With Signing of Clayton Portland is Stocked at Forward for 2015-16

Clayton

The Portland Winterhawks announced the signing of 1998 born Winger Brett Clayton out of the BCMML's Fraser Valley Thunderbirds today.


Clayton notched 34 pts and 137 PIMS in 40 games with Fraser Valley, competing against fellow BCMML product Austin Gray, who was also signed by Portland off of the protected list.


This got me thinking about next year's roster and the amount o competition there will be for roster spots. Lets take a look shall we:

De Leo

1995 Born Forwards:
-Counting on Nic Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand to be gone and Tyson Predinchuk not to return to the team.
-Chase De Leo (Center, Drafted by Winnipeg in 2014, Unsigned)
De Leo does not have to be signed by the Jets until June of 2016, so my guess is that he will be returned to Portland for his over-age season and is a lock as one of Portland's three over-age players.


-Alex Schoenborn (RW, Drafted by San Jose in 2014, Unsigned)
Similar to De Leo, Schoenborn does not have to be signed until June of 2016 and is unlikely to be, in my opinion unless he has a great 20 year old year. What the Hawks do with Schoenborn is directly impacted by whether they choose to keep both 1995 born D-men: Blake Heinrich (if he is not signed by Washington) and Layne Viveiros. How well some of the younger guys play in camp, might make the decision to trade Schoenborn for Portland.


1996 Born Forwards:
-Paul Bittner (LW, Likely to be drafted this year in 1st or 2nd round)
Bittner will not be drafted high enough that there will be a real worry about him leaving the team for the pros. He is a lock on Portland's top 6 forward group.

Turgeon

-Dominic Turgeon (Center, Drafted by San Jose in 2014, Unsigned)
If Portland goes much further in the playoffs and Turgeon continues his play he may not remain unsigned for too long. He will return though for his 19 year old season though and will finally move up to a 2nd line Center role.


-Keegan Iverson (RW, Drafted by New York Rangers in 2014, Unsigned)
Iverson is another guy who will be counted on as a leader for Portland next year. Here's to hoping that he can consistently play at the level he showed us in February.


-Mitchell Walter (RW)
Still a little puzzled as to why Portland made this trade with Edmonton, giving up a 4th round pick, for a guy who has not shown much this season. He may find himself out of a job if Portland's younger players outplay him in camp.


1997 Born Forwards:
-Evan Weinger (RW, Likely to be drafted at some point in 2015 draft)
Weinger showed a lot of speed and skill, but needs to develop a little more touch. His physical play  alone will give him a spot somewhere in the top nine.

Overhardt

-Alex Overhardt (Center, could be drafted as well)
Just steady improvement for the young Centerman. Appears to be a favorite of the coaching staff, possibly meaning that he is a really hard-working player in practice.


-Jack Flaman (LW)
Pretty good in his own end but really has not shown too much offensively.


-Ethan Price (RW)
A fan favorite who left the team midway through the year in order to attend to some family issues. His future in Portland really needs to be ironed out.


-Colton Veloso (RW)
I would have liked to have seen more of him in Portland this year, as he's exhibited some scoring touch (scored a goal) and play-making ability.


-Austin Gray (RW)
A guy who was undrafted in the Bantam Draft but earned himself a look from Portland and ultimately a WHL Education Contract.






1998 Born Forwards:
-Skyler McKenzie (LW)
A small forward with a large chip on his shoulder. Throws a lot of hits when he's on the ice and has shown some play-making ability as well. I'm very interested to see how he develops.

McKenzie

-Reed Morison (Center)
A large center-man that needs to learn to use his frame more. Possibly a Dominic Turgeon type.
-Brett Clayton (LW)
Recently signed forward, appears to be the next Schoenborn or Iverson, with a lot of PIMS in the BCMML.


1999 Born Forward:
-Cody Glass (Center)
Portland's first top round Bantam Selection since Nic Petan. It will be really interesting to see how Portland chooses to develop him. He's currently with Portland on their playoff run, with the goal to expose him to a long playoff run.





