Everett-Portland Series Preview: Position Match Ups

The two teams have battled 10 times this year, with a lot of the games taking place in the early part of the season, when the Winterhawks were without some of their more experienced players.

We still did get several games with both teams near their best, which allows us to take a look at the positional match ups.

Forwards:
-Everett

Stadnyk

Left Wing Carson Stadnyk has been the Hawk killer this year. He has 6 goals and 10 assists for 16 points in the teams 10 games. Included among his goals is the over-time winner on February 8th, after he hurt his arm earlier in the game. Stadnyk does a lot of things well that work vs Portland's defense. He's a big enough frame that can find loose pucks around the net and he is also adept at tipping pucks past Goalies, another thing Portland's defense has struggled with. Ivan Nikolishin has 3 goals and 10 assists vs. Portland this year for 13 points and is the kind of puck possessing game-controller that usually wears a Portland jersey (as of late at least). It's going to be important for Portland's forwards to back-check and take away the amount of room he has to operate in the high slot, because if you give him enough room, you will pay or it. As their 3-OT series clinching Game 6 showed, Everett relies hevily on Kohl Bauml and Remi Laurencelle to Center their top 3 lines in some sort of combination, with Logan Aasman centering the 4th line. Bauml, particularly, as an over-age 200 foot playing type of player, will be a player Everett will rely heavily upon.

Laurencelle has been a great find, coming over from Lethbridge last year in exchange for a 6th round pick. He has fit right into Coach Kevin Constantine's system and has played well with Nikita Scherbak and Brayden Low as of late. It was his pressure on Spokane D-man Tamas Laday, that created the scoring opportunity for Low that won the series for Everett. Laurencelle is a great fore-checker that will try to force Portland's D-men into these types of pivotal mistakes.

Nikita Scherbak is an enigma this year for me. He sometimes showcases elite level talent (as shown in the video to the right), but then will seemingly disappear for some games. He has 7 points in 8 games vs Portland and somehow notched 24 penalty minutes. It's fair to say, I think that Portland has frustrated him this season at times. Scherbak often tries to take on defenders on one one and tries to make a slick play to get around them. Portland's D-men have been great at stick checking or physically moving him off the puck. Layne Viveiros specifically, has made many excellent plays on Scherbak this season. Scherbak also does not seem to want to win boards battles, even though he has the size (200 lbs) to do so. If he starts to use his size more and wins these battles, Portland could really have a difficult time in stopping him. As of yet, though, I just haven't seen him realize all of his talent.

Low, meanwhile is another forward that has shown great improvement. He has scored now in 4 straight games in the playoffs. It's great to see the former Winterhawk start to realize his talent, even if it is for a U.S. Division rival..
Depth forwards like Patrick Bajkov, Graham Millar and Dawson Leedahl have had good moments vs Portland this year, with Millar scoring 4 goals in the first couple of games. They will need to chip in scoring wise, in order for Everett to keep up with Portland's forward depth. Leedahl missed the last three games of the Spokane series with an unknown injury. It should also be noted that Leedahl injured Portland's Blake Heinrich in the preseason with a check from behind.

-Portland

Bjorkstrand

Another team that Oliver Bjorkstrand has abused in the U.S. Division. Bjorkstrand has 9 goals and 9 assists for 18 points in just 8 games played vs Everett. Linemates Nic Petan (14 points) and Paul Bittner (10 pts) have also succeeded as of late vs the Tips. In their most recent match up (March 11th), Everett did not seem to want to line match with Portland, the same way Seattle has with the Scott Eansor line and seemed to have faith that any of their lines could handle the burden. That did not work so well for them in that game as they lost 6-1. It will be really interesting what Constantine decides to do against Portland's top line, even defensively, as Portland got to put the Petan line vs Everett's bottom pairing of D-men consistently. If Everett decides to just roll out their lines and lets Portland pick and choose, even on home ice; the top line will get plenty of looks at Everett's net.

Chase De Leo is Portland's 3rd leading scorer against the Tips (13 pts) and will likely be playing with Keegan Iverson and Alex Schoenborn. Both Schoenborn and Iverson have played better, as of late and a lot of the credit for this should be aimed at De Leo. Because he plays with guys that are not quite as elite as Petan does, he often gets over-looked. I think that if Portland goes far in these playoffs it will be because of De Leo and his line. Schoenborn has an over-time winner vs Everett thsi year and will probably try to irritate Nikolishin and Scherbak, among others and create power plays for the Hawks.

