Portland Winterhawks out hunting Giants

The Canadian Hockey League is our northern neighbor’s highest level of junior hockey and serves as an umbrella to its three members: the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, and Western Hockey League. The QMJHL, or “the Q” as it is commonly referred to, is the only league of the three with Canadian-only teams, while the OHL has teams in Pennsylvania and Michigan. The WHL, with 22 teams total, supports four teams in Washington, and one in Oregon: your Portland Winterhawks.

The Hawks have been a staple in Stumptown since 1976 after transitioning from their prior Edmonton, Alberta location, where known as the Oil Kings. That’s now 40 years of watching the likes of Marion Hossa, Paul Gaustad, Brenden Morrow and Adam Deadmarsh (among many others) graduate Portland’s Junior League team and then do great things in professional hockey.

Portland plays the majority of its home games with larger crowds at the Moda Center, while the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a more intimate venue, picks up the other share and offers a quite different fan experience. The latter is where the Winterhawks invited the Advocate to take in their game on Monday.

Portland played host to the Vancouver Giants (that’s Vancouver, British Columbia, not Washington) on MLK Day, a matinee 3 p.m. start time that has become a bit of tradition on select occasions. The unique open design features of the Coliseum allowed for a spot of sunshine in the mid-afternoon, a welcome sight on a rainy week in town. However, the unexpected light briefly pushed back the first puck-drop by a half hour, to prevent the glare on the ice from being a nuisance.

Vancouver had arrived in town bringing up the rear of their B.C. Division at 17-25, with 39 total points in the bank. The Winterhawks came in with 22 wins against 20 losses to go along with 46 points on the year, good for third place in the U.S. Division.

Able to move about the “Glass Palace” to gain the best vantage point, our Advocate team took in the first period from behind the home bench, getting a sense of the action from the players’ perspective.  Not much action in the first, though, as it seemed both clubs were sizing each other up, like a staring contest, just daring the other to blink.

It wasn’t until moving just above the Hawks’ offensive end (offensive goal) that we watched Portland captain Dominic Turgeon open the scoring 6:13 into the second period, set up beautifully in front of the net by winger Rihards Bukarts. Only 1:21 later, the Hawks doubled their lead after defenseman Blake Heinrich slammed home a rebound off Vancouver netminder Ryan Kubic. The Giants tallied their first goal after Matt Barberis rifled one in from the point, deflected by Taylor Crunk past Portland goalie Adin Hill at 13:30.

The 2-1 Portland lead would carry over into the third period as we set up shop at ice level, next to the Portland locker room entrance, with a killer view of the home net.

The home team would strike first at 5:48, when slick, 16-year-old Ryan Hughes split the Vancouver defense and beat Kubic high on the glove side. Barberis again got his club within one after scoring at 13:38, creating a tense atmosphere as the game was winding down. The Giants pulled their goalie with about a minute and a half left, sending out an extra attacker in an attempt to even the score. Portland’s defense was solid, however, and hung on to seal the victory. Portland was a perfect 2-for-2 in penalty killing on the day, and were 1-of-3 on their own power plays, the lone goal coming from Turgeon.

These “kids” (16-20 year-olds play in the CHL) grow up in the rink, constantly working, hoping to make it big one day just like NHL Hall of Famers Cam Neely and Mark Messier, also former Winterhawks. Currently nine Hawks have attended training camp with an affiliated National Hockey League team, with more eligible for the NHL professional draft soon.

It was a great overall experience, watching a close-knit club pour their hearts out on the ice. Portland next plays a home-and-home series against their rival Seattle Thunderbirds, first at the Moda Center tonight (Friday) before heading up to suburban Seattle (Kent, Wash.) on Saturday. Both games are slated for 7 p.m.

Advocate Staff