Hutt Dealt to Regina…

The Portland Winterhawks traded 18 year old forward Killian Hutt to the Regina Pats for a 4th Round pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft and a conditional pick in the 2011 Bantam Draft.

Hutt played one year in Portland after being acquired from Medicine Hat in exchange for Tristan King.  He posted 13-22-35 in 57 games as a rookie forward.

Hutt was not on the active roster after leaving the team during training camp.

I wish Killian the best of luck with the Pats as he continues his WHL career.

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September Done…Tough October Looms…

A good opening weekend at home for your Portland Winterhawks as they get back-to-back dominating wins over Seattle (6-1 on Saturday) and Prince George (5-1 last night).

Joe Morrow (pictured left…picture stolen…err…borrowed from Bryan Heim’s Facebook page…thanks Bryan!) scored his first career WHL goal last night in the third period to go with an assist as the balanced Hawks continue to put up lofty numbers early in the season.

To see the numbers in detail…click on The Hawks Nest link over on the left.

Now the work begins…

The September schedule was against a couple opponents in Seattle (two games) and Prince George that are expected to finish down in the Western Conference standings and one game against Tri City, who is better than I expected them to be after their personnel losses from last year.

The Hawks did what they were supposed to do against Seattle and PG, winning all three games by a margin of 16-2.  The game in Tri City on Friday night was winnable as well, if not for a 10 minute second period lapse that saw the Ams score three times.

October, on paper, looks to be a much different story…

There are 14 games in October…11 on the road.  It starts tough this weekend with game in Spokane (2-0-1-0) on Friday night and Kamloops (3-1-0-0) on Sunday.  Both opponents should provide stiff competition and will be a good test for the young Hawks.

Add in two road games against Everett, one more with Spokane and then the Central Swing and it is daunting indeed.

The Hawks home games aren’t a cake walk either…Tri City, Prince Albert and Brandon…where the Hawks are on November 1st will give a good idea if this team is a contender in 2009-10 or not.   Personally, I like the make-up and mentality of this team.  They all seem to have a “take no prisoners” outlook and they all want to make up for the past three years, even if they weren’t here to witness it.

It’s going to be an interesting ride…I am so looking forward to it.

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Cougs In Town…

The Portland Winterhawks will finish out their first three games in three nights stretch of the 2009-10 season when they host the Prince George Cougars tonight at 5:00 PM at the MC.

The Hawks coming in off the five goal third period explosion that led to the 6-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds at the home opener.  It took a while to get the offense rolling, but once it did…Seattle had no answer.

The line of Stefan Schneider, Riley Boychuk and Tayler Jordan set the tone all game, playing phsyical and they got rewarded late in the game with a couple goals, including a premier power forward move by Boychuk to drive from the corner and slamming it home while holding off a defender.

The common theme of the Hawks this year has been balance and that continues as six different players scored last night.  In fact, in the three games this season, 20 players have hit the ice (including two goaltenders) and 17 of the 20 have at least one point.

Kurtis Mucha returned and was steady making 17 saves and picking up his sixth career assist.  Contrary to the announcement on the breakaway goal by Jacob Berglund…it was Taylor Aronson who made the long outlet pass to spring Berglund, not Mucha, and that has been corrected on the scoresheet.

I know its early, but its nice to see Mucha at the top of the goaltender stats in goals against average and save percentage and Daniel Johnston and Troy Rutkowski at the top of the plus/minus stats at +7 on the WHL site.

Johnston now has back-to-back two assist games and has taken over the team lead in points from defensemen.

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For the Cougars, they come in off a 7-6 win over the Chilliwack Bruins last night.   They drove to Portland after the game, arriving probably around 3:30 AM.

The Cougars are led by 17 year old forward Brett Connolly, the reigning WHL Rookie of the Year.  He had a hat trick last night in Chilliwack.

The two teams met in preseason with the Hawks winning in a shootout at the Everett tournament by a score of 6-5 despite out-shooting the Cougars 62-26.

Game time is 5:00 and Todd and I will be back on our normal station 970 AM with the pregame show at 4:40.

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At the MC…

Prepping for the home opener…don’t forget tonights game will be on AM 910 KTRO in the Portland/Metro region and on AM 1390 KWOD in Salem.

Even though the Hawks left Tri City with a 4-3 loss last night, it was good to see the team rebound from a 3-1 second period deficit to tie the game halfway through the third.  A late power play against and Tri City’s top line of Adam Hughesman, Brendan Shinnimin and Johnny Lazo capped off a great night for them to ge the deciding goal.

Luke Walker got the hat trick last night and probably had two or three other great chances to bury it.  If the Hawks keep generating the scoring chances they generated last night, they will come out on top more often than not.

I thought the Americans played well, using their speed to create opportunities and they put enough pressure on to create chances.  Ian Curtis and Drew Owsley both made big saves at different times to keep their teams in the game.   Owsley when Portland was up 1-0 early in the second and Curtis’ with his team down late in the second.

Tonight, the Hawks take on Seattle, a team they already knocked down 5-0 last weekend in Kent.  There will be extra emotions with the home opener and the Hawks will need to manage those emotions and come out early with pressure and force Seattle to work for every thing.

Puck drops in a little over two hours…I’m ready…are you?

