WHL Portland Winterhawks

16,321 Teddy Bears Collected Saturday In 5-3 Portland Win Over Seattle

Published on November 29, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


It took only two minutes and 52 seconds before 16,321 teddy bears were thrown on the ice at the Rose Garden Saturday night.

Spencer Bennett beat Seattle netminder Calvin Pickard with a shot from the right faceoff circle to trigger the onslaught of bears onto the ice, and the Winterhawks would go on to beat Seattle by a score of 5-3.

It was the annual Teddy Bear Toss game Saturday night, and the 16,321 bears will be donated to children's hospitals and charities.

After the downpour of teddy bears ended, the Thunderbirds responded with a goal of their own just nine seconds after they resumed play when Lindsay Nielsen put one past Winterhawks goaltender Ian Curtis and tied the score at 1-1 at the 3:01 mark.

That goal came on Seattle's first shot of the game, and it would be their only shot during the first eight minutes as Portland dictated the tempo of the game throughout the first. Brad Ross put Portland up 2-1 1:19 after Nielsen's goal, and the Hawks ended the period with a 17-6 edge in shots on goal.

Portland continued to apply the pressure throughout the second period, and they finally broke through with just 6.3 seconds left when Nino Niederreiter one-timed a Troy Rutkowski pass into the net to make it 3-1. It was Niederreiter's 16th goal of the season, and sixth in the last four games.

The Thunderbirds got an early goal in the third period to cut the lead to one when Prab Rai intercepted a pass at the Seattle blueline, skated down the ice on a breakaway and shot the puck past Curtis just 39 seconds into the period to bring the Thunderbirds to within one at 3-2.

The Hawks increased their lead back to two when Riley Boychuk found the back of the net at 8:47 of the third period off a pass from Stefan Schneider, but the Thunderbirds retaliated quickly with Charles Wells scoring at the 10:11 mark to make it 4-3.

With a little over a minute remaining in a one-goal game, Seattle pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but Bennett gained control of the puck and scored his second goal of the night into the empty net at 19:03 to give Portland a 5-3 victory.

Curtis earned the win for Portland, stopping 24 of 27 Seattle shots. Pickard was busy throughout the night for Seattle, as he faced 45 Portland shots, and he fended off 41 of them.

Portland takes the ice again Friday, Dec. 4th when the Hawks host the Everett Silvertips.

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 29, 2009


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