Despite Hill making a few big stops early, Tri-City opened the scoring on Wednesday night in Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. After Alex Schoenborn was called for slashing Taylor Vickerman, Tri-City was able to convert on the power play. Portland's penalty kill, which had been solid recently, lost track of Jordan Topping back door and Topping was able to put the rebound of a Hill save off of Jack Dougherty and into the net. Dougherty and the Winterhawks responded 37 seconds later when he fired a shot in from the point off a strong cycle and the puck deflected off of Rodrigo Abols and past Evan Sarthou to tie the game.
Portland came out strong to start the second period and the energy line consisting of Alex Overhardt centering Colton Veloso and Skyler McKenzie is a big reason why. The trio got in on the forecheck and created some turnovers, leading to some scoring chances. One of these occurred when Overhardt got to a loose puck after Veloso had caused a turnover and fired it off Sarthou's left pad. Veloso found the rebound and put it in for his fourth goal of the season and his third in the last four games. The Hawks had responded well after the Americans first goal and they did the same after their second goal as well. Keegan Iverson stole the puck away from an American at center ice and Alex Schoenborn rushed the puck the other way. Dominic Turgeon received a pass form Schoenborn and fired a shot on net that appeared to be designed to create a rebound. The shot instead eluded Sarthou's left pad and found it's way into the net. Turgeon's goal was his seventh in the last six games and kept him going on his six-game goal scoring streak. He is scoring goals, even when he is not trying to at this point. The Hawks took a 3-1 lead, but it would not last through the game's second frame. That would be because, right after Portland killed off a full two minute five on three power play, Tri-City scored a controversial goal. The goal came when Maxwell James created a Hawks' turnover and Beau McCue beat Adin Hill glove side from the left face off dot area. Hill contested the goal heatedly as he claimed Tri-Cities' Morgan Geekie used his stick to move Hill's glove as the shot was coming in. After seeing the replay multiple times, I would tend to agree with him. Nonetheless, Tri-Cities' goal counted and the score was 3-2 heading to the third period.
Adin Hill stood his tallest in the last frame as he stopped all 23 Tri-City shots that were sent his way. The biggest among these was when Tri-City took advantage of two Portland defensemen colliding to start a three-on-zero rush towards Hill. Beau McCue received a perfect saucer pass backdoor and Hill slid over to his left getting enough on the shot with his shoulder to deflect the shot out of play. Shortly after this amazing save, Keoni Texeira utilized a Schoenborn screen of Sarthou to put his slap shot in for an insurance goal for Portland. Turgeon added another goal late as Tri-City pulled Sarthou for an extra-attacker. The empty netter was from nearly the full length of the ice after Texeira blocked a Tri-City shot and Turgeon found it on his backhand. The goal was Turgeon's ninth of the season (all within the last eight games).
 |
| Sarthou |
Sarthou gave up four goals on 30 shots he faced and Portland got 31 shots on net total counting the empty netter.
Portland's power play failed to convert on their two chances and is now 9/47 or 19.1% on the season (13th in the WHL). Tri-City had seven power play chances and converted on one of them with the Topping goal. Portland's penalty kill is now 51/61 for 83.6% (5th in the WHL). The Hawks got their first short-handed goal of the year from Turgeon on the empty netter as the Americans were skating with a six on four advantage.
Stats:
Player
|
Goals
|
Assists
|
Points
|
Shots
|
F/O
|
F/O %
|
Hits
|
B/S
|
PIM
|
Iverson
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
0/2
|
0%
|
4
|
1
|
2
|
Turgeon
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
21/32
|
65.6%
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
Schoenborn
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
-
| - | 7 | 0 | 6 |
Bittner
| 0 |
2
|
2
| 4 | - | - | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Abols | 1 |
0
| 1 | 6 | 7/12 |
58.3%
| 4 | 0 |
2
|
| Weinger | 0 |
0
| 0 | 2 | - | - | 7 |
0
|
0
|
McKenzie
|
0
|
0
|
0
| 0 | - | 0% | 6 |
1
|
2
|
| Overhardt | 0 |
1
|
1
| 1 | 3/9 |
33.3%
| 4 | 3 |
0
|
| Veloso | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
-
|
-
| 4 | 3 |
0
|
| Clayton |
0
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
-
|
-
| 1 |
0
| 0 |
Hughes
|
0
|
1
|
1
| 1 |
1/1
|
100%
| 3 |
1
|
2
|
Heinrich
|
0
|
0
|
0
| 2 |
-
|
-
| 2 |
3
|
2
|
| Dougherty |
0
|
1
|
1
| 0 |
-
|
-
| 7 | 5 |
2
|
| Jones |
0
| 1 |
1
| 0 |
-
|
-
| 6 |
2
| 0 |
| Texeira |
1
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
-
|
-
| 7 | 2 |
0
|
De Jong
|
0
|
1
|
1
| 0 |
-
|
-
| 2 | 1 | 0 |
MacEachern
|
0
|
0
|
0
| 0 |
-
|
-
| 1 | 0 |
0
|
| Czaikowski |
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
-
|
-
| 1 |
0
|
0
|
-Both teams were playing shorthanded with injuries and the U-17s starting this Friday. Portland was missing Cody Glass to the U-17s, while Tri City has Michael Rasmussen and Kyle Olson at that same event. Tri-City also has defensemen Brandon Carlo and Riley Hillis out injured along with new addition Jeff Rayman.
-Due to the injuries Parker Wotherspoon may've played 30 minutes of ice time for the Americans on the blue line.
-Portland's four-game winning streak is really impressive when you consider that they have been shorthanded 13 times more than they've had the man advantage over that four game span. This is not a trend that they will want to continue.