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Portland/Tri City Rosters/Scratches:

For tonight:

Portland Winterhawks:

Goaltenders:

Ian Curtis (starter); Kurtis Mucha

Defensemen:

Brett Ponich – Travis Bobbee

Troy Rutkowski – Taylor Aronson

Joe Morrow – Daniel Johnston

Forwards:

Spencer Bennett – Chris Francis – Luke Walker

Oliver Gabriel – Stefan Schneider – Tayler Jordan

Brad Ross – Ryan Johansen – Nino Niederreiter

Riley Boychuk – Jacob Berglund – Colin Reddin

Scratches:

Keith Hamilton, Ty Rattie, Seth Swenson, Gasper Kopitar, Tyler Wotherspoon, David Watt, Taylor Peters

Tri City Americans:

Goaltenders:

Drew Owsley (Starter) – Brett Martyniuk

Defensemen:

Tyler Schmidt – Jarret Toll

Brock Sutherland – Brett Plouffe

Riley McIntosh – Lane Werbowski

Forwards:

Adam Hughesman – Brendan Shinnimin – Johnny Lazo

Justin Feser – Kruise Reddick – Sergei Drozd

Brooks Macek – Neal Prokop – Jordan Messier

Spencer Asuchak – Mason Wilgosh – Nils Moser

Scratches:

Alexander Pechurski, Drydn Dow, Spencer Humphries, Max Moline, Zachary Yuen, Zach McPhee, Tanner Olstad, Patrick Holland

Referee: Pat Smith

Linesmen: Jason Michelbook, Nathan Van Oosten

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Tri City Upgrades Locker Room…

The road locker room at the Toyota Center hasn’t been the most luxurious place to be in recent years (if ever) but to the credit of the Tri City Americans and the Toyota Center, there have been major upgrades done and the Hawks will be the first team to enjoy the improvements on Friday night.

Here are some photos, courtesy of Ams Broadcaster Craig West:

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Also, Radim Valchar stopped by and posted this comment in an earlier post…thought I would share:

Thanks everyone for support in my last 2 season….Thanks for everything.Great fans I will miss you all.

Knock ’em dead in Lethbridge, Radim…once a Hawk, always a Hawk…

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Radio Update For Saturday…

Due to scheduling conflicts, the Hawks home opener on Saturday night will not be carried on Freedom 970 AM.  The game will be broadcast live on 910 KTRO in Portland and simulcast on 1390 KWOD in Salem.   Our thanks to Entercom Radio for their assistance in allowing this game to be aired live in the Portland Metro area.

Our pre-game show will be on at the normal time of 6:40 on these two stations.

Please note that the only Internet streaming of this game will be via the WHL Livestream Internet Video Broadcast as neither 910 nor 1390 provide online streaming of their stations.  For more information, click here.

In any case, you should really get your tickets and be at the Coliseum on Saturday…come see the new look and exciting Winterhawks in person…I think you’ll like what you see!!!

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Mucha Returns/Spoke News…

The news started trickling out of Edmonton yesterday that Kurtis Mucha was on his way back to Portland after an extended stint in the training camp of the Edmonton Oilers.

The Winterhawks confirmed the news today that Mucha will indeed be back for his fifth season between the pipes for the Hawks.

It also should be noted that his was Mucha’s decision to report to Portland.  He had the opportunity to try and earn a minor league contract in the Oiler system but he chose to come back to Portland and put an exclamation point on his WHL career.

Mucha’s career has been well documented with being the most recognized name on three years worth of teams that just weren’t very good in front of him.

It appears that the 2009-10 edition of the Winterhawks are a team to be reckoned with in the Western Conference and Mucha just may be the final piece to leading this team on what will hopefully be a long playoff run in the spring.  It’s early to have that discussion…but just being able to consider it now is a step in the right direction for this franchise.

There are now decisions to be made with three goaltenders and four overagers left on the roster.   Stay tuned for that…

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The Beach is back in the U.S. Division…

The Spokane Chiefs made a fairly major move today, trading d-men Mike Reddington and Landon Oslanski to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for Kyle Beach, the ultra-talented loose cannon forward who causes more news for his actions than his play on most nights.

Beach, of course, started in Everett before being dealt to Lethbridge last year.

This is fairly ironic as a couple of Beach’s biggest battles came against the Chiefs, including the famous (or is that infamous?) Chris Bruton sucker punch of Beach in Spokane.

For me…I’m happier to see Reddington leave Spokane as he was a pain in the butt to play against physically and his departure may open more space in the offensive zone for the Hawks when they play the Chiefs.

The Hawks first game against Spokane with be on October 7th at the Spokane Arena.

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Valchar Prairie Bound…

It was inevitable that Radim Valchar was going to get dealt, the question was to where.

The answer came today with Valchar being traded to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Central Division.  Valchar should make his Hurricane debut on Friday against Red Deer.

Valchar is, simply put, a great kid.  Always smiling and working his tail off, whether it be on the ice or in the weight room.   He is a type of player you want on your roster and he was a pleasure to watch night in and night out the last two seasons.

He got caught in the numbers game as an overage import player.  With the addition of Nino Niederreiter (age 17) and Jacob Berglund (age 18), both of whom have shown their value already, it was evident that Radim, regardless of all he brought, was the odd man out due to his age and import status.

Valchar now gets a chance to be a top 6 guy with the Hurricanes and to hopefully lead them into the postseason where Valchar really wants to be.

I will miss the chats with Radim very much and I look forward to seeing him in Lethbridge when the Hawks play there in late October.

To Radim’s parents: Být zavázán tebe do naslouchání poslech až k náš relace.  (I hope that made sense…used an online translator!)

Štěstí Radim…

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Ian Curtis Nominated…

Buried in the player of the week article at www.whl.ca:

The WHL has also nominated Ian Curtis of the Portland Winterhawks for the ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week Award. On Saturday, September 19th, the Portland Winterhawks began their regular season schedule on the road as they visited the ShoWare Centre in Kent to face the Seattle Thunderbirds. Curtis stopped all 24 shots faced to record his first career shut-out as the Winterhawks downed the Thunderbirds 5-0.

Congrats Ian…

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