Balancing Act…

“We shall call you Cygnus, the God of Balance you shall be…”

- Rush, Hemispheres (1978 – Lyrics by Neil Peart)

The topic of “balanced scoring” has been brought up more than a few times when Todd Vrooman and I are doing our pre-game and post-game shows and the balanced scoring was never more evident than in the Portland Winterhawks 6-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night.

The Hawks got six goals, from six different players, and nine assists, from nine different players in the win.  Add it up and you get points from 15 different players with no one garnering more than a single point.

Despite falling behind (again) after one period, the Hawks blew it open in the second period, with the back-breaker goal being scored by Stefan Schneider (pictured above, courtesy of Mick White at www.waprepsports.net) on a wrist shot that bounced in off of Calvin Pickard’s blocker to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.  They’d add two more and not look back for their 10th victory in a row over Seattle.

Mac Carruth made his sixth straight start and continues to perform well, now going 4-1-1-0 during that span.  In addition, the power play that has been streaky all season, is streaking in the right direction, going seven for the last 27 in the past five, a 25.9% rate.

Nino Niederreiter now has goals in his last four games and his deft little move in front of the net to score on Saturday was a thing of beauty.

Now…the Hawks face their nemesis this season, the Tri City Americans, on Wednesday night at the Memorial Coliseum.  The Hawks are 0-6 against the Ams in 2009-10 and they will look to break that skid.  Tri City became the first team to clinch a playoff spot when the Hawks knocked off Seattle on Friday night.

Portland was able to successfully exorcise the demons by beating the Vancouver Giants twice in the past month (after dropping 13 straight to them), can they do the same against Tri City on Wednesday?  We’ll see…hopefully you’ll be there to watch as the Hawks look to clinch their first playoff spot in four years…game time is 7:00.

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One Down…One To Go…

Tyler Wotherspoon

The Portland Winterhawks continued their dominance over the Seattle Thunderbirds last night at the Rose Garden, winning 6-3 in front of another large crowd (9,018) on a night when the Hawks celebrated the past by honoring the Portland Buckaroos.

Tyler Wotherspoon picked up an assist in his second straight game after stepping in for Brett Ponich who has missed the last two games and quietly, Wotherspoon is having a very nice rookie season.  His offensive numbers won’t blow you away, but you should focus on his +10 (including a +3 last night) ranking in 29 games.

Ironically, the Hawks generated their most dangerous scoring chances in the opening period last night, only to trail 1-0 off a very nice individual effort by Prab Rai short-handed in the final minute of the period.

The Hawks out-shot Seattle 16-5 in the opening frame and probably had close to 10 scoring chances denied by Calvin Pickard.  Once Taylor Aronson made a tremendous play to set up Nino Niederreiter on the power play eight minutes into the second, I could sense the Hawks would find a way to win that game.

Ryan Johansen got the game winner and I thought that Todd Vrooman’s comparison with Ottawa Senator forward Jason Spezza was bang-on in describing Johansen.  The Johan has great vision, and uses his tall and lanky frame to ward off opponents to create scoring chances.  His game winner last night was just determination to get the puck and then picking his spot to bury it, a veteran play by the 17 year old rookie.

Also nice to see Nino pot a couple goals as he now has goals in three straight and 30 on the season.

The Hawks have now beat Seattle by scores of 6-0, 6-1 (twice), 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4 as well as 4-3, 5-0, and 2-0.  With a win tonight, the Hawks will match the 10-0 record that the 1980-81 team put up against Seattle in the season series.

Game time is 7:00, pre-game show on Freedom 970 is at 6:40…talk to you then.

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Moving Forward…

Well, the finish last night wasn’t what the Portland Winterhawks wanted, but looking back at the game, the Hawks did a lot right and to come from behind twice to earn at least one point is a positive.

The Hawks certainly generated enough chances and despite being held off the scoresheet, I was impressed (again) by the line of Ty Rattie/Chris Francis/Luke Walker.  They continue to be a dominant line for the Hawks and they set the tone a lot of nights for the Hawks.

