Portland Edges Regina 4-1, Then Wins Pivotal Game in Spokane 3-2

Portland 4 Regina 1:

Wednesday night in Portland, the Winterhawks played a surprisingly feisty affair with a team that they only match up with once a year. The Winterhawks pulled out a big 4-1 win, but lost Rodrigo Abols to concussion protocol in the game, after he taking two different hits to the head area.

Portland, once again gave up the first goal in the game in the first period. 13:48 into the game, Keegan Iverson turned over the puck in his own zone to Adam Berg, who found Adam Brooks in the slot. Brooks beat Adin Hill, extending his point streaks to 15-games.

The Hawks came close on several occasions, to tie the game in the second, but were turned away by goalie Jordan Hollett. The most noticeable chances were by Keegan Iverson, who had one shot stopped by a huge Hollett save and another that he missed wide, on an open net.

Portland finally tied the game in the third period when Abols made a nice pass to Dominic Turgeon in the slot and the captain trickled a shot through Hollett's pads. Just over three minutes after Turgeon's goal tied it, Keomi Texeira gave Portland the lead. Rihards Bukarts helped set up the goal, when he picked Regina d-man Connor Hobbs' pocket and fed an open Texeira for the goal. Regina pulled Hollett late in the game, but had it backfire as Skyler McKenzie scored two empty net goals, off of back-to-back defensive plays by Keegan Iverson set him up for both.

Hollett got the loss, despite playing well in stopping 23 of 25 shots. Adin Hill made the big saves when he needed to in stopping 34 of 35 shots for the win. Portland's power play came up with a goose egg again on three chances, but their penalty kill stopped all three Regina chances.


Game Stats:

 

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	BKS	PIM
Abols	0	1	1	0	2/3	66.6%	1	0	0
Turgeon	1	0	1	1	15/27	55.6%	3	0	0
Iverson	0	3	3	1	-	-	3	0	0
Bukarts	0	1	1	3	-	-	5	1	0
Glass	0	1	1	2	6/16	26.7%	4	0	0
Schoenborn	0	0	0	3	-	-	3	1	2
McKenzie	2	0	2	2	-	-	3	0	0
Overhardt	0	0	0	2	5/10	50%	1	0	0
Weinger	0	0	0	0	-	-	4	1	0
Clayton	0	0	0	2	-	-	1	0	0
Hughes	0	0	0	1	4/7	57.1%	0	0	0
Veloso	0	0	0	1	-	-	4	1	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	3	-	-	4	3	2
Dougherty	0	0	0	2	-	-	8	0	0
Jones	0	0	0	1	-	-	3	1	0
Texeira	1	0	1	2	-	-	3	6	0
MacEachern	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	0	0
De Jong	0	0	0	1	-	-	0	1	0

Notes:
-Hobbs' hit he threw on Abols was in Portland's corner and it appeared that he may have left his feet and made contact with Abols' mouth area. Oregonian write Scott Sepich has since discovered that Abols received a concussion on the hit and would need to miss several games, due to having to follow the WHL's concussion protocol. It seems likely that Abols may have been affected in some already, due to a flying elbow he received from Berg earlier in the game, that left him laying on the ice. Neither Berg nor, Hobbs were given penalties for their hits and in Hobb's case, his team actually ended the melee that followed with a power play after Alex Schoenborn was ruled to have instigated the fight that followed with Hobbs.
-It was thought that Schoenborn would end up getting suspended for a game for instigating a fight in the final five minutes of the game, but he was not. My thought is that the WHL decided that since the hit was not penalized and Hobbs was not suspended, they would overlook Schoenborn's actions. While the hit should have been penalized, I think not suspending either of them was probably the best course of action, given the circumstances.
-Schornborn was given 17 minutes of penalties, as was, Skyler McKenzie for a fight he was ruled to have instigated earlier in the game.
-It seems obvious that the WHL has decided to crack down on instigating fights after clean hits, as Portland has realized over the past seven games, where they've had four different players given game misconducts for instigating fights.



Portland 3 Spokane 2:

Going into a pivotal game Friday night in Spokane, trailing the Chiefs by only one point, Portland's Adin Hill helped them steal a game and take over third place in the U.S. Division.

Portland, yet again, gave up the first goal in the opening period. The Chiefs scored on a rather weak looking wrist shot from Evan Fiala at the blue line. It is likely that Adin Hill was screened on the shot by Kailer Yamamoto, who was skating by the front of the net. Unlike the previous game, Portland was able to tie the game pretty quickly as Dominic Turgeon poked a rebound past Spokane goalie Tyson Verhlest. Al;ex Schoenborn set the goal up for Portland, as he drove the net and fired a sneaky shot in on Verhelst that the goalie was not ready for. The juicy rebound came right out the Portland's captain for the easy goal. The Winterhawks, then took the lead while on a four-on-three power play. Defenseman Jack Dougherty jumped up into the play and made a fantastic pass to Portland rookie Cody Glass. Glass quickly went to the backhand and beat a surprised Verhelst for the 2-1 lead.