-Jamie Kompon's complaints to his players about taking dumb penalties may fall on deaf ears in regards to tonight's game though. In one sequence, Keegan Iverson checked a player near the Americans' bench and this started a melee involving Iverson, Alex Schoenborn and four T.C. players. Somehow the two Winterhawks were given penalties, while only one American was. Kompon was so irritated with the officiating over this that he received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and forced his team to play two full minutes of five-on-three play.
-During that penalty kill, Dominic Turgeon won three of four faceoffs. He won 21 total on the night which is a season high for him. Overall, Turgeon took more draws then all of his teammates combined. In 2011/12 Taylor Peters took a lot of draws for Portland and then left the ice. Turgeon is playing this same role, except he is staying on the ice for most of the kill.
-Colton Veloso continued his strong play, forcing turnovers deep in the Tri-City zone while on the PK and in one instance, creating a shorthanded chance while killing the penalty. He is starting to make an argument as one of the top three defensive forwards Portland has. Kompon obviously believes Turgeon and Paul Bittner are their best two defensive forwards, as they were both on the ice on the penalty kill, while holding onto a two goal lead late.
 |
| Bittner |
-Portland and Tri-City are starting to have a little animosity towards each other after playing against each other three times over 11 days. The Hawks next opponent, they've already played three times and will play them twice more before the weekend is over. The Hawks go to Everett on Friday and play the Silvertips Sunday night in Portland as well.
Winterhawks' News and Notes:
Adin Hill Plays Himself onto Team WHL:
-It turns out all that Adin Hill needed to do in order to receive notice from Team Canada, was receive WHL and CHL Goalie of the Week honors. Directly after recording two shutouts in three games, it was announced that he will be added to Team WHL for the series against Team Russia.
The games are in Kelowna and Kamloops on November ninth and tenth. Since he is not replacing Everett's Carter Hart or Moose Jaw's Zach Sawchenko, it can be assumed he will only play in one of these games. That will help as Portland has not rested Hill, since he returned from his injury and Coach Jamie Kompon seems to want to continue riding him. Portland plays at home vs. Kelowna on November sixth and seventh and then goes to Tri-City on the 12th, before returning home for a game on the 13th.
Putting that together, if Hill plays in all four of Portland's games, then he will likely play in five games over an eight day period. He has been the Hawks' most valuable player so far this season and Kompon has shown that he likes to ride his best players as much as possible. Hopefully, his health holds up for Portland's sake.
Notable WHL Scores:
Monday:
-The Edmonton Oil Kings continued their slide, losing in overtime to the Kootenay Ice 5-4. The Ice got the game winner from import forward Zak Zboroksy. Zborosky had four points in the game and now has 10 goals this year and 17 points in total.
Tuesday:
-Egor Babenko and Tyler Wong were both successful during the shootout and the Lethbridge Hurricanes traveled to Victoria and beat them 4-3. The Hurricanes are now off to a 9-2 start this season.
-Brandon took another five goal loss on the chin as the Seattle Thunderbirds blew them out 7-2. Keegan Kolesar had his first career hat trick in the win and now has nine goals this year. Both Scott Eansor (concussion) and Jamal Watson (leg injury) were hurt in the T-birds' win.
Wednesday:
-The Oil Kings, two nights after blowing a two-goal third period lead, were shut out be Prince Albert 4-0. The Oil Kings have now lost seven games in a row. Rylan Parenteau had 24 saves in the shutout win, while Austin Glover and Jesse Lees each had two points.
-Max Gerlach had two goals and an assist and Chad Butcher had three assists and the Medicine hat Tigers beat Spokane 6-2. The tigers scored three unanswered goals in the third period to pull away.
- Everett blew a 2-0 lead to Brandon and the Wheat Kings ended their two game skid with a 3-2 shootout win over the Tips. Reid Duke scored the game deciding shootout goal. Dario Winkler scored for Everett in his first game with the team. Interestingly enough, it came against his former team.
-The Kamloops Blazers chased Ty Edmonds with three first period goals and went on to beat Prince George 6-1. The Blazers got goals from six different players in the win.
-The Hurricnes snagged their 10th win already this season, beating Vancouver 5-2. Tyler Wong and Brayden Burke added to their season totals with three points apiece in the win. Burke currently sits tied for third in the WHL with 23 points, while Wong is 8th overall with 21.
Winterhawks in the NHL:
-Luca Sbisa scored his first goal of the season and it was assisted by Sven Baertschi, as Vancouver handed Montreal their first loss of the seaosn 5-1.
Tuesday:
-Joe Morrow scored his first goal of the seaosn and second of his NHL carrer as Boston blew out Arizona 6-0.
-Brandon Dubinsky had an assist an Columbus snagged their second win of the season, winning 3-1 over New Jersey.
-Nino Niederreiter assisted on the game tying goal and Minnesota went on to beat Edmonton 4-3.
Wednesday:
-Seth Jones had the secondary assist on the game winning goal and Paul Gaustad had the primary assist on Nashville's first goal in a 2-1 win over San Jose.
Winterhawks in the AHL:
Wednesday:
-Craig Cunningham scored his second goal of the season and Springfield beat Bridgeport 5-1.
-Taylor Leier had a goal and two assists for three points and Lehigh Valley put it to St. John's 5-1.
Winterhawks in the ECHL:
Tuesday:
-Anton Cederholm had another assist and now has two in his first three pro games as Kalamazoo beat Indy 4-3.
Wednesday:
-Cam Reid had two assists for Reading as they blew out Elmira 8-3.
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