Turgeon

Dominic Turgeon has been one Portland's most consistent players in the playoffs and centers an interesting line for Portland. On one hand you have the over-age sniper (Miles Koules) and on the other you have the 17 year old physical rookie. They do not just eat up minutes, but also put the defense on it's hees, when out there. With the big break between games 2 and 3, I would not look for Portland's 4th line (Skyler McKenzie-Alex Overhardt-Mitch Walter) to play all that much more then 2-3 minutes a game.

Edge: Portland

Defensemen:
-Everett

Juulsen

A lot of this is unknown as both Noah Juulsen and Tristen Pfeifer left Game 6 vs. Spokane with injuries and did not return. Juulsen would be the biggest loss of the two as is shown by the fact that he is Everett's 3rd leading scorer vs Portland this year with 10 points in 10 games. Juulsen came out of nowhere this year to provide Everett with a D-man who is not a liability in his own end and can also jump up into the play and create scoring opportunities. It was his shot that Standyk tipped home that won the game for Everett in OT last February. He also seems to have impacted his D-partner: Ben Betker in a positive way, much the same way Blake Heinrich has done to Keoni Texeira for Portland. Betker, who did not show much offensive ability prior to this year and was still drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, looks to shoot more which has led to 35 pts for the D-man this year.



MacDonald

The other main D-pairing for the Tips is 17 year old Kevin Davis and 19 year old Cole MacDonald. Davis is progressing the way you would expect for a first round (11th overall) Bantam Draft pick. Meanwhile, his partner was a list player, who certainly looked like nothing more than a 5/6/7 D-man going into this year. Constantine and co. have apparently had their affect this year though and MacDonald has had a breakout year, scoring 36 points and not missing a game all year to injury. The two D-men have been paired together for most of the year and do not seem to get caught out of position very often.

Tristen Pfeifer (if healthy), Lukas Skrumeda and Jordan Wharrie, should also get some ice time this series. Wharrie has often been dressed as a seventh D-man, but actually skated in a 4th line forward role. Skrumeda leads this group offensively vs. Portland with 2 points in the season series.

-Portland
Anton Cederholm has proven to be a workhorse in the playoffs this year for Portland. He logged over 42 minutes in Game 6 and with Josh Hanson's availability unknown with a possible injury, I would look for this workload to continue to be heavy (probably in the 24-26 minutes a game range). His ability to always seem to make the right play recently, makes this choice easier for the Hawks. His usual partner Layne Viveiros has looked better and better as the season has gone on and even though he has been replaced as Portland's power play quarter back by Adam Henry, he is the leading scorer vs Everett (among D-men) with 9 assists in 10 games. Defensively, Viveiros has played some of his best hockey vs Everett this year.

Heinrich

Keoni Texeira and Blake Heinrich have not added much this season offensively against Everett (7 points together), but have been very consistent in their own end recently and have stayed away from some of the mistakes that Everett relies upon for a lot of their offense. Heinrich may not always show up on the stats sheet but he is easily Portland's best outlet passer and this ability allows Portland's forwards to jump into the rush and establish control in the opponent's zone.

Adam Henry's added offense from the blue line has been a huge boon for Portland. He has 4 points in only 3 games agaisnt Everett and scored 2 goals in their last game. He exhibits such patience from the point in finding an open shooting lane, not allowing opponent's forwards to block his shot and send the rush the other way. His regular partner this post-season: Josh Hanson looked ot be laborign under some injury during Game 6 and could be replaced by 16 year old Brendan De Jong. Regardless of who plays in this role, I would not look for them to play much beyond 5-6 minutes a night, as Cederholm will be rotated into a double shift role on the 3rd pairing.

Edge: Everett (Portland if Juulsen and Pfeifer miss time)

Hart

Goalies:
-Everett
Carter Hart was incredible in the first round series win over Spokane and leads the WHL with a 1.68 GAA and 0.947 Save % in the playoffs. It's really hard to believe that he is only 16 years old. A lot of people questioned Constantine's decision in going with the 16 year old over the 19 year old Austin Lotz, who's had some great playoff performances. It's hard to question him now.

Hart, however, has really struggled against the Winterhawks. He has a 2-2-1-0 record with a 4.03 GAA and 0.874 Save %. He has been pulled three different times vs. Portland this year. Even though, Hart has played so well, you cannot ignore how much Portland has kind of had their way with him this year. Goaltending is such a mental game that if Portland gets an early goal on him in Game one, his confidence could be affected and the reins could end up with Austin Lotz.

