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WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks' Big Snake on His Way Back to Portland

October 6, 2004 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League announced today 20-year-old forward, and fan favorite, Robin Big Snake has been re-assigned to the Portland Winter Hawks.

Big Snake is scheduled to fly back to Portland International Airport tonight arriving about 8:30 p.m., too late to play in tonight's 7:00 game against the Spokane Chiefs in Memorial Coliseum. Big Snake should be ready for duty this weekend as the Hawks travel to Seattle Saturday and then play the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 5:00 p.m. Sunday in Memorial Coliseum.

"Don Maloney, the Assistant General Manager of the New York Rangers, called me today and said Robin had a really good tryout," Winter Hawks GM Ken Hodge said. "Any other year, they probably would have signed him to a contract, but with the NHL locked out, Hartford has 35 hockey players trying for 23 spots so Robin was in pretty tough. But, they liked what they saw. He showed them some things. Now, they will monitor his performance with us as a 20-year-old this season."

Big Snake played in last night's intra-squad game, but cuts were made after that to get their roster down to a manageable level for their upcoming pre-season games this week. Tri-Cities team captain, Marcus Jonasen (YAWN-uh-sun) was also re-assigned today by Hartford.

The Wolf Pack is scheduled to start its season on October 14 and Big Snake, who impressed New York Ranger GM Glen Sather during a summer rookie camp, was trying to earn a free agent contract to play there. But, because of the NHL lockout, a lot of players that might have been extra players on NHL rosters are now going to play regularly as top players in the AHL.

Big Snake was acquired by the Winter Hawks over the summer of 2003 in exchange for the Hawks' 10th, 11th, and 12th round choices in the 2003 Bantam Draft. He had 12 goals while leading the team in penalty minutes with 230 in 2003-04, his first season in Portland.

Big Snake is a full status native who is half-Cree and half-Blackfoot from Siksika, Alberta, a community of 6,000, which makes it the second biggest Land Nation in Canada.

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