A busy weekend…games on Friday/Saturday and then back home for a swim meet on Sunday followed by a birthday celebration for my nephew (Happy Birthday, Keegan!) and then back to the pool today for the finals of the meet.
First off…for the Hawks…I guess it was only fitting that on “Nuclear Night” that the Hawks had a bit of a meltdown (get it? nuclear…meltdown…don’t forget to tip your waitresses, folks) in the first half of the first period against Tri City, falling behind 3-0. After that, I thought the team settled down a bit and were fairly even for large portions of the game, but the damage had been done by that point.
The Ams certainly have the Hawks number, having won six straight this season and the two teams will meet four more times before the end of the regular season, with three of those coming in Portland. Hopefully the Hawks can find a way to solve the Ams puzzle before the end of the season to gain some confidence heading into the postseason in case these two teams wind up playing each other at some point.
Right now, the race in the Western Conference comes down to Everett, Spokane and the Hawks fighting for 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the U.S. Division as it looks like right now, whichever teams finish 2nd or 3rd will have home ice advantage in the opening round. This one could go to the wire…
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If you have the NHL Network, you can watch Ryan Johansen, Nino Niederreiter, Brad Ross and Troy Rutkowski play in the CHL/NHL Top Prospect Game on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 PM. You can catch most of it before heading to the MC to watch the Hawks take on Kamloops at 7:00 PM.
Johansen, Ross and Rutkowski will all play for Team Cherry while Niederreiter will play for Team Orr.
On Tuesday night, there will be the skills challenge and the Hawks will take part in these events:
Hardest Shot: Ryan Johansen and Brad Ross
Shooting Accuracy: Troy Rutkowski
Showdown Breakaway Contest: Nino Niederreiter
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Now, if you’ll permit me to put on my proud father cap…my daughter Aiden was selected to represent her team in a very competitive dual meet at the Tualatin Hills Rec Center as her team, the Hillsboro Heat, selected the top 10 from each age group to take part in the meet. Aiden was ranked 9th out of the 10 and under group for her team and she had a great meet.
She did seven events over two days, setting five personal bests and she qualified for two finals (the top 10 moved to the finals from the first two days) today, one individual (100 yard butterfly) and one team relay (the 200 yard freestyle relay).
In her final today, she swam her heart out and set a personal best (dropping over three seconds in the same event she swam on Saturday) and also earned her first ever “A” standard time to qualify for the Oregon 10 and under State Championships in February.
Her ear-to-ear smile when she found out from her Coach was priceless and Mom and Dad are pretty proud of our little fish.
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After The Whistle 