Lotz's numbers vs. Portland look a little better (3-2, 3.67 GAA and 0.890 Save%), but his health and confidence have not been great towards the end of the season. Lotz will only see ice time, if Portland has already gotten to Hart and he has not shown enough this season, for me to think that he could turn a series back in Everett's favor.

-Portland
Adin Hill is the opposite of Hart in that he excelled in the season series, but has struggled a bit in the playoffs. Hill was 3-0-1-1 with a 2.55 GAA and 0.919 Save % in the season series and has a 3.18 GAA and 0.900 Save % in the playoffs. In Game 6 of the Seattle series, he looked more like himself though and exhibited confidence in cutting off shooting lanes.


Hill

Here's to hoping that Hill has gotten over his playoff jitters and is the guy to lead Portland to it's 5th straight Western Conference Final.

Edge: Portland
-Until Hart can prove that he can stop Portland at it's best, I have to go with Hill who has played wonderfully against Everett this year.


I will go into more keys to win and present my final prediction tomorrow.

Everett-Portland WHL Playoff History

While the Portland and Everett WHL Playoff history is not as storied and exciting as the ones Portland has had with Kamloops (13 series), Spokane (10) or Seattle (9 after this years), the three playoff match ups have been exciting in their own right. This years should be even more exciting as this is the very first time the teams have played each other outside the first round.

Lets take a look at the series history:

2004/05 First Round

-Everett wins series 4-3 with a 3-2 win in Portland in Game 7.
-It was an exciting series with 5 of the 7 games being decided by 1 goal, including two OT games.
-Ultimately Silvertips Goalie Mike Wall proved to be too hard to score on as he stopped 36 of 38 in the deciding game.
-Everett was led by future Boston Bruin Zach Hamill while Portland relied upon Captain and future Philadelphia Flyer and Tampa Bay Lightning D-man Braydon Coburn to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

2010/11 First Round
-Portland sweeps the Silvertips in 4 straight. Only 1 of the games was even close.
-The Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game 1 and never looked back in this series. The over-matched Tips only had future Columbus Blue Jacket Ryan Murray in their arsenal, while Portland had Ryan Johansen (a future teammate of Murray's), Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota), Sven Baertschi (Vancouver), Ty Rattie (St. Louis), Joe Morrow (Boston), Derrick Pouliot (Pittsburgh) and Crag Cunningham (Arizona) to counter with.

2012/13 First Round
-Austin Lotz stood on his head and stole two games, but Portland eventually got through and won 4 games to 2.
-Lotz was insane in this series, with 42 saves in one of his team's wins and 55 in the other.
-The Silvertips were once again over-matched and mostly felt surprised that they even were able to win two games in this series.

Not only does this series mark the first time the two teams have played past the first round, it's the first time since 2005 that the two teams seem to be on somewhat equal footing. We should be in for an interesting series.

Winterhawks Advance with a 5-4 OT Win/Game 6 Stats and Analysis

The Portland Winterhawks got an overtime snipe from Captain Nic Petan with just 59 seconds remaining in Over-Time and advanced past the Seattle Thunderbirds, winning the series 4 games to 2.


Portland withstood an early charge from Seattle and was able to obtain leads of: 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3, all of which Seattle was able to overcome. Unfortunately for Seattle, Portland's 4th lead of the night was the series winner. The Hawks were led by 2 points apiece from Miles Koules and Oliver Bjorkstrand.


Here are the stats I compiled for Portland's 5-4(OT) Game 6 Win:

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	29:15	3	N/A	6	1
Petan	32:53	4	23/38=60.5%	1	1
Bjorkstrand	33:24	6	N/A	4	0
Iverson	23:17	3	N/A	3	3
De Leo	27:30	7	20/31=64.5%	4	0
Schoenborn	21:39	2	N/A	6	1
Koules	21:13	6	0/1=0%	4	2
Turgeon	21:55	3	9/21=42.9%	6	1
Weinger	14:25	3	N/A	4	1
McKenzie	1:30	1	N/A	0	0
Overhardt	1:30	0	3/3=100%	0	0
Walter	1:24	1	N/A	1	0
Cederholm	42:07	2	N/A	17	4
Viveiros	23:22	0	N/A	5	2
Heinrich	32:30	1	N/A	9	2
Texeira	26:01	0	N/A	8	1
Henry	28:04	3	N/A	5	3
Hanson	3:29	0	N/A	1	0