Simple math shows that there are 16 currently signed forwards competing for maybe 13-14 full time spots on next season's roster. That's not including the 2-3 players, Portland usually signs sometime in the preseason.


Obviously there is a lot to do before Portland has to figure out what the 2015-16 roster will look like, namely finish the 2015 playoffs, but it's still interesting to contemplate the future. It certainly does not look as dire as you may have thought back in 2012, when all those draft picks were taken away.

Winterhawks Prospects Weekly 4/10-4/16

Saturday, April 11th:
-Listed Forward Mitchell Mattson (1998-Committed to UND) was added to the USHL's Bloomington Thunder late in the season and finished the year with 2 points in a 3-1 win.

Reedy

Monday, April 13th:
-Drafted and signed Goalie: Mike Bullion (1997) got his turn between the pipes in Game 2 of Wenatchee's NAHL Semi-Final series vs. the Lone Star Brahmas. He stopped 13 shots, losing the game 2-1. The Wild now face an 0-2 deficit in the series. Bullion appears to be splitting time with the team's other goalie.

Tuesday, April 14th:
-Drafted Forward Kieffer Bellows (1998, Committed to Boston University), had a goal and an assist in the Sioux Falls Stampede's 5-1 Game One win over the Sioux City Musketeers. Bellows set the USHL rookie record for goals this year with 33.

Wednesday, April 15th:
-Drafted Forward Scott Reedy (1998, Committed to Minnesota) is on track to be a part of the USA U-17 team, if he can adjust to playing a much larger ice surface. Reedy was a playmaker for SSM U-16 team this last year, notching 55 points for the national champs.

Oettinger

Thursday, April 16th:
-Two Bantam drafted players: D-man Caleb Jones (1997) and Goalie Jake Oettinger (1998) are on the U-18 USA roster for the World Championship, starting on Thursday. Oettinger is the 3rd goalie, as one of only three 1998 born players on the roster.
-Listed Goalie Matt Radomsky (1998), was among those present when his Head Coach: Scott Coates, was given Cisco's Hockey's Hidden Heroes Award. Coates is the Head Coach of the Winnipeg Warrior Midget AAA team. Coates' story is really something else.
-Protected list forward Sam Rossini (1998, Committed to University of Minnesota) is going to be counted on for next year's rendition of the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL. He notched 5 points as a 16 year old rookie this year.
-If Portland was to sign Forward Owen Sillinger (1997, Rights Acquired from Vancouver who drafted him in 10th round of 2012), they would be adding a leader on a team that won the West Region and will be one of 6 teams competing for the Telus Cup as Canada's National Midget Champions. The Telus Cup goes from April 20th-26th this year.
-Drafted Forward Garrett Wait (1998), was named one of Edina High School's 6 players on the All-Lake Conference players. Joining Wait were the other two members of the school's high scoring line: Dylan Malmquist and Parker Mismash.

Hawks Storm Past Tips, Then Hold On for 5-3 Game 3 Win: Game Stats and Notes

With 5 minutes left in game 3, Portland was leading 5-0 and looked to be setting themselves up for an easy 2-1 series lead and a good hold on the series with U.S. Division regular season champion Everett Silvertips. Then Everett lit the lamp three times in 1:46 and made this yet another close game.


While it was very different, in a lot of ways with Game 1, the outcome looks a lot similar. In that game, Portland fell behind 5-1, before pulling back within 5-3 and making it a little bit of a game. In game 3, Portland also had to hold on to a 5-3 lead late, but you definitely got the feeling they would hold on.


Leading the way for the Winterhawks was Nic Petan, who had 1 goal and 2 assists and now has points in all 9 post-season games. Oliver Bjorkstrand, who had not scored in regulation in the series, scored twice and was able to find more room offensively.


