Portland vs. Seattle…Birds 4-3 Final…

Line-ups:

Portland:

Brad Ross – Colin Reddin – Killian Hutt

Riley Boychuk – Luke Walker – Ty Rattie

Matt Schmermund – Taylor Peters – Nick Dietrich

Oliver Gabriel – Kyzen Loo – Teal Burns

Defense:

Travis Ehrhardt – Brock Cornish

David Watt – Troy Rutkowski

Mandeep Nijjar – Brett Ponich

Goaltenders:

Kurtis Mucha – Jordan White

Scratches:

Chris Francis; Bryon Maxwell; Ryan Andersen; Scott Gabriel; Joe Morrow; Tyler Wotherspoon; Travis Bobbee; Keith Hamilton

Seattle:

Prab Rai – Connor Sanvido – David Richard

Devon LeBlanc – Lindsay Nielsen – Justin LaChance

Chance Lund – Spencer Edwards – Mike Krgovich

Tyler Sybil – Brenden Silvester – Isak Quakenbush

Defense:

Steve Chaffin – Stefan Warg

Kaydon Trumbley – Brenden Dillon

Brad Haber – Erik Fleming

Goaltenders:

Jacob DeSerres – Calvin Pickard

Scratches:

Chip Petrino; Matt Hallick; Matt Betker; Ashton Hewson; Luke Lockhart; Jeremy Boyer; Zach Walker; Eddie Friesen; Tanner Muth; Sena Acolatse; Reid Johnson

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

03:36 – S – Spencer Edwards (Mike Krgovich, Erik Fleming) – Krgovich crosses the blue line and finds Edwards coming down the middle, a good low hard wrist shot beats Mucha to the stick side through a screen.

06:23 – S – David Richard (Prab Rai, Connor Sanvido) – End-board pass from Rai finds Richard at the top of the crease and he tips it through Mucha’s pads.

Penalties:

08:06 – P – Teal Burns (Hooking); 08:36 – S – Lindsay Nielsen (Interference); 11:00 – S – Connor Sanvido (Hooking); 13:39 – S – Brenden Silvester (Tripping); 17:29 – S – Lindsay Nielsen (Hooking)

Second Period:

04:10 – S – Brenden Dillon (Justin LaChance, Lindsay Nielsen) – Birds with a 4-on-2 rush, LaChance with the entry shot, rebound kicks to Dillon and he tips it over Mucha and in.

06:23 – P – Ty Rattie (Luke Walker, Brock Cornish) PP – Cornish entry shot is knocked down in the slot, Walker tips it to Rattie who slides it through the pads of DeSerres.

08:19 – S – Lindsay Nielsen (Devon LeBlanc, David Richard) PP – LeBlanc from the corner finds Nielsen wide open in front for the redirect.

19:11 – P – Ty Rattie (Riley Boychuk) – Boychuk with a stong up-ice rush, holds off the d-man to get the shot away, Rattie picks up the rebound and backhands a 365′ spin move into the open side.

Penalties:

06:15 – S – Kaydon Trumbley (Roughing); 07:34 – P – Oliver Gabriel (Slashing); 11:56 – P – Mandeep Nijjar (Roughing)

Third Period:

11:18 – P – Killian Hutt (Unassisted) – Hutt intercepts an outlet at the Seattle blueline and goes in alone, beating DeSerres five hole on a backhand move.

Penalties:

04:15 – S – Mike Krgovich (Instigating, Fighting, 10 Minute Misconduct, Game Misconduct); 04:15 – P – Luke Walker (Fighting); 04:42 – P – Brad Ross (Interference); 04:42 – S – Devon LeBlanc (Diving); 11:37 – S – Chance Lund (Checking From Behind Major, Game Misconduct); 19:28 – S – David Richard (Hooking)

Shots on goal:

Portland – 8 – 18 – 18 — 44

Seattle – 8 – 8 – 7 — 23

Saves:

Portland – Mucha 9 of 13 in 30:41; White 10 of 10 in 28:09

Seattle – DeSerres 41 of 44 in 60:00

Power Plays:

Portland – 1 for 8

Seattle – 1 for 3

Referee – Sean Raphael

Hawks vs. Chiefs…Hawks 5-3 Final…

Game 2 of the preseason…one injury to report…Chris Francis went awkward into the boards yesterday and suffered a slight upper body injury.  He’s OK, but they are going to sit him the rest of the weekend.