Notes/Analysis:
-Cederholm logged a mammoth 42:07 of ice time in Game 6. He has to be very grateful that he did not have to play another game on Wednesday night (the if necessary Game 7. Late in the 3rd period and into the over-time, Portland was using a rotation that looked like this: Cederholm/Viveiros-Heinrich/Texeira-Cederholm/Henry. He was playing about 2 out of every 3 minutes late in the 3rd and OT.
-He also had an impressive 17 checks in the game, showing that even though he was playing a ton of minutes, he was still making life difficult for Seattle's forwards.
-Josh Hanson (the #6 D-man), skated his last shift a little before halfway through the 2nd period. Unfortunately for him, this was a long shift that saw him facing Shea Theodore one on one in his own zone. Theo went lateral, leaving Hanson stumbling and then backhanded a shot past Hill, getting Seattle within 1 at 3-2 and swinging the momentum. I tend to defend players who are at the end of their shift when they get beat badly, but apparently Jamie Kompon did not buy that excuse.
-It should be noted that Hanson may not have been 100% entering Game 6.
-Seattle's Calvin Spencer left this game with an apparent injury, severely limiting how physical Seattle's forwards could be. The T-birds were already without big bodies: Keegan Kolesar (injury) and Justin Hickman (season ending injury/no longer on roster) and could not afford missing another big forward. Portland won a lot more board battles then they probably would have had two of these three been available.
-Miles Koules not only notched his first goal of the series, he won a board battle and backhanded a feed to a charging Petan, setting up the game winning goal. Koules did not play well in the series' first 3 games and it's great to see the over-age forward finally hitting twine, rewarding his improving play. The goal he scored was off a great individual effort in which he swung around Seattle's Turner Ottenbreait and snuck a wrap-around past Taran Kozun.
-Koules has been clutch for Portland this season, notching an OT winner and assisting on 2 others now.
-Scott Eansor played so well for Seattle in the series and along with Shea Thodore were the two best T-birds in the series in my opinion. Eansor's speed really gave Portland trouble, leading to many breakaways for him. Eansor had 5 goals in the series, including 2 in game 6.
-Oliver Bjorkstrand only needed 8:53 to finally beat Taran Kozun. He added another off a physical play in the corner that led to a short side snipe and finished the series with 14 points.
-Alex Schoenborn is a fun player to follow around on the ice. He may not always have the puck on his stick but does the little things to irritate opposing players. During one period, he yanked on Barzal's jersey, slowing the speedy Center-man and then put a push in on Roberts Lipsbergs' back during a face-off, causing the Latvian forward to lose his cool. As long as, he can toe that line and not step over, picking up a penalty, an agitator like him is great to have in a playoff run.
-Blake Heinrich was solid for most of the game, however, he did commit two different minor penalties, one of which Seattle scored on. Seattle had been operating at 38.5% entering Game 6 on the power play, so it was not smart on the 19 year old to get caught out of position and take the penalties. Seattle ended the series, scoring 6 goals on 17 chances (35.3%).
-Adin Hill looks to have regained his form as he made several diving saves, including one where he pulled the puck right off the goal line. His aggressive play, also limited the great looks Seattle got. Hill ended up with 46 saves on 50 shots It was his first 40+ save performance since March 18th vs Spokane. Hill seems to be at his best when he is aggressive and though nit may not always look great, he is able to keep the puck out when it matters. A goalie like Hill can be hard for shooters to figure out.
-Nic Petan just seems to skate effortlessly out on the ice. He made a great charge into the Seattle zone leading to his goal, despite having already played 32 minutes in the game. He has now played nearly 80 games of post-season hockey. He has proven to be unflappable in the game's pivotal moments.


-Portland will start their second round series vs Everett at the Xfinity arena on Friday.


Elsewhere in the WHL:
-Everett eliminated Spokane in 6 games, after former Winterhawk Brayden Low scored in the 3rd over-time Tuesday night, giving them a 2-1 win.
-The game was the longest in Silvertip's history at 103:43.
-Everett lost two pivotal D-men in the game, when Noah Juulsen and Tristen Pfeifer both left with injuries. It is unknown, as of yet, how long they will be out, if at all.

Portland-Seattle First Round Series: Stats So Far

The Portland Winterhawks and Seattle thunderbirds meet up for Game 6 tonight with Portland hoping to eliminate the T-birds and move on to the 2nd round for the 6th straight year.

