Winterhawks' Announce Preseason Schedule

Portland and Everett face each other multiple times in the preseason

There were no big surprises as the Hawks announced their six-game preseason schedule.

As usual, it begins with a three-game stint at the Everett Silvertips' preseason tourney and then continues with three more games in Kennewick at Tri-Cities' annual tournament.

Here is the schedule:

Date	Time	Opponent	Location
Fri 9/2	11:30am	Vs. Tri-City	Xfinity Arena, Everett
Saturday 9/3	11:30am	Vs. Spokane	Xfinity Arena, Everett
Sunday 9/4	7pm	Vs. Everett	Xfinity Arena, Everett
Thursday 9/8	3pm	Vs. Everett	Toyota Center, Kennewick
Friday 9/9	11am	Vs. Prince George	Toyota Center, Kennewick
Saturday 9/10	11am	Vs. Kootenay	Toyota Center, Kennewick

Notes:

-No home preseason games yet again for the Hawks, who have not played a preseason game at home in quite some time. Last season a home date vs. Everett at the Winterhawks' Skating Center fell through (the hole in the ceiling? Hah!) after the venue could not be prepared in time. 

-Everett continues to be Portland's most common preseason opponent as they are the only team that Portland will take on twice this year. Counting the game that had to be moved to Everett, the Hawks took on the Tips three times last preseason. 

-Despite being their closest rivals, the Hawks have not taken on the Seattle Thunderbirds in the preseason since 2013.

-In their last three preseason openers, Portland has won 7-2, 7-5 and 6-1, all over the Spokane Chiefs.

-We still have not received a regular season opening date, but it would be fair to guess that it will likely be 9/23 or 9/24. This would give them a full two weeks to get a closer look in practices and narrow down the roster to start the season.

-This year, it certainly appears that the only player who will certainly be gone for part of the preseason and part of the regular season due to being at NHL camp is Caleb Jones. If Brendan De Jong is drafted this coming weekend, he could miss part of the season too, though certainly not as much as Jones.

-I will, once again, be attending the Everett tournament and will bring you a lot more content on roster possibilities and more after seeing the games up there.