Spokane was able to tie the game, after sustaining pressure in the second period. They again scored off a shot from the blue line. This time Mason Sozanski's shot was tipped by Keanu Yamamoto and past Hill. Spokane controlled most of the play in the period, but still trailed after 40 minutes, as Portland surprise them with only 17 seconds left in the frame. Blake Heinrich, who had his head up, looking for a good pass, found Alex Schoenborn in behind the Chiefs' defense. The overage forward beat Verheslt on the blocker-side, giving Portland the lead, that they would win by.

Spokane had many great chances in the third period, including one, where a Markson Bechtold shot got to the Portland goal line but no further. Hill was able to reach out with his blocker and pull the puck back out. Bechtold had another brilliant chance later in the third, but was robbed by a sprawling Hill. It seems that Hill saves some of his best performances this year when playing Spokane.

Overall, Hill made 37 saves on 39 shots, giving him his second straight 34 plus save win. On the other end, Tyson Verhlest stopped 23 of 26 shots.

Portland's power play, finally got a goal and went 1/6, while their penalty kill stopped all four Spokane power plays.

Game Stats:

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	BKS	PIM
McKenzie	0	0	0	0	1/3	33.3%	2	1	0
Turgeon	1	0	1	2	11/28	39.3%	0	2	0
Iverson	0	0	0	3	-	-	4	1	0
Bukarts	0	1	1	4	-	-	1	0	0
Glass	1	0	1	3	7/12	58.3%	1	1	2
Schoenborn	1	1	2	3	-	-	3	1	0
Veloso	0	0	0	2	-	-	3	0	0
Overhardt	0	0	0	1	6/8	75%	3	0	5
Weinger	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	0	0
Clayton	0	0	0	0	-	-	1	0	0
Hughes	0	0	0	0	7/9	77.8%	0	2	2
Nagel	0	0	0	1	-	-	1	0	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	2	-	-	7	0	0
Dougherty	0	2	2	3	-	-	7	3	0
Jones	0	0	0	1	-	-	3	1	0
Texeira	0	1	1	0	-	-	5	0	0
MacEachern	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	1	0
De Jong	0	0	0	1	-	-	1	2	2

Notes:
-Markson Bechtold and Wyatt Johnson took the majority of face offs against Turgeon and they gave him one of his worst win percentages of the year. It seems that Turgeon has some of his worst performances at the draw, against U.S. Division centers. There is an argument there for those centers that he faces most often. figuring out his habits and techniques. However, I am not quite ready to jump to that conclusion. We will get plenty more chances over the rest of the year, to follow this.
-Portland's record against Spokane six games into their eight game season series is 5-0-1. Considering the one loss was one that Portland should not have let get away from them, this has been a season series that Portland has owned again this year (despite the fact that most of the games have been close).
-Rodrigo Abols missed his first game and had Skyler McKenzie fill in for him on the top line with Turgeon and Keegan Iverson. He did not have instant chemistry with the two and did not seem to be the same player. we've seen over the last few weeks. Caleb Jones took Abols' spot on the first-unit power play, which not only effects the chemistry of that unit, but also the second unit, where Jones acts as the quarterback.
-The breakaway pass that ended up winning the game for Portland is something that Heinrich and Schoenborn have tried on several occasions this season. It has not been successful until Friday night in Spokane. I like that they look for this paly as it combines Heinrich's underrated stretch pass skills with Schoenborn's underrated speed.

Winterhawks in the NHL:

Thursday 1/14:
-Ryan Johansen had one goal and two assists as Nashville still fell to Winnipeg in OT 5-4. Paul Guastad also had an assist in the loss for Nashville.

Winterhawks in the AHL:

Friday 1/15:
-Jason LaBarbera stopped only 17 of 21 shots and Taylor Leier had an assist as Lehigh Valley fell to Hershey 4-3.
-Taylor Aronson had an assist for Milwaukee in their 3-0 win over San Antonio. It was his first game since December 15th.

Winterhawks in the ECHL:

Thursday 1/14:
 -Daniel Johnston had a goal and an assist and William Wrenn notched an assist as Alaska beat Greenville 3-2.
Friday 1/15:
-Cam Reid notched an assist for Reading as they took down Elmira 4-0.
-Thomas Frazee had two assist for Atlanta and they beat South Carolina 4-1.