I have been collecting some stats over the first 5 games and have complied them in a table below:

Player	ATOI	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	Total Shots	Shooting %	Total Hits	Faceoff %
Bjorkstrand	UNK	3	7	10	+5	33	3/33=9%	31	1/1=100%
Petan	UNK	4	4	8	+4	21	4/21=19%	12	70/101=69.3%
De Leo	UNK	1	4	5	-4	23	1/23=4.3%	11	58/112=51.8%
Henry	UNK	2	2	4	0	14	2/14=14.3%	15	N/A
Iverson	UNK	2	2	4	+1	11	2/11=18.2%	26	N/A
Turgeon	UNK	3	0	3	+1	12	3/12=25%	12	48/80=60%
Bittner	UNK	2	1	3	-1	21	2/21=9.5%	26	1/3=33.3%
Weinger	UNK	1	2	3	+3	3	1/3=33.3%	29	N/A
Koules	UNK	0	3	3	0	18	0/18=0%	17	1/2=50%
Viveiros	UNK	0	3	3	-1	4	0/4=0%	16	N/A
Heinrich	UNK	1	1	2	+6	7	1/7=14.3%	33	N/A
Schoenborn	UNK	1	1	2	-3	7	1/7=14.3%	31	N/A
Texeira	UNK	0	2	2	+5	5	0/5=0%	33	N/A
Overhardt	UNK	1	0	1	+1	3	1/3=33.3%	7	13/17=76.5%
McKenzie	UNK	0	1	1	+2	1	0/1=0%	16	N/A
Cederholm	UNK	0	0	0	+3	10	0/10=0%	29	N/A
Hanson	UNK	0	0	0	0	2	0/2=0%	16	N/A
Walter	UNK	0	0	0	+1	0	0/0=0%	7	N/A

Analysis:
-Somewhat strange that Oliver Bjorkstrand is tied for 3rd overall in checks and tied for 1st among forwards (with Alex Schoenborn). It's something he started doing more of as the season was coming to a close and it's starting to look like more of a part of his game.

-The Defensive pairing of Blake Heinrich and Keoni Texeira are not surprising hit leaders (tied for team lead with 33). Both are players who like to give the open ice check, as well as, hits in the corners to make puck possession harder for Seattle's skilled forwards. They are also among the team leaders in +/- as well which could very well be related.
-The two players with 10 or more shots and no goals in the series are Anton Cederholm and Miles Koules. Cederholm showed a little more offensive ability as the season went on, but still gets a majority of his shots from distance or even as part of a dump in. All of Portland's D-men seem to be forcing it on net more, in order to keep the very good passing of Goalie Taran Kozun in check. Koules not scoring despite 18 shots on net is startling though. He struggled to get it going through the first three games, but certainly found his stride in Games 4 and 5, getting 8 shots on net total in those two games. If he continues to play well, there is no way that this goose egg stays in his goals column.
-Chase De Leo, number-wise appears to have struggled in the series so far. He is a -4, has barely won more than half of his draws and has only 1 goal on 23 total shots. Saying he has not performed well in this series, does not pass the eye test though as he is possessing the puck and really driving play at the Seattle end, despite getting matched up against Seattle's best Center-man: Mathew Barzal for most of his shifts.
-Alex Overhardt winning over 75% of his draws is a great sign as he will likely be moved up to either the 3rd or 2nd line Center role next season.
-Keegan Iverson has been on a tear recently, scoring 2 goals on only 11 shots in the 5 games. His one-timer in Game 5, could be a sign of increased scoring for the rest of this season and also next season.
-This year's Winterhawks team does not back down from the physical contact, as much as recent iterations did. Portland's physical play seems more like a part of their game and enables them to play with a little more room in the opponent's zone. When previous squads tried to get into the rough stuff it took them away from what they liked to do. It's unknown right now whether this type of play will eventually wear down Portland, but it certainly has helped them in this series.
-Game 6 goes tonight in Kent at 7:05 pm.

Portland Winterhawks 5 Seattle Thunderbirds 3: Game 5 Stats and Analysis

Led by 2 goals from Paul Bittner (his first goals of the series) and 3 points from Oliver Bjorkstrand, Portland jumped on Seattle early again; claiming a 2-0 lead before eventually holding off the T-birds 5-3 and taking a 3-2 lead in their best of 7 first round series.