Here are the stats I kept for Portland's 5-3 Game Three Win:

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Iverson	UNK	2	N/A	5	1
Petan	UNK	4	7/17=41.2%	2	1
Bjorkstrand	UNK	7	N/A	12	1
Bittner	UNK	2	N/A	8	0
De Leo	UNK	3	13/21=61.9%	3	0
Schoenborn	UNK	2	N/A	8	1
McKenzie	UNK	1	N/A	8	0
Turgeon	UNK	4	10/15=66.7%	3	1
Koules	UNK	3	N/A	4	0
Weinger	UNK	1	N/A	4	0
Overhardt	UNK	1	N/A	2	0
Walter	UNK	0	N/A	1	0
Cederholm	UNK	3	N/A	11	2
Viveiros	UNK	2	N/A	2	1
Heinrich	UNK	0	N/A	6	1
Texeira	UNK	1	N/A	8	1
Henry	UNK	3	N/A	2	1
Hanson	UNK	1	N/A	1	0

Notes/Analysis:
-I'd been calling for some more offensive involvement from more than just Blake Heinrich and Adam Henry and Anton Cederholm answered the call, scoring Portland's first goal of the game. He jumped up into the play and expertly slipped the puck past Carter Hart's glove side. This was Cederholm's first post-season goal this year and 3rd all time in the WHL.
-Nic Petan has been Steady Eddie for Portland in the playoffs, scoring at least once in each game and is now tied for 2nd in the WHL in playoff scoring with Bjorkstrand, while playing one less game than the current leader (Adam Tambellini).
-Portland seems to have used the 4 days off, to find new ways to create scoring looks for Bjorkstrand. One of the set plays on the power play involves him skating nearly out of the zone, before coming back and taking a pass in the high slot. This was how he scored his 2nd goal of the game on the power play. His first goal was a deft deflection/chip that found it's way past Hart.
-Hart could have been better for Everett, one maybe two of Portland's goals, but I think overall the 5-0 Portland lead was due to Portland dominating possession and Everett sitting back and playing conservatively, as well as, taking poor penalties at really poor times.
-One line that played well for Everett, for the 2nd straight game was Rem- Laurencelle, Nikita Scherbak and Brayden Low. They caused havoc in Portland's zone and forced a couple poor turnovers by Layne Viveiros. Scherbak, though was held to 1 assist and took 2 of the minor penalties that directly led to Portland's two power play goals.
-Another poor decision by Everett, ended up taking a goal away from D-man Ben Betker with 9:33 left in the 2nd period and Everett down 2-0. While Everett was rushing up the ice, Dawson Leedahl dropped the mitts with Portland's Keegan Iverson and negated Betker's goal. This also led to Paul Bittner going back on the top line with Petan and Bjorkstrand and contributed to Portland's third goal.
-Dominic Turgeon continues his excellent playoff run with his 6th goal of the post-season off a smooth basketball style post move on Ben Betker.

Turgeon

-Speaking of Betker, the 6'6" 220 lb D-man had been playing physical all series on Bjorkstrand, frustrating him, but the opposite was true in this game. Betker, got away with a few plays that would have been called in the regular season early in the game, then ended up taking one two many shots two different times, picking up minor penalties late in the game.
-Ivan Nikolishin scored one Everett's late goals, but was not noticeable most of the game. Everett needs him to be a whole lot better for them to get a win Friday night, in Game 4.
-Adin Hill was stellar for 57 minutes of the game, but allowed a couple weak goals late in the game. I am increasingly starting to believe that Hill plays his best when the game is close, but tends to lose concentration when his team is winning by a lot.
-Dawson Leedahl, who had just gotten back into the lineup for Everett, left after taking a cross-checking penalty in the 3rd period. He may have aggravated whatever he had injured before. Also, D-man Noah Juulsen was un-available and it is not known, as of now, whether he will play in game 4.
-Another Everett D-man: Cole MacDonald blocked a shot with his med-section and looked uncomfortable afterwards.

Hawks and Tips Split First 2 Games: Stats and Notes

Portland and Everett got their Western Conference Semi-Final series off and running Friday and Saturday night playing a couple spirited games.

