11/18/11 – Portland 7 – Everett 3 – Comcast Arena: The Portland Winterhawks won their sixth straight game Friday night with a 7-3 road win over the Everett Silvertips.
Sven Bartschi continued his torrid play with three assists, his fourth straight game with three points. Bartschi has 16 points overall during the winning streak, and a nine-game points streak dating back to before his injury, a streak in which he’s posted an incredible 26 points.
Linemate Ty Rattie scored to extend his goal streak to six games, and he’s also posted 16 points during the winning streak.
Portland opened the scoring 6:10 into the game on a goal by defenseman Troy Rutkowski, and took a 2-0 lead at the 15:02 mark on the first goal of the season from recently-acquired forward Dillon Wagner.
The Hawks extended the lead to 3-0 at the 5:59 mark of the second on a power play goal by Brad Ross, his 14th of the season. The Silvertips got on the board at the 7:44 mark on a goal by Brennan Yadlowski to make it 3-1, but the Hawks went back up by three when Rattie scored his 20th goal of the season with a power play marker to put Portland up 4-1 at the 12:34 mark. Just over a minute later Everett’s JT Barnett scored to make it 4-2 heading into the third.
Portland then put the game out of reach with three straight goals to open the third period, taking a 7-2 lead on goals by Taylor Leier, Rutkowski and Charles Wells. Everett got one back on a goal by Nick Walter to make it 7-3, which would stand as the final.
Mac Carruth picked up the win net for Portland, stopping 33 of 36 shots. Everett netminder Kent Simpson allowed seven Portland goals on 48 shots.
Power Plays: Portland 3 for 6, Everett 2 for 6
11/19/11 – Seattle 6 – Portland 3 – ShoWare Center: The Seattle Thunderbirds (9-11-0-0) would score five second period goals and get 47 saves from Calvin Pickard to hand the Portland Winterhawks (14-8-1-1) their first loss in seven games by a margin of 6-3 at the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA.
Portland opened the scoring just 1:41 into the first period when Taylor Peters won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Derrick Pouliot who fed a pass to Charles Wells for the goal, the second goal in as many nights for Wells. Seattle would tie the score just over one minute later and Chance Lund got a loose puck in center ice and had his first attempt on a breakaway stopped by Portland goaltender Brendan Burke, but the second effort was put home by Lund and the two teams would be tied 1-1 after the first period. Portland out-shot Seattle 13-12 in the opening twenty minutes.
The Thunderbirds would take their first lead just seconds into the second period on a goal by Burke Gallimore, but Portland would tie it at 2-2 on a wrist shot by Peters, assisted by Wells and Taylor Leier just over two minutes later. Seattle would break open the game with four goals in just under seven minutes to take a 6-2 lead on a short handed goal by Luke Lockhart, and even strength goals by Dave Sutter, Gallimore and Shea Theordore. Burke was replaced by Mac Carruth after the sixth goal and In the final two minutes of the period, Sven Bartschi would earn a penalty shot on a partial breakaway, but his attempt hit the post behind Pickard. Just seconds later, Portland would respond with a goal on a wrist shot by Joe Morrow, set up by a face-off win by Seth Swenson. Portland out-shot Seattle 16-10 in the period, but trailed 6-3 after the middle frame.
Neither team could dent the twine in the third period, with Portland once again out-shooting Seattle 18-8 in the final period for a 50-33 advantage during the game.
Pickard would pick up the victory for Seattle making 47 saves on 50 shots while Burke took the loss for Portland, stopping 16 of 22 in 33:12 of game action. Carruth would stop all 11 shots he faced in relief in just under 27 minutes.
Power Plays: Portland 0 for 5, Seattle 0 for 6
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Week Statistics:
Goals: Portland 10 – Opponents 9 (Season – Portland 95 – Opponents 86)
Shots: Portland 98 – Opponents 69 (Season – Portland 952 – Opponents 701)
Power Play: 3 for 11 – 27.3% (Season – 33 for 125 – 26.4% – 3rd in WHL)
Penalty Kill: 10 for 12 – 83.3% (Season – 86 for 103 – 83.5% – 2nd in WHL)
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Kemper’s Three Stars of the Week:
1. Taylor Peters – 1-3-4 and a +6 in two games.
2. Charles Wells – 2-2-4 and a +5 in two games.
3. Taylor Leier – 1-2-3 and a +4 in two games.
Honorable Mentions:
Troy Rutkowski – 2-1-3 in two games.
Derrick Pouliot – 0-2-2 in two games.
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Milestones Reached:
Brad Ross – 225th Career WHL Game Played (11/18)
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Roster Moves:
None
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What to watch for in the upcoming week:
It will be a busy week for the Winterhawks with four games in six nights starting tomorrow night at the Rose Garden against the Regina Pats.
The Pats are fourth in a very tough Eastern Division, sitting at 12-8-1-1 (26 points) after 22 games. They started off their U.S. Division swing with a 6-5 shootout loss to Spokane on Saturday night. They are led by 19 year old center Jordan Weal, who has posted 10-23-33 in 21 games and is a +15. On defense, Brandon Davidson has good offensive numbers with 6-14-20 in 22 games. In goal, Matt Hewitt has been the workhorse, appearing in 19 games with a 12-5-1-1 record and a 2.50 GAA and a .914 save %.
On Wednesday, the Hawks travel to Kennewick to take on the Tri City Americans for the fourth time this season. The Americans have won the first three games of the season series and lead the U.S. Division with a 16-6-0-0 record (32 points) after 22 games. Overage forward Adam Hughesman leads the Ams offensively with 15-21-36 in 22 games while Justin Feser, Brendan Shinnimin and Patrick Holland are all averaging at least a point per game. Zachary Yuen leads the defense with 4-7-11 in 22 games. In net, it has been almost split duties between Ty Rimmer (14 GP, 10-3-0-0, 1.77, .941) and Eric Comrie (10 GP, 6-3-0-0, 3.16, .883).
Friday afternoon brings the Spokane Chiefs back to Portland for the daylight classic at 3:00 at the Memorial Coliseum. Portland won the first two games of the season series on home ice, one in a shootout, the other in overtime. The Chiefs currently sit third in the U.S. Division at 10-5-1-2 (23 points) but have played the fewest games of any team in the WHL. Anthony Bardaro has returned from injury and leads the Chiefs with 10-12-22 in 16 games played. Brenden Kichton has 2-13-15 from the blueline for Spokane. Mac Engel has appeared in 15 games with a record of 8-5-1-1, 2.71 and .898.
Lastly, the Hawks host the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday evening at the MC. The Broncos are currently at 10-11-2-1 (23 points) and fifth in the Eastern Division. They boast the WHL’s top power play unit, sitting at 32.1% after this past weekend’s games. Overage forward Taylor Vause leads the way with 13-18-31 after 24 games while Adam Lowry and Coda Gordon each average over a point per game. Reece Scarlett leads the way for defensemen, posting 4-17-21 in 23 games. Overage Jon Groenheyde was acquired from Edmonton to be the number one goaltender, and he has appeared in 19 games with a 8-6-1-2 record, 3.89 and .881.
November 21, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: Andy Kemper . Comments: Leave a comment