Here are the stats I took for Saturday's 5-3 win:

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	UNK	5	N/A	5	3
Petan	UNK	2	16/24=66.7%	2	0
Bjorkstrand	UNK	10	N/A	8	0
Iverson	UNK	1	N/A	9	0
De Leo	UNK	1	8/23=34.8%	3	0
Schoenborn	UNK	1	N/A	8	0
Koules	UNK	5	N/A	3	1
Turgeon	UNK	2	7/11=63.6%	4	3
Weinger	UNK	1	N/A	5	1
McKenzie	UNK	0	N/A	1	0
Overhardt	UNK	1	1/2=50%	0	0
Walter	UNK	0	N/A	3	0
Cederholm	UNK	1	N/A	5	3
Viveiros	UNK	1	N/A	3	2
Heinrich	UNK	1	N/A	8	3
Texeira	UNK	0	N/A	6	1
Henry	UNK	3	N/A	2	3
Hanson	UNK	0	N/A	1	0

Notes/Analysis:
-Dominic Turgeon continues his solid play on both ends of the ice in this series. Though he was held scoreless in Game 5, he made 2 brilliant back-checking plays on Seattle forwards, taking away scoring opportunities. Like I've said before, Turgeon is a good 2 way player that is built for the playoffs.
-Due to the game being a back and forth rapid pace affair, taking away these chances was very important.

Heinrich

-Another player who has excelled in the playoffs, is Blake Heinrich. He's always been solid as an outlet passer (a valuable asset in Portland's system), but he has been much better at it in the playoffs. -Heinrich is a +6 in the 5 games with 2 points and though he is normally paired with Keoni Texeira, he formed a fantastic shutdown pair with Anton Cederholm late in the game. The 2 of them appear to have played the entire last 2 minutes of the game. If the Hawks have a late lead, I would look for this to be what Portland chooses to do late in games.
-Also, late in tight games, Nic Petan is Coach Jamie Kompon's go to faceoff guy. He took Portland's last 4 faceoffs, winning 2 of them.
-Oliver Bjorkstrand is really starting to look like himself again in this series. He now has 8 points in the last 2 games and he scored another empty net goal. 10 shots on goal for the Dane, not including one of the 5 posts that the Hawks hit in the game.
-Somehow Bjorkstrand has yet to beat Seattle's starting Goalie: Taran Kozun in the series. Kozun made one particularly impressive save on Bjokrstrand off his shoulder, that ended up on the top of the net. It's only a matter of time before Oliver gets on past him.
-Bjorkstrand and Nic Petan both look to have more room in the opponent's zone then they had through the first 3 games. A lot of this room, I would attribute to Paul Bittner. He's starting to use his size more in corner battles and in front of the net screening Kozun. Both of Bittner's 2 goals came in tight on the net, where his frame is very useful.

-Miles Koules is also playing a lot better. He tied for 2nd on the team in shots on goal which is about where he is normally. He also hit a post and had the puck bounce off of Kozun and nearly cross the line. Somehow Kozun came away with the save, keeping Koules without a goal in the series.
-Adam Henry appears to have taken Layne Viveiros' place as the QB on the first unit power play. This is a very smart move by Kompon as Henry has performed this task and is skilled at it. He was one of the league leaders in power play assists, before he was traded to Portland from Saskatoon.
-Henry scored on the power play but had the goal dis-allowed when the referees ruled that Bittner made incidental contact with Taran Kozun, taking away his "opportunity to make a save." The puck appeared to enter the net at nearly the same time as Kozun and Bittner made contact. To be completely honest, I was okay with the goal being dis-allowed, as long as this stays consistent in the series. Yes, Bittner did not mean to collide with Kozun and yes, Kozun was out of the net, but the WHL is making a strong effort to protect their goalies and this decision holds true with that effort.
-Overall, it's certainly starting to look like Portland took Seattle's best punch and it pushed them to play a more rugged, shot blocking, contact making, playoff brand of hockey.
-As long as Portland's top line continues to have room and is being complimented with secondary scoring, Seattle does not have the guns to keep up.

Editor's note: I should have some time on ice stats for Game 6, if time allows.

Portland- Seattle Game 4 Stats with Notes and Analysis

Game 4: Portland 8 @Seattle 5:
-Below are the stats that I collected for the Game 4: 8-5 Portland Winterhawks win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Oliver Bjorkstrand led the way with a 5 point night.

