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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

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

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

Americans vs. Hawks - Game 37 · Monday December 31, 2007

The Hawks scored first, put together some team defense and limit the Americans to only 38 shots for a 2-1 win at home.

Jacob Dietrich’s goal at 5:58 of the second period was a real beauty started off a pass from Radim Valchar, a break alone to the goal, deek to the right, and put it past goalie Chet Pickard on the left.

Tri-City defenseman T.J. Fast evened the score in the second period with a power-play goal at 4:28.

Colton Yellow Horn assisted on Fast’s goal, giving him 300 career points and extended his point steak to a WHL-leading 19 games.

Portland goalie Kurtis Mucha finished with 37 saves as the Winter Hawks (7-29-0-1) broke a three-game losing streak.

The Hawk back line missing (Kerr, Morrow, and Gabriel) were much better tonight. Travis Bobbee was a cool customer putting together the connecting backline pass after pass keeping the American from camping out in our zone. Bobbee deserved a star and showing why skilled nimble backline players like Bobbee and Ehrardt can make a big difference for the future Hawks.

Next up Seattle at home.

Attendance: 3492
Memorial Coliseum

Hawks Box Score

Jason Grecica (2) 1G
Jacob Dietrich (5) 1G
Walker, King, Valchar and Montgomery 1A

Warriors Box Score

T.J. Fast (5) 1G, 1A
Yellow Horn and Reese 1A

Game Description
Game Summary

Kemper’s Three Stars

Mucha (POR), Detrich (POR), Fast (TRI)

Fight Card

No fights tonight…just a win.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks vs. Chiefs - Game 32 · Thursday December 13, 2007

The second game of a home-and-home series with the Spokane Chiefs was over after a four goal tally in the first and with 3 add on goals in the second and third for a final score 7-1.

Ondrej Roman, Mitch Wahl and Judd Blackwater scored early for the Chiefs. Roman’s goal came on a four-on-four, Wahl’s was even strength and Blackwater’s was a power play marker

Portland got their lone goal of the game as Jason Grecica one-timed a centering pass from Kevin Undershute on a power play to cut the lead to two goals.

The first period capper was a Chiefs short handed goal by Compton (5) at 17:30 from a turnover by Swystun to make it 4-1.

Kevin Armstrong was selected as the game’s first star after making 32 saves on the night and winning his 12th game of the season.

Next up Swift Current home.

Attendance: 3838
Spokane Vet Memorial Arena

Game Description

Game Summary

CHIEF’s Three Stars

Armstrong (SPO), Roman (SPO), Compton (SPO)

Fight Card

Gabriel/Blackwater

Grecica/Reddington

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Chiefs vs. Hawks - Game 31 · Monday December 10, 2007

The Portland Winter Hawks rallied from two goals down in the final two minutes to force overtime against the Spokane Chiefs. The Chiefs pulled it out in the shoot-out, to win 5-4. For most fans at the MC this was a real winner for the Hawks.

Spokane came into the game as the top team in the WHL and ranked #2 overall in the entire Canadian Hockey League.

The Hawks pulled Kurtis Mucha twice in the final two minutes and scored both times as Jacob Dietrich and Kevin Undershute scored to force overtime. Undershute’s tying goal came with just 18.4 seconds left on the game clock.

Portland took a two-goal lead early in the second period after goals by Luke Walker and Chris Francis, but Spokane rallied for four consecutive goals to take a 4-2 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the third period. Spokane got goals from Chris Langkow, Drayson Bowman, Chris Bruton and Jared Spurgeon.

Travis Ehrhardt had two assists, setting up both the third and fourth goals for Portland. Bowman and Bruton each added assists for two-point nights as well for Spokane.

After a scoreless overtime, Jace Coyle scored the lone goal in the shoot-out for Spokane as the second shooter for the Chiefs. Dustin Tokarski stopped Undershute, Tyler Swystun and Ehrhardt to preserve the victory. Kurtis Mucha stopped Bowman and Ondrej Roman in the shoot-out as well.

Mucha stopped 47 of 51 Spokane shots and received the number one star of the game.

Portland went 2 for 5 on the power play while Spokane went 1 for 5.

Next up Spokane away.