On Friday, Everett was able to jump out to a 3-0 lead by the 2nd period and a 5-1 3rd period lead, before holding on for a 5-3 win.

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	UNK	2	N/A	4	2
Petan	UNK	4	14/23=60.1%	5	1
Bjorkstrand	UNK	4	N/A	11	0
Iverson	UNK	1	N/A	3	0
De Leo	UNK	3	11/18=61.1%	1	0
Schoenborn	UNK	1	N/A	5	0
Koules	UNK	5	N/A	5	0
Turgeon	UNK	4	12/19=63.2%	3	0
Weinger	UNK	0	N/A	5	0
McKenzie	UNK	4	N/A	8	0
Overhardt	UNK	2	3/4=75%	3	1
Walter	UNK	1	N/A	4	0
Cederholm	UNK	2	N/A	5	1
Viveiros	UNK	1	N/A	5	0
Heinrich	UNK	2	N/A	10	1
Texeira	UNK	1	N/A	10	0
Henry	UNK	3	N/A	0	0
Hanson	UNK	2	N/A	0	0

Notes/Analysis:
-The biggest difference in Everett's play from the last time the Hawks played them in the regular season is how much Everett gets jump off of face offs. Even when they lost a draw, they gained possession of the puck and quickly carried the puck into Portland's zone.
-In the first period, simple zone entry was difficult for Portland, even though Everett was without two of their top 4 D-men to injury: Tristen Pfeifer and Noah Juulsen.

Laurencelle

-Cole MacDonald had an incredible game for Everett. He ended the night with three assists, but two of those assists came on point shots that were deflected home by Remi Laurencelle and Jake Mykitiuk and the other came on the power play, when the Hawks over-stretched themselves in order to stop his shot and he found an open Patrick Bajkov for a one timer.
-Bajkov's one timer is Everett's best weapon on their power play. He had a hat trick earlier in the year in one game, purely off of one timers. His goal in this game, put Everett up 5-1 and made the road for Portland's road back nearly impossible, even though they were controlling a lot of the play.
-Mitch Walter, a late season acquisition for the Hawks, after they lost Tyson Predinchuk, Ethan Price and Adam DeChamplain, had two awful penalties, one of which was the one that set up Bajkov's goal.
-Kohl Bauml, Mykitiuk(in place of the injured Dawson Leedahl) and Carson Stadnyk did an excellent job of making Portland's top line play defense and wear themselves out in their own zone. While there wasn't necessarily a concerted effort by Everett's coach Kevin Constantine of putting Bauml against Petan, they seemed to get the match up more often then not.
-Jordan Wharrie, a last unit pairing D-man for the Tips, blocked a shot to the face in the 2nd period and returned to the game soon thereafter.

Wharrie

-Nikita Scherbak drilled Blake Heinrich from behind in the second period and was given a penalty on the play. This hit, brought back memories of a hit Heinrich was given in the preseason by Everett's Dawson Leedahl that put him out nearly 2 months with concussion syndromes. Heinrich makes fantastic outlet passes, but in the process, probably receives more hits then any other Portland player.
-Dominic Turgeon scored yet again for the Hawks after he found the rebound on a Keegan Iverson one timer. He has found a way to get on the score sheet, practically every game of the post season.
-Anton Cederholm, had a relatively poor outing for the Hawks, getting only 5 hits in a playoff game, which is really low for him. He may have been somewhat affected by playing so many minutes in the deciding game 6, but did not seem to have as much jump in his step as normal.
-Miles Koules, added another goal, after finally breaking his playoff score-lessness in Game 6 of the Seattle series
-Adin Hill had no chance on the 2 tips, or the Bajkov one timer, but probably could have better overall.
-Oliver Bjorkstrand seemed frustrated by Everett D-man Ben Betker, who took every opportunity to body up on the Danish sniper and limit his ability to get a clean shot off.