Also, the Oliver Gabriel/Stefan Schneider/Riley Boychuk were very good last night as well, scoring twice.  Gabriel has been steady, if not spectacular, since returning from his spleen injury, posting 16 points in 24 games, which, if averaged over a 72 game season would be 48 points.  Fairly impressive from a so-called third line guy.

Looking at the season series record, I guess both teams can say that they “won” the series as both teams went 2-1-1-0 with each team winning in overtime once.  In essence, both teams pick up five points in the four games for an unconventional “split” of the series.  Portland did outshoot Kamloops 181-111 in the four games.

Speaking of shots, the Hawks have now generated over 40 shots for three straight games.

Now it is time to move forward and get ready for Seattle for the home-and-home this weekend…the Hawks magic number to at least tie for a playoff spot is 5 wins or Seattle losses…two wins this weekend and the number drops to 1.

See you at the Garden tomorrow night…

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What Part of Deadline Did They Not Understand?

A little less than a month after the supposed WHL Trade Deadline, the Seattle Thunderbirds put out a press release today announcing that they had acquired the rights to defenseman Austin Baecker from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a conditional 6th round bantam pick in the 2011 draft…hmmm…inquiring minds want to know how that is possible after the deadline and before the trade moratorium is lifted around the WHL Bantam Draft?

The WHL is holding a meeting in Las Vegas this week and evidently this came out of that meeting…and, if so…how or why does it happen now???

I know that Major League Baseball has a trade deadline at the end of July, but can make trades after that if the players being traded pass through waivers prior to be being dealt…does the WHL have something similar that no one has ever heard about it?

Maybe the league will make an announcement of some sort about it…so far…nothing on their site, just the press release on the Seattle site.

From what I’ve heard, Baecker will not be eligible to join the Thunderbirds this season, so, why announce it now and not when the moratorium (or supposed moratorium) is lifted?

Will this be a case of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas or will we get an actual explanation of how this deal happens in February?

Stay tuned…

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A Few More From Last Night…

Thanks to the unofficial photographer of After The Whistle, Randall Johansen…

His name is Luca...he lives on...oh never mind...

Mac the Knife

Benny ties it up...

No one celebrates a goal better than Rosser...

The four letter word line and the new horse on the back end...

Thanks again to Randall…good stuff…

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Celebration…

As promised…here is the Hawks celebration after their 4-3 win over the Vancouver Giants last night at the Langley Events Centre…

It was especially satisfying with tons of family members and friends in the audience for many of the Hawks…next up, Kamloops on Wednesday night…

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Nice End to the Weekend…

It’’s been nearly five years since the Portland Winterhawks have celebrated a victory over the Vancouver Giants in their barn (even if it wasn’t their true barn), and it feels good heading home with a hard earned 4-3 win tonight.  I capture the celebration on the digital camera tonight, but the Interwebs are a bit slow on the bus and it won’t upload, so…you’ll have to wait until Monday AM to see the photo evidence.

It didn’t start off great, falling behind 2-0 less than six minutes in, but the Hawks stuck with the gameplan, and IMO, outworked the Giants the final 40 minutes to grab the win.   The Luke Walker/Chris Francis/Ty Rattie continues their strong play and tonight they got help from the Nino Niederreiter/Ryan Johansen/Brad Ross line as the Hawks pounded 44 shots at the Giants net.

Mac Carruth got his third straight start and second win of the weekend in fine form and he is starting to show his comfort level in the WHL with each passing start.

There were a few players banged up tonight, but all is well heading home as we are watching our celebratory movie while rolling back down I-5 once again.

For me, it didn’t start great with a phone line malfunction at the start of the pre-game and cramped quarters and the folks in the suite next to me giving me dirty looks when calling goals, but, in the end, it was worth all of it.

It was the first regular season road win over the Giants since March 4, 2005…hopefully the next one won’t be as far off…time to settle back and watch the movie…trips home are much faster when you win…

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Langley Events Centre…

Press Box View...