Line-ups:

Portland:

Brad Ross – Colin Reddin – Killian Hutt

Riley Boychuk – Luke Walker – Ty Rattie

Oliver Gabriel – Kyzen Loo – Nick Dietrich

Matt Schmermund – Taylor Peters – Teal Burns

Defense:

Scott Gabriel – Travis Bobbee

Brett Ponich – Tyler Wotherspoon

Travis Ehrhardt – Joe Morrow

Goaltenders:

Jordan White – Keith Hamilton

Scratches:

Chris Francis, Bryon Maxwell, Ryan Andersen, Troy Rutkowski, Brock Cornish, Mandeep Nijjar, David Watt, Kurtis Mucha

Spokane:

Levko Koper – Steve Kahn – Mitch Holmberg

David Conrad – Mitch Wahl – Brady Brassart

Mike Betz – Tyler Johnson – Blake Gal

T.C. Cratsenberg – Mike Aviani – Justin McCrae

Defense:

Jared Cowan – Tanner Mort

Cory Baldwin – Stefan Ulmer

Brenden Kitchon – Jared Spurgeon

Goaltenders:

Alex Wright – James Reid

Scratches:

Dustin Tokarski, Trevor Glass, Mike Reddington, Brett Bartman, Ryan Letts, Justin Falk, Dustin Donaghy, Seth Compton, Anthony Bardaro

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

09:17 – S – Mike Aviani (Justin McCrae, Mike Betz) PP – After Portland killed the first part of a 5 on 3, McCrae throws it to Aviani behind the net, his wraparound is stopped by Jordan White, but the rebound is loose and Aviani tips it just inside the post.

Penalties:

06:52 – P – Travis Bobbee (Hooking); 08:14 – P – Brett Ponich (Slashing); 11:39 – P – Taylor Peters (Roughing); 15:04 – S – Tanner Mort (hooking); 15:04 – P – Scott Gabriel (Boarding)

2nd Period:

00:19 – P – Travis Ehrhardt (Ty Rattie, Riley Boychuk) – A good forecheck shift to start the period with the puck coming back to Ehrhardt at the right point, he skates along the line to the center of the ice and fires a low hard wrister through a screen that beats Wright to the stick side.

07:13 – P – Colin Reddin (Unassisted) – Brad Ross forces Jared Cowan to cough it up at his own blue line and Reddin walks in alone and undresses Wright with a move to the forehand for the roof shot.

08:32 – S – Tyler Johnson (Unassisted) – Portland can’t clear the zone and Johnson picks up a loose puck and from the faceoff dot beats White with a tremendous wrister over the glove.

Penalties: 

02:16 – S – T.C. Cratsenberg (Charging); 02:38 – P – Scott Gabriel (Hooking); 03:27 – S – Tanner Mort (Holding); 13:55 – P – Brett Ponich (Interference); 15:42 – P – Joe Morrow (Cross-Check); 15:42 – P – Travis Ehrhardt (Unsportsmanlike Conduct); 15:42 – S – Mitch Wahl (Unsportsmanlike Conduct)

Third Period:

03:55 – S – T.C. Cratsenberg (Mike Aviani, Justin McCrae) – Aviani with the entry shot, rebound kicks to Cratsenberg and he puts it in the open side.

09:22 – P – Killian Hutt (Colin Reddin, Brad Ross) – Ross with another nice board play finds Reddin in the slot, a nice tip pass to Hutt who rifles a wrister top corner over the glove.

11:08 – P – Oliver Gabriel (Unassisted) – Nick Dietrich with a solid forecheck creates a bad pass that Gabriel intercepts in the corner and a nifty move to the front with the backhand slips through the pads of Wright.

18:27 – P – Killian Hutt (Colin Reddin, Brad Ross) PP – Ross with the entry shot, Reddin tips the rebound to Hutt at the weak side and he finds the open net.

Penalties:

14:34 – P – Killian Hutt (Goaltender Interference); 18:03 – S – Jared Spurgeon (Interference); 18:40 – P – Colin Reddin (Double MInor Check From Behind); 18:40 – S- Cory Baldwin (Cross Check)

Shots on Goal:

Portland – 3 – 10 – 13 – 26

Spokane – 21 – 12- 24 – 57

Saves:

Portland:  White 27 of 29 in 29:39; Hamilton 27 of 28 in 30:21

Spokane:  Wright 21 of 26 in 59:00

Power Plays:

Portland – 1 for 3

Spokane 1 for 6

Referee:  Sean Raphael

Hawks vs. Ams…6-2 TC Final….

Due to an older roster being sent to Everett, I may be the only person who knows the actual Hawks roster (I’ll make sure it gets corrected for tomorrow):

Hawks lines:

Brad Ross – Colin Reddin – Ty Rattie

Luke Walker – Kyzen Loo – Bryon Maxwell

Oliver Gabriel – Teal Burns – Killian Hutt

Nick Dietrich – Chris Francis – Taylor Peters

Defense Pairs:

Joe Morrow – Brock Cornish

Mandeep Nijjar – Tyler Wotherspoon

Troy Rutkowski – David Watt

In goal – Kurtis Mucha/Keith Hamilton

Scoring:

00:52 – T – Justin Feser (Lane Werbowski, Kruise Reddick) – Reddick back to the point, Werbowski fires a slapper wide of the net.  End board rebound kicks to Feser side of the net for a wrister.