Next up, let's take a look at the stats from Portland's double Over-Time 4-3 Win:

Player	TOI	Shots	Faceoff %	Hits	Blocked Shots
Bittner	UNK	5	N/A	7	0
Petan	UNK	2	13/24=54.2%	4	0
Bjorkstrand	UNK	8	N/A	12	0
Iverson	UNK	2	N/A	7	0
De Leo	UNK	5	14/21=66.7%	4	1
Schoenborn	UNK	2	N/A	4	1
McKenzie	UNK	4	N/A	4	3
Turgeon	UNK	3	14/23=60.1%	4	2
Koules	UNK	5	0/1=0%	4	0
Overhardt	UNK	1	N/A	1	0
Weinger	UNK	0	N/A	1	1
Cederholm	UNK	1	N/A	15	2
Viveiros	UNK	1	N/A	1	0
Heinrich	UNK	3	N/A	6	1
Texeira	UNK	1	N/A	8	0
Henry	UNK	2	N/A	6	2
Hanson	UNK	0	N/A	0	0
De Jong	UNK	0	N/A	1	0

Notes/Analysis:
-Jake Mykitiuk notched his 2nd of the series and 3rd of the playoffs to open the scoring after an Adin Hill misplayed puck led to a bouncing pass to Mykitiuk, who found a gap over Hill's shoulder to open the scoring.

Viveiros

-Layne Viveiros re-assumed his role as the power play quarter-back and was rewarded with an assist on Chase De Leo's power play goal late in the first period. Viveiros will probably keep his spot on the Hawk's top PP, after helping yield Portland first PP goal of the series.
-Nikita Scherbak, had only 3 points over his first 7 games of playoff hockey, but found his way to tip home two different shots in this game, for 2 goals. Everett has 8 goals in 2 games vs the Hawks so far in this series and 4 of them were off deflected shots. This is something Portland's defensive unit is going to have to find a way to be better at defending.
-Portland had played 2 games in which over-time was needed this year and they controlled most of the play in both games. Everett out shot them 17-13 overall, but most of Portland's shots were closer in range.
-Both teams though, had plenty of chances to win the game.
-Portland ended it when Nic Petan won a faceoff, early in the 2nd OT period and Oliver Bjorkstrand found a relatively easy path to the slot, where he placed the puck over Carter Hart's shoulder to end the game and knot the series.
-I don't know if Bjorkstrand finds as easy a lane to this area, if Everett's players were not worn down from the long game.
-Keegan Iverson replaced Paul Bittner on the top line and that seemed to fire up Bittner's play. My theory is that is what it was designed to do, as Bittner did not have a great start to the series for the Hawks.
-Both Goalies, made mistakes earlier in the game, but found their strides in the Over-time sessions. Hart let himself be beat by a relatively weak Henry wraparound, while Hill could have been better on Everett's first goal. Both goalies had loose pucks in their crease in the first OT, but found ways to get it out of danger.
-Everett will likely get one if not both of either Pfeifer and Juulsen back by the time Game 3 is played (Thursday) and Portland will not have as easy a time in controlling possession in the Tips zone.

 



Former Winterhawks Weekly 4/3-4/9

In what is designed to be a weekly segment, I'm taking a look at how former Winterhawks are doing, day by day.


Friday, April 3rd:
-Sven Baertschi (2010-12) was recalled by the Vancouver Canucks, after posting 13 points in 12 games with the AHL's Utica Comets. In 2 games since being called up, Sven is pointless.
-Joe Morrow (2007-12) was also recalled on Friday. He spent some time earlier in the year with Boston and did not look out of place at all. He has 1 goal in 15 NHL games this year.
-Ty Rattie (2008-13) kept the string of former Winterhawks called up on Friday. Uniquely, though, he got to play against his favorite team from his childhood. Interestingly enough he apparently named the family dog: Kipper after former Calgary Goalie Mikka Kiprusoff. Rattie had 21 goals in 59 AHL games, but has yet score his first NHL goal.
-Apparently even Minnesota Wild fans don't recognize Matt Dumba(2013-14) on the streets or in this case in the Mall of America.
-Ryan Johansen (2009-11) kept the Columbus Blue Jacket's streak going with the game tying goal, and a shoot out snipe in a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders.