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	UNK	5	N/A	5	2
Petan	UNK	4	15/22=68.2%	1	0
Bjorkstrand	UNK	9	N/A	4	0
Iverson	UNK	3	N/A	0	0
De Leo	UNK	8	18/30=60%	2	0
Schoenborn	UNK	0	N/A	3	0
Koules	UNK	3	N/A	2	1
Turgeon	UNK	3	11/18=61.1%	2	0
Weinger	UNK	0	N/A	10	0
McKenzie	UNK	0	N/A	3	0
Overhardt	UNK	1	3/4=75%	4	1
Walter	UNK	0	N/A	2	0
Cederholm	UNK	1	N/A	8	2
Viveiros	UNK	0	N/A	2	2
Heinrich	UNK	0	N/A	11	1
Texeira	UNK	2	N/A	7	2
Henry	UNK	2	N/A	5	3
Hanson	UNK	0	N/A	5	1

Notes/Analysis:

-Portland jumped out on Seattle and as a whole finally found their offensive game Thursday night. Seattle did not seem ready for the pressure and their defensemen were nth eons victimized by turnovers, setting up scoring chances.
-The Hawks scored 2 quick goals only one of which was from someone you expected to score. I mentioned in my game 3 post that Chase De Leo had yet to notch a point in the series, yet he was one of Portland’s most consistent players. He scored an early goal by getting his own rebound and was the best player on the night as a whole. The other Winterhawk goal was scored when 4^th line Center Alex Overhardt forced a turnover during a line change and found a gap over Taran Kozun’s left shoulder from a sharp angle.
-This goal, as well as, the overall solid play from Overhardt-Skyler McKenzie-Mitch Walter has forced Jamie Kompon to play them more as a whole, rather than just mixing in McKenzie with the 3^rd line.
-Portland had 7 of the first 8 shots on goal and seemed to have way more energy than Seattle.
-One of the biggest changes for Portland and it had a predictable impact on their overall game was smoother zone exits for their D-men.
-Blake Heinrich’s outlet passes are the best on the team and he did not struggle as much as the team’s other D-men on Tuesday. He was even better Thursday and was one of the driving forces on both ends of the ice.
-Another player I thought had a poor series so far before Thursday night’s game was Paul Bittner and he made an obvious effort to use his large frame more in the offensive zone during the cycle. This freed up many more scoring chances for Nic Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand, who both saw significant improvement in shots on goal; as did Bittner himself.
-The other most consistent forward besides De Leo in this series has been Dominic Turgeon, whose play seems to be built for this time of year. He scored a goal, but made an even bigger impact with two solid back-checks that took away scoring chances from Seattle.
-Seattle D-man Jared Hauf struggled in this game after having a fantastic Game 3. The worst play he made was a hit he threw on Turgeon as he was coming out of the box; an obvious interference call. This led to a pretty goal from Nic Petan that gave Portland a 4-1 lead in the 2^nd.
-Taran Kozun struggled in this one, for the first time in the series and he was pulled after giving up Portland’s 5^th goal (scored by Keegan Iverson).

Theodore

-Oliver Bjorkstrand finally scored a non-empty net goal for the first time in the series off a great tic-tac-toe play from Petan and De Leo on the power play. Entering the game Portland’s power play was 1/10, but had two in this game. As a whole, the power play looked much better and Portland’s best players had more room to operate.
-A bad sign though for the Hawks, on a night full of good ones, was Adin Hill’s shaky net-minding. Shea Theodore scored Seattle’s 5^th goal right through the right armpit of Hill, who made several great stops on the night, but let up a couple stinkers as well. Barzal’s backhand on a rush up the ice for Seattle’s 3^rd goal was also not the prettiest. He has to play better in Game 5, as I’m positive Seattle will play better.
-Game 5 goes Saturday at 6pm in Portland. We are also ensured a Game 6 next Tuesday in Seattle, for another 2-for-1 deal. Seattle’s attendance was roughly half as much on Thursday as it was for Game 3. Though I guess it would be the same amount of box office revenue.

 

 



Portland Seattle Game 3 Stats/Notes and Analysis

Seattle took their second lead of the series so far with a 5-2 win at home over the Portland Winterhawks Tuesday night.

The main story of the game was how amazing the Scott Eansor-Donovan Neuls-Nolan Volcan unit was at limiting chances for Portland's star players: Oliver Bjorkstrand and Nic Petan.