My home for the night...good thing Todd didn't come on the trip...he would have had to sit on my shoulders...a bit cramped for space.

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Somewhere Along I-5…

Seems like I’ve been traveling on I-5 all weekend…maybe I have been. 

Oh yeah…I remember now…I’m in my hotel room in Everett where the team will stay until mid-day tomorrow before heading to Langley to take on the Vancouver Giants tomorrow…er…later tonight.

Luca Sbisa (picture stolen from Byan Heim) made a successful home debut, scoring a power play goal in the 6-2 win over Seattle at the Rose Garden.  I will sit down with Luca prior to the game against Vancouver and you can hear that interview during the first intermission tomorrow night.

Quietly, the masked one, Luke Walker has put together a 10 game point streak, amassing 16 points during the streak, scoring six times and setting up 10.  His line with Chris Francis and Ty Rattie are really clicking right now and they are fun to watch.

I think Francis has set a personal goal of reaching 200 career WHL points before the regular season ends and after his four point game tonight, he needs 29 points in 19 games to reach that mark.  Considering he has 16 points in eight games against Seattle, and with four games remaining between the two teams, if he continues two points a game, that means he will only need 21 points in the other 15 games to reach that number.

Wait…I was told there would be no math…but I digress.

It won’t be easy against Vancouver…but it wasn’t easy last Sunday either and the Hawks found a way to win.  A win tomorrow…er…later tonight would be much sweeter and a nice way to wrap up the Hawks final three-in-three weekend of 2009-10.

Pre-game show starts at 5:40 on Freedom 970…

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Wednesday Thoughts…

Some randomness on a Wednesday…

– Luca Sbisa arrived in Portland on Monday from Switzerland, sans luggage as his bags weren’t on the same flight into PDX from O’Hare in Chicago.  So, that meant that Sbisa couldn’t skate with the team when they practiced at Valley Ice Arena in Beaverton on Tuesday afternoon.  Sounds like his gear arrived yesterday evening, so he should be on the ice this afternoon at the MC.  In the old days, players would check their gear except for their skates, which they would keep with them.  Now, skates are considered a weapon.  Maybe they are…you should ask Clint Malarchuk or Richard Zednik.

– Speaking of the MC, they had a public meeting there last night for those groups that submitted proposals for renovating the building to show their submissions and to discuss their ideas for change.  The Winterhawks and Portland Trailblazers put together their joint presentation that detailed their proposed renovations and changes.

All told, there were over 90 groups represented with close to 30 making formal presentations.  They ranged from strictly renovating the building to converting the building to a luxury resort and sports destination.  Some were making it more business related while others were simply people thinking outside the box on how to change the inside of the box that is the MC.

I didn’t stick around for all the presentations, but it was an interesting night for people in Portland to show their ideas.

Next up, the advisory council will select a smaller number of candidates to generate actual proposals, including costs and finance requirements for further review.  From what I’m told, they will contact those groups in February with the proposals due mid-March with a decision to be made in spring 2010.

As they say…stay tuned…

– For the second time this season, Ian Curtis was named the CHL Goaltender of the Week, becoming the first player to get that honor twice in 2009-10.

Ian’s 18 wins on the season is the most for any Hawk goaltender since Krister Toews had 25 wins in 2003-04.

– So far this season, the Hawks have 11 players on their roster with at least 20 points on the season.  That is the most since the Hawks had 12 players in 2001-02 and 13 players in 2000-01.  The 1997-98 Memorial Cup team had 12 with 20 points as well.

Next up, Taylor Aronson who is sitting at 19 points.

– In one of those weird statistical years, the three teams battling for positioning in the U.S. Division all have a better road win percentage than a home ice win percentage.   Everett is .660 on the road while .640 at home; Portland is .615 on the road while .600 at home; Spokane is .635 on the road while .543 at home.

They are the only three teams in the WHL with a better road percentage than home.

Hmmm…maybe that explains why Spoke got trounced last night in Kamloops 8-1…going for the road ice advantage in the opening round?  I jest…but it makes you go hmmmm…

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