Saturday, April 4th:
-Cool player profile on Nino Niederreiter (2009-11), who has 37 points in 79 games with the Minnesota Wild this year.

-Recall week continues with Tyler Wotherspoon(2008-13) getting called up be the Calgary Flames. He has yet to actually get into a game this year for Calgary.
-D-man Derrick Pouliot (2009-14) has been struggling with Pittsburgh lately, as his turnover led to Columbus scoring the game winning goal. Pouliot is under a heavy workload with the Penguins dealing with a lot of injuries on the back end.
-Speaking of that game: Brandon Dubinsky (2002-06) had 3 assists for the Blue Jackets, as he set up all of line-mate Nick Foligno's hat-trick.

Tuesday, April 7th:
-Nino Niederreiter paid the price for blocking a shot late in Monday's 2-0 Minnesota Wild win over the Winnipeg Jets, causing him to bruise his foot. He is not expected to miss any games though.
-Also on Monday night, Colton Sceviour (2004-08), scored his 9th goal of the year, only 30 seconds into the game, as Dallas beat San Jose 5-1.
-Marian Hossa (1997-98) has a 5 game point streak, going into Tuesday's game. This streak would end though Hossa has assured his 10th 60+ point season.
-Brendan Leipsic (2010-14) notched his first professional hat trick and the Toronto Marlies desparately try to make the AHL playoffs. Scoring a goal (or 3), right when his team needs them is somethign Leipsic has a knack for.

Wednesday, April 8th:
-Despite his late season struggles, Derrick Pouliot the Pittsburgh Penguins Rookie of the Year Award, as announced on Twitter.

-Trade deadline acquisition Braydon Coburn looks to be returning from injury soon for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He only suited up 4 games, before being sidelined earlier this year.

Thursday, April 9th:
-Luca Sbisa (2009-10) has found a home with the Vancouver Canucks and has now signed a contract extension through the 2017-18 season. Great to see for a guy who was traded twice early in his career and has battled injury issues.
-Norfolk Admirals (AHL) Goalie Jason Labarbera's (1996-2000) wife: Kodette, is a featured star of the reality TV show Hockey Wives. Apparently, she signed up for the show in an attempt to raise awareness for Autism. The couple has a 6 year old child who is on the Autism Spectrum.

Everett-Portland Series Preview: Keys to Victory and Prediction

Everett and Portland start their 2nd round series on Friday night at 7:35 pm in the Xfinity Arena. While both teams split the 10 season series games at 5 wins apiece, Portland has won 4 of the last 5 games. The Silvertips have advanced to the 2nd round for the first time since 2007 and their reward is a team that has advanced to the WHL Final 4 straight years.

So, with all of that history in mind, what are some keys to victory for both teams?

Everett:
1)Get Nikita Scherbak Going.
-Scherbak was the team's leading scorer in the regular season with 82 points in 65 games. Where was he then in the first round, as he notched only 3 points over the 6 games?

Scherbak

-Time and time again we have been shown that your best players need to play at their best, for you to be successful in the playoffs. I think it's safe to say that if Scherbak has only 3 points in the Portland series, the Winterhawks are advancing. The First round Montreal Canadians draft pick needs to start realizing that immense talent for Everett to advance.

2)Saskatoon Platoon Has an Offensive Boon (see what I did there).
-Kohl Bauml, Carson Stadnyk and Dawson Leedahl showed a lot of chemistry around January, helping save the team from a late season falter.
-If Leedahl is healthy (he didn't play Games 4-6 of the Spokane series), these three will be counted on to play a complete game. They will be tasked a lot with matching up with the Nic Petan line and have shown that they can do enough to get Petan and Co. to play defense; which is the surest way to keep them off the scoreboard.
-Stadnyk and Bauml are #1 and 3 in playoff scoring for Everett, while Leedahl had 2 pts in the 3 games he played.
-Great chemistry among linemates can go pretty far to make up a gap in talent level and could lead to these three doing enough at both ends to counter-act what the Petan line does.