Here are the stats for the 5-2 Game 3 loss:

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	UNK	2	N/A	5	0
Petan	UNK	5	14/20=70%	4	0
Bjorkstrand	UNK	4	N/A	4	0
Koules	UNK	2	N/A	5	0
De Leo	UNK	5	10/22=45.5%	0	1
Schoenborn	UNK	0	N/A	4	0
Iverson	UNK	1	N/A	2	2
Turgeon	UNK	3	6/13=46.1%	1
Weinger	UNK	0	N/A	7	0
McKenzie	UNK	0	N/A	7	0
Overhardt	UNK	1	4/6=66.7%	1	1
Walter	UNK	0	N/A	2	0
Cederholm	UNK	4	N/A	6	0
Viveiros	UNK	2	N/A	1	0
Heinrich	UNK	3	N/A	7	0
Texeira	UNK	1	N/A	4	1
Henry	UNK	7	N/A	2	1
Hanson	UNK	0	N/A	0	0

Notes/Analysis:
-Right off the jump Seattle's shut down line of Neuls-Eansor-Volvan looked to be energized. Volcan put a hit on Blake Heinrich that created a chance in front.
-Portland's Defensemen really struggled as a whole with a ferocious fore-check that Seattle threw at them all night. Adam Henry, Josh Hanson and Anton Cederholm were the most vitimized by the fore-check. Probably the worst was Henry gifting Scott Eansor a breakaway that he could not finish.
-Eansor did score Seattle's first goal, though when he found a gap in Portland defensive coverage and went in on Hill alone, beating him.

-That line was also in on creating Seattle's 4th goal; an insurance marker in the 3rd period. This was doen when Nolan Volcan pressured Cederholm into a turnover, leading to a Jerret Smith point shot finding twine. Portland was at it's best defensively in game 2 when their forwards came back on the back-check taking away shooting lanes. When the D-men turn the puck over on a consistent basis, the forwards do not have an opportunity to make these plays. This area of the game must be better for Portland or they will fall in a big hole.
-I don't want to take away from the Seatte shutdown line but a lot of Portland's top lines problems are due to the physical play from the defensive pairings of Evan Wardley-Jared Hauf and Shea Theodore-Jeret Smith. Wardley is at his best when the referees let him get away with a few extra cross checks and shoves on Portland's stars, as well as, a little physical play away from the puck.
-Even when Wardley was whistled for a rouhging call, he was able to get the referees to call Petan for embellishment as well, matching up the penalities. This was after Wardley; with his free hand, shoved Petan's face into the plexi-glas twice. In all honesty though, Petan did appear to go down a little soft. I do have to point out though that usually these are called on players with a reputation for embellishment and Petan is not known for this.
-If the referees continue to let this play continue in the really physical direction, Portland''s goal scorers are going to have to be better at getting themselves extra room to get more scoring chances.
-Paul Bittner was just about completely un-noticeable out there in Game 3. He even was demoted in the 3rd period with Evan Weinger gettign time with Petan's line. Not susrprisingly, Weinger responded with this chance by creating a screen in front of Taran Kozun, allowing Petan to score from the top of the faceoff circle.

-Bittner needs to be better at using his size and creating space for his smaller linemates. A guy he can try to emulate is future NHL Hall of Famer: Jaromir Jagr, who has made his career at creating space and finding his skilled team-mates for scoring chances.
-Another Winterhawk who has struggled with the physical play is Miles Koules, who has yet to find the net in the series. Two shots on net is really low for the over-age sniper.
-A lot (17/40) of Portland's shots came from the blue liners, which is somethign that I thought would lead to more scoring chances. However, a lot of these shots were part of zone entry and mostly only Adam Henry (7 shots) really got his by jumping into the play. Henry had Kozun make two amazing saves on him when he had point blak chances down low.
-Portland's best forward on the night was Chase De Leo; as has been the case in a lot of the games that the team as a whole has struggled. De Leo does not seem to get as easily frustrated and stays with his game. A minus 3 does not tell the whole story about De Leo's game for me. It's only a matter of time before he gets rid of the zero in the playoff points column.
-Oliver Bjorkstrand has had a lot of scoring chances but has shot high and wide a lot so far, by trying to pick the corners. If this continues, Portland is really going to struggle as they rely on Oliver a lot to score the big goals.
-Portland's Goalie Adin Hill took a stick to the throat from Donovan Neuls and after the mid-period break, he returned with an extra pad to protect this area.
-I would expect Portland's defense to be a whole lot better in Game 4 on Thursday. They have shut out Seattle twice this year, so they are capable of keeping them off the score sheet.