04:31 – T – Kruise Reddick (Unassisted) – Loose puck in the goalmouth and Reddick slams it through the pads of Mucha.

Penalties:  04:55 P – Colin Reddin (Holding); 08:52 – P – Oliver Gabriel (Tripping); 15:13 – T – Johnny Lazo (Tripping)

Second Period:

14:13 – T – Brock Zimak (Tanner Olstad) – Olstad with a wrister in front that is knocked down by the defense, but the loose puck goes to Zimak and he slips a backhand over Hamilton.

16:09 – T – Kruise Reddick (Lane Werbowski, Joel Ridgeway) – Werbowski from the top of the right circle finds an open Reddick on the back-door for an easy tip-in.

18:45 – P – Ty Rattie (Colin Reddin, Brad Ross) – Ross makes a nice board play to spring Reddin and Rattie on a 2-on-1.  Reddin slips a pass through the d-man to Rattie who walks in alone and buries a nice backhander top corner.

Penalties:  3:34 – P – Ty Rattie (Hooking); 7:31 – P – Luke Walker (Slashing); 11:08 – T – Justin Feser (Hooking)

Third Period:

07:07 – T – Kruise Reddick (Mitch McColm) – McColm with the stretch pass to Reddick at the Hawks line, holds off Brock Cornish and finishes top shelf.

09:00 – P – Colin Reddin (Killian Hutt, Mandeep Nijjar) – Nijjars entry shot blocked to the side wall where Hutt finds Reddin going down the slot and his wrister slides under Owsley.

14:05 – T – Brooks Macek (Kruise Reddick) SH – Hawks get caught on a long power play shift and Reddick breaks Macek free, a nice move through Reddin and another top shelf finish.

Penalties:  02:27 – T – Brett Plouffe (Slashing); 11:34 – T – Brooks Macek (Interference); 12:36 -T – Tyler Schmidt (Diving)

 

Shots:

Portland – 7 – 6 – 9 — 22

Tri City – 9 – 19 – 8 – 36

Saves:

Portland – Mucha 18 of 20 in 30:31; Hamilton 12 of 16 in 29:29

Tri City – Birch 7 of 7 in 20:00; Martyniuk 5 of 6 in 20:00; Owsley 8 of 9 in 20:00

Power Plays:

Portland – 0 for 5

Tri City – 0 for 4

Referee – Trevor Hansen

Everett Tourney Roster…

The Portland Winter Hawks will take 28 players to participate in the Everett Preseason Tournament:

Goaltenders (3):  Keith Hamilton (92), Kurtis Mucha (89), Jordan White (88 )

Defenseman (10):  Travis Bobbee (90), Brock Cornish (89), Travis Ehrhardt (89), Scott Gabriel (88), Joe Morrow (92), Mandeep Nijjar (89), Brett Ponich (91), Troy Rutkowski (92),  David Watt (91), Tyler Wotherspoon (93)

Forwards (15):  Ryan Andersen (90), Riley Boychuk (91), Teal Burns (92), Nick Dietrich (89), Chris Francis (89), Oliver Gabriel (91), Killian Hutt (91), Kyzen Loo (92), Bryon Maxwell (91), Taylor Peters (92), Ty Rattie (93), Colin Reddin (90), Brad Ross (92), Matt Schmermund (88), Luke Walker (90)

This list doesn’t include Ryan Kerr or Lee Morrow who are still with the team but won’t participate due to injury.  Also, it does not include Radim Valchar who will return to Portland later this weekend.

I will have full game updates after each game this weekend.

Tonights Scrimmage Cancelled…

If you didn’t catch it at www.winterhawks.com, tonights scrimmage has been cancelled so the Hawks Coaching Staff and Management can take that time to meet with the individual players that took part in the training camp for the past few days.

Preseason starts tomorrow afternoon and I’ll have updates from Everett all weekend.

Rattie Signs…

As announced on www.winterhawks.com, the Portland Winter Hawks have signed their First Round, #2 overall, 2008 WHL Bantam Draft choice Ty Rattie to a WHL Education Agreement and Rattie will accompany the Hawks to the preseason tournament in Everett starting on Friday.

The Airdrie, AB, native won’t be eligible to play for the Hawks full-time until the 2009-10 season.

After leading the Alberta Bantam Hockey League in goals (75) and scoring last year, Rattie has come into Hawks training camp and hasn’t looked out of place although he is just 15. 