3)Continue to Draw Penalties.
-Everett was the best team in the WHL at drawing penalties, while not commiting a lot themselves.
-Portland's PK was the worst in the WHL in the first round, as Seattle operated at 35.3%. While this does not necessarily mean that Portland has a poor PK, it does mean that Seattle was quite successful at making the Hawks pay for their mistakes.
-Everett will need to capitalize on as many opportunities as possible as they are given, especially if Portland is able to get past Everett's defense and score some goals themselves.

4)Stay Within Your Defensive System.
-The Silvertips biggest weakness in years past vs the Hawks, has been their tendency to "puck watch" while Portland's play-makers controlled possession and created scoring chances.
-There is a fine balance between staying within your defensive position and "puck watching." The Silvertips need to find this balance to be successful vs. Portland. They must get into the corners defensively and win the 50:50 pucks, while not over-stretching themselves and opening up some looks for Portland's snipers.
-Key in this will be Everett's forwards coming back and back-checking; taking away shooting looks.

Hart

5)Ride the Hart Magic.
-Carter Hart has been incredible this year for Everett, supplanting a 19 year old Goalie, who spent time at training camp with the Vancouver Canucks. There were times over the Game 6 3-OT win over Spokane that Everett's play was lackluster, leading to great scoring chances for the Chiefs. Hart made several big stops and gave his team the chance to win it, which they did. He will be given the same task vs. Portland, during the times, that the Winterhawks offensive stars get good looks. The 16 year old rookie has put together quite the run, but has struggled against the Winterhawks. If he can keep the magic going, Portland's shooters could get frustrated and try picking corners, as they did at times in the early going of the Seattle series.

Portland:
1)Don't Let Constantine Distract You.


Constantine

-Everett Head Coach Kevin Constantine knows how to work the media. He made statements about Spokane's forwards "diving" like it was an olympic sport. He also was ejected from a game vs. Portland earlier this year and reacted by doing the slow walk acorss the ice and flipping a pen high in the air on his way out.
-Portland's players are experienced enough that I do not think that they will be affected directly by Constantine's comments, but I do worry that Everett will try and turn this series into a messy one, where tempers will flare, dangerous hits are made and words are exchanged through the media. This simply does not fit how Portland likes to play.

2)Don't Let the Fore-Check Get to You.
-Everett relies upon your D-men making key mistakes, to set up their scoring chances and they are probably the best in the Western Conference at doing so.
-Portland's top 5 D-men (Anton Cederholm, Layne Viveiros, Keoni Texeira, Blake Heinrich and Adam Henry) need to weather these fore-checks and make sure they are supporting each other, setting themselves up for good passing lanes and not sending any blind passes in their own zone.
-Zone exits have been key for Portland to succeed this season. When they are at their worst they are being careless with puck aroudn their own blue line, setting up quick chances for the other team. Everett will capitalize on these if they are given to them.

Bittner

3)Shooting Accuracy.
-Portland's best snipers had plenty of looks in the early going of the Seattle series, but failed to get shots on frame a lot. Everett's Carter Hart is playing lights out for them right now and Portland needs to make him make a save, rather then give him the easy out of a shot high off the glass.
-I know that Oliver Bjorkstrand's incredible pace towards the end of the season, is impossible for him to maintain forever, but I still think that he can be much closer to it then he was through the first 3 games of Portland's first round series.
-Paul Bittner had 2 goals and 4 total points in the first round, but can defintely be better, as he missed the net a fair amount himself, as did Miles Koules.

