Winterhawks Fall 6-5 to Prince George in a Shootout Saturday
March 15, 2015 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
The Portland Winterhawks (40-21-2-4) fell 6-5 to the Prince George Cougars (29-35-2-3) in a shootout Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
With the game going to a shootout, the Hawks picked up a point in the standings.
Just 2:33 into the game the Hawks struck first on a power play when a blast from Keegan Iverson hit a post, but Miles Koules was there to bang in the rebound for the early 1-0 lead.
It remained 1-0 until 40 seconds into the second period, when Prince George tied the game at 1-1 on a goal by Chase Witala. Portland went back ahead at 8:47 when Nic Petan set up in front of the Prince George net, collected a rebound and put it past goaltender Ty Edmonds for a 2-1 lead.
The Hawks went up by two when Evan Weinger scored at the 12:27 mark, but just under two minutes later the Cougars got back within one on a goal from Cal Babych to cut Portland's lead to 3-2, which remained the score going into the third.
Portland once again went ahead by two with a power play goal 1:19 into the third from Chase De Leo to make it 4-2.
Prince George again got within one when Witala scored his second of the game at 7:42 to cut the Hawks' advantage to 4-3, then just over two minutes later the visitors tied it at 4-4 on a goal by David Soltes. The Cougars then went ahead 5-4 at the 14:01 mark on a goal from Zach Pochiro.
The back-and-forth period continued when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his league-leading 56th goal of the season with 3:45 to go to even the game at 5-5 and set up overtime.
The Hawks applied pressure throughout the extra frame, but Edmonds was up to the task and turned them aside, leading to a shootout.
In the shootout Portland was stopped on all three of their attempts. In the third round, Prince George's Zach Pochiro scored to give the visitors the win.
The Hawks are back at it tomorrow when they host the Spokane Chiefs at 5 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the penultimate home game of the regular season.
• Discuss this story on the Western Hockey League message board...
Western Hockey League Stories from March 15, 2015
- Winterhawks Stage Big Comeback in 8-6 Win over Spokane - Portland Winterhawks
- Hitmen Earn Comforts of Home - Calgary Hitmen
- 30 WHL Graduates Earn Medals at 2015 CIS University Cup - WHL
- Giants Defeat Royals 4-1 - Vancouver Giants
- Royals Dropped by Giants - Victoria Royals
- Rockets Get Past Blazers 2-1 - Kamloops Blazers
- Tigers Score 6 over Edmonton Saturday Night - Medicine Hat Tigers
- Pats lose in SO - Regina Pats
- Giants Fall 3-0 on Vancouver Island - Vancouver Giants
- Yamamoto Scores Twice as Chiefs Win Third Straight - Spokane Chiefs
- Royals Blank Giants - Victoria Royals
- Silvertips Handle T-Birds Before Sellout Crowd - Everett Silvertips
- Spokane Drops Tri-City 5-2 - Tri-City Americans
- Kelowna wins 2-1 - Kelowna Rockets
- Winterhawks Fall 6-5 to Prince George in a Shootout Saturday - Portland Winterhawks
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.