Welcome to the Hawks, Ty…

—

Tonight I am in Richmond, BC, and I had the opportunity to head to Ladner and watch the Vancouver Giants Alumni Game tonight.  (It is called the Alumni Game, because Giant alums Brett Festerling, Chad Scharff, Milan Lucic and Spencer Machacek ran the benches, while the prospective Giant players for 2008-09 actually played.)

Team Black (coached by Festerling/Scharff) defeated Team White (coached by Lucic/Machacek) 4-2.  All the goals were scored in the second period. 

Offensively, it wasn’t an overly pretty game to watch, but that is what I expect from the Giants this year.  I expect them to be very strong in goal (provided Tyson Sexsmith returns from San Jose, which he should) and on the blue line, but I don’t think they are going to score a lot of pretty goals.  They are losing a lot of forward production, and it could take another hit if Casey Pierro-Zabotel has a good enough camp in Pittsburgh and he winds up in the AHL as a 20 year old.

As a side note – it was nice to talk with Steve Ewen from the Vancouver Province and Dave Sheldon, the new radio voice of the Giants.   Also good to talk with Bill Wilms, from Shaw TV and the color analyst on Giant games.

—

I return home tomorrow evening, and then turn around and head back to Everett with the family for the tournament this weekend.

Hope to see a lot of folks in Everett…

Greetings from Seattle…

No…I didn’t get traded, just up here running a seminar for my real job.  Right now, one of my AE’s is showing the auto-cluster feature in our PCB Design Software.  Believe me, it is a lot more interesting than it sounds!

Last night was my last chance to see the Winter Hawks training camp and I didn’t leave disappointed.  There are a lot of players trying to make their mark and leave an impression with the Hawks Coaching Staff and Scouts.  It is making for some high tempo scrimmages and the play wasn’t near as ragged as it could be for the just second day of on-ice action.

There was a good turn-out of Hawks fans at Mt. View last night and it was great to talk to a lot of you.  The most asked question was “who is #21 for Burgundy?”.  Well, it was none other than former Kamloops Blazer and Everett Silvertip forward Moises Gutierrez.  He is good friends with former Hawk Brandon Dubinsky, who is also in town taking part in the scrimmages.  Gutierrez played mainly for the Texas Wildcatters in the ECHL last season.

As far as the Hawks go, I spent a lot of the night watching a couple guys who were on the Hawks roster last year, but saw little or no time – Riley Boychuk and Brock Cornish.  Both looked solid, even with Boychuk nursing a bruised ankle.  He looks bigger and stronger and he had a couple hard wristers.  He did pick up a goal on a goal mouth scramble, as well.  Cornish has been very good in the times that I have seen him.  He is very confident with the puck and uses his speed well to get in the right position.  He isn’t the biggest guy, but he has been strong in front of his own net.  Both should be guys to watch this season.

On the 1992 front, I have been very impressed with the strong play of Brad Ross.  He is very good on the boards and always seems to come away with the puck in the board battles.  He also scored a nifty breakaway goal, roofing a backhand from the top of the crease.  From talking to his Dad, he spent a lot of time working with former NHL’er Mikko Makela, who was once Head Coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, on finishing scoring opportunities. 

Also, Taylor Peters has shown a knack for burying breakaway opportunities, and he isn’t doing anything fancy.  He approaches straight on, and just fires a wrister.  No style points, but if the puck goes in, who cares?  I’ve seen him on two breakways and one penalty shot, and he was three-for-three.

On the back-end, Troy Rutkowski, Joe Morrow and Matt Maleschuk have all shown themselves very well in the times that I’ve seen them.  It is going to make for some very interesting decisions for the Coaching staff on who is still there come opening night.

I heard a lot of people questioning why the Hawks traded Tristan King for Killian Hutt.  Well…so far, Hutt has shown why.  I liked King a lot, but King very rarely got to the front of the net, choosing to stay on the perimeter of the play.  Hutt has made a living in the past two days at the front of the net and he has shown the scoring touch when he is there.  Hutt is small in stature, but big in talent. 

Lastly, coming into camp, I knew very little about the Hawks goaltenders (other than Kurtis Mucha, Jordan White and Keith Hamilton).   I have been very impressed with Jared Kelly, Richie Hubbell, J.P. Chapman, Zach Perehudoff and Corbin Boes.  They all have different styles, but all have shown tremendous instincts and battle in the crease.

— A couple roster notes:

There were two players that were  on the original roster for the camp that didn’t attend – Anthony Petruzzelli and Scott Schwartzman. 

Also, for Team Burgundy, if you have the roster – Oliver Gabriel is number 7, not 17 and Rafael Widmar is number 6, not 16.

My next report will most likely be from Everett later this weekend as the pre-season games begin on Friday afternoon.