4)Make Everett's D-men Pay.
-Tristen Pfeifer and Noah Juulsen's health is in the air right now entering the second round. -Regardless of whether they play or not, Portland needs to get hits in on Everett's D-men consistently.
-Not only will physical play, wear down an already tired unit, it will create scoring chances off of turnovers for the Hawks.
-Portland needs their checkers (Evan Weinger, Keegan Iverson, Alex Schoenborn and Skyler McKenzie) to body up on Everett's D-men and get them to second guess the next time they retrieve a puck in their own zone.

Hill

5)Hope Hill Has Regained Form.
-While he had a shut out in Game 4, I really do not think Adin Hill looked much like himself until Game 6.
-He is a tough goalie to get a read on. With Brendan Burke, we knew he was great with loose pucks around his feet, but would sometimes lose his net. With Mac Carruth, we knew he had un-shakeable confidence and was at his best when he was pissed off about something. With Adin Hill, I'm starting to believe that he may be at his best, when flopping all of over the place and not really sticking true to one specific goaltending style. He made several saves late in Game 6, where he came out on the shooter and cut off angles with his big frame.
-If he can ride his hot play from the extra session of that game, he could start being the kind of Goalie that can carry his team. As of right now, he has not been asked to that too much.

Prediction:
-To be completely honest, I was more worried about the match up with Seattle then I was about one with Everett. Seattle had a shut down line that had some success in the regular season and they had several elite players that could contend with Portland's star power.
-Everett meanwhile, does not have elite players that have had a ton of success vs. Portland. They will need a lot of depth scoring and a very young goalie to do a lot of the heavy lifting.
-The Silvertips though have found a way to get these things at times this year.
-I think Portland will earn a split in Everett and jump out to a 3-1 lead, before closing them out and keeping the drive for 5 going. Portland in 6.

Winterhawks Prospects Weekly: 4/3-4/9

With all of the flurry of WHL playoff hockey recently, I have been unable to do the Prospects Weekly, so let's get back at it with this weeks version.

Friday, April 3rd:
-Awards for Winterhawks prospects continue to pile in with Mitchell Mattson (1998-Committed to UND) being named All-area player of the year by the Grand Rapids Herald. Mattson had 23 goals and 28 assists, leading his School in scoring.
-Kieffer Bellows (1998-Committed to BU) seems to be taking his own route to the NHL, as he seems to have passed over Portland and the University of Minnesota, committing to Boston U.

Bullion

Saturday, April 4th:
-Signed Goalie: Mike Bullion (1997) stopped 22 of 24 shots, helping the NAHL's Wenatchee Wild to a 3-2 series clinching win over the Corpus Christi IceRays. Wenatchee advances to the South Division Semi-Finals.

Monday, April 6th:
-List Forward: Owen Sillinger (1997) and the Regina Pat-Canadians advanced to the Telus Cup after beating the Pembina  Valley Hawks 7-1. They won their region for Midget AAA and now advance to what is equivalent to the Nation Championship for this level.

Tuesday, April 7th:
-2013 9th round Pick: Goalie Jake Oettinger (1998) got his first shut out for the U-17 USNTDP with a 4-0 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He is 3-1-1 over his last 5 games.

Wednesday, April 8th:
-Signed Forward: Colton Veloso (1997) was named the MJHL's rookie of the month for March with 5 points in 7 games. His Steinbach Pistons fell to the Portage Terriers, however 7-1 in Game 1 of the MJHL Final.
-Signed? D-man Caleb Jones (1996) was ranked #115 overall among North American skaters in Central Scouting's Final Rankings. Jones, who is playing with the USNTDP, has reportedly signed with Portland, though this has not been announced by the Winterhawks. There could be some reason why this has not been announced as of yet, but I do not know exactly why.

Thursday, April 9th:
-Drafted Forward Scott Reedy (1998-Committed to U of Minnesota), has signed with the USNTDP for next season, fresh off a Tier 1 U-16 National Championship. Fellow draft pick: Brannon McManus (1998-Committed to U of Minnesota) was also a member of this team.