Attendance: 3330
Key Arena

Game Description
Game Summary

Kemper’s Three Stars

Mucha (POR), Ehrhardt (POR), Bowman (SPO)

Fight Card

No fights tonight…all business.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Hawks vs. Rockets - Game 26 · Tuesday December 4, 2007

The Kelowna Rockets got three power-play goals and one short-handed to defeat the Portland Winter Hawks by a margin of 4-2 in Kelowna. The second game in a 4 game in 5 night road BC swing.

period 1 and 2

Out shot 25-12…out scored 3-0…no energy…the short handed goal by MacRae (3) occured on the Hawks first power play. Two more power play goals by Long (12) and MacRae (4) finished off the second period.

Finally in the third period after Portland had managed to put the Rockets team and fans to sleep, the Hawks played their first good period of the road swing. The team put on some good floor checking with resulted in Tristan King (2) scoring both Portland goals, one even strength and one on the power play, The second goal was a nice feed from Chris Francis with assist from Jason Grecica.

Jordan White stopped 30 of 34 Kelowna shots on the night while Torrie Jung handled 20 of 22 Portland shots.

Kelowna went 3 for 7 on the power play while Portland finished 1 for 6.

Next up Vancouver.

Attendance: 6081
Prospera Centre

Game Description
Game Summary

KEL Three Stars

Barrie (KEL), Long (KEL), Schenn (KEL)

Fight Card

No fights.

— S. Blanchard

Comment

Rockets vs. Hawks - Game 22 · Monday November 19, 2007

The Kelowna Rockets outworked the Portland Winter Hawks for 2 of the 3 periods employing a relentless fore-check. After Long’s (9) goal late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead, the Rockets intensified the fore-check even more and by the 3rd period the Hawks didn’t seemed to have much fight left.

For the Rockets, Jamie Benn and Colin Long each had 1 goal and 2 assists and Lucas Bloodoff and Luke Schenn tallied single markers.

For the Hawks, Tyler Swystun took an end-board pass from Keith Voytechek and beat Rocket goaltender Torrie Jung to the stick side to tie the score at 1-1.

The Hawks could have tied it after Luke Walker was hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway. Walker tried to back hand the shot but missed the penalty wide to the right.

This game is one step back from Saturday’s game effort. The new guys Jacob Dietrich (no show), Ryan Kerr (didn’t notice that he was even there), Travis Ehrhardt (postive backend play), Keith Voytechek (nice pass to Swystun for the only goal of the game), Jason Grecica (must of lost his edge at least five time in that game), Riley Boychuk looked slow (it is now reported that he may have re-injured his groin).

For the Hawks, Jordan White put on an outstanding performance in goal making multiple first class saves in the game stopping 34 of 38 shots. Of the goals allowed only the Schenn goal he had any chance to save. It look like his view of the shot was blocked.

Next up Tuesday the Regina, Pats here for the only appears of the season.

Attendance: 3953
Memorial Colisiem

Game Description
Game Summary

Kemper’s Three Stars

Benn (KEL), Long (KEL), Schenn (KEL)

Fight Card

No fights tonight

— S. Blanchard

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

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

Hawks vs. Tbirds - Game 19 · Monday November 12, 2007

Bud Holloway scored two second period goals to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-1 victory. The Tbirds out-shot the Winter Hawks by a margin of 56-15, with Kurtis Mucha stopping 53 shots.

Chris Francis scored Portland’s lone goal, the first of the game, early in the second period off assists from Tyler Swystun and newcomer Keith Voytechek.

This was the debut game for six new players: Travis Ehrhardt, Ryan Kerr, Travis Bobbe, Jacob Dietrich, Nick Dietrich, Jason Grecica and Keith Voytechek.

Travis Ehrhardt impressed the coaching staff with his skating ability making the good first pass out of the defensive zone and running the power play. Kerr impressed as a solid stay home defenseman.

Overall without even a single practice with the new players before they stepped on the ice, play was justifiably rough and and out of sync. Next stop Tri-Cities.

Attendance: 4582
Key Arena

Game Description
Game Summary

SEA’s Three Stars

McKenzie (SEA), Holloway (SEA), Rai (SEA)

— S. Blanchard

Comment

US Divisional News · Friday January 18, 2008

— S. Blanchard

Comment