond to his request.

The Montreal Canadian’s have nothing but positive comments about their 5th round pick Maxim Trunev.

“I think Maxim Trunev will prove to be the steal of this draft,” predicted Timmins about his fifth-round pick. “I see him taking the same route as Sergei Kostitsyn. Even though no Canadian Junior team has acquired Maxim’s rights yet, it won’t be long before teams starting fighting over him.”

Get some overaged scoring talent. The story is that former Tri-City Americans forward Blair Macaulay, who was the odd man out at the overage deadline Oct. 16, opted not to report to the Portland Winter Hawks, because he would rather play with his younger brother Scott for the Winnipeg Saints. Did anyone talk to Macaulay before they drafted him? Maybe Macaulay is really only peeved at Tri-City for dropping him and that this is the perfect time for him to step up and to make a statement to his previous team.

And yes you have picked the potential leaders of the team Kurtis Mucha and Travis Ehrhardt. As a 16 year Mucha was a fantastic prospect, but as 19 year old it is looking more and more like the team’s long term losing has affected his psyche (bad for goalies). I hate to even think about trading Mucha, but if he has been damaged, see what you can get.

Travis Ehrhardt is a skilled offensive minded defenceman that has showed at time some real fire and toughness. These two have to play at a high-level for us to succeed. I hope you can motivate them.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. The mess is going to take awhile to clean up. The fans will back you 100%.

Let’s take “another rebuilding year” out of our vocabulary

Thanks Again.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks Sale, What's the Real Story? · Tuesday August 19, 2008

After the breaking story of the sale of the Portland Winter Hawks by the Kamloops Daily News, I have two questions:

Why would a Canadian Billionaire (Bill Gallacher) want to buy an American WHL hockey team?

Why would he pay 7.5 million when it was reported sold for 3.5 million 3 years ago and the product hasn’t improved in that time frame?

This is such a contrast to the story told by current ownership for the last few years it makes me wonder.

So what has changed?

Here are some of my random thoughts:

Why would a Canadian Billionaire want to buy an American WHL hockey team?

  • The Team is available.
  • A step up to the NHL.
  • Loves hockey.
  • His kid is playing in the league and wants to be involved.
  • Needs a tax write-off.
  • After he loses money for a few years he can easily move the team to his favorite Canadian city.

Why would he pay 7.5 million when it was reported sold for 3.5 million 3 years ago and the product hasn’t improved in that same time frame?

  • Cost is no object.
  • US dollar is at an all time low and predicted to rise in the future.
  • Has fixed the broken economic model (lease) that the Hawks have been reported to be operating under. The article reports a new lease will be signed 10 days after the sale.
  • Portland is a prime candidate for NHL expansion. Could this be part of a partnership with Vulcan (Rose Garden) to make a bid for a NHL franchise? Can NHL and the Trailblazers now see the possibilities of co-existing?
  • As JJJ and company have proved you can quote lose money on the day-to-day operation of the team and still turn around and sell the franchise for a tidy profit. Of course this was done on the backs of a great hockey fan base watching two seasons of dismal performance in the Memorial Coliseum and the poor Hawks employees that have lost their jobs.

— S. Blanchard

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US Divisional News · Friday January 18, 2008

— S. Blanchard

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