WHL Portland Winterhawks

Biggest Crowd of Season Sees Winter Hawks Win in Rose Garden

Published on February 8, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Rookie defenseman Taylor Sutherlin scored his first Western Hockey League goal, shorthanded, late in the third period for the insurance goal as the Portland Winter Hawks beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-1 in front of a season-high 11,965 in the Rose Garden Saturday.

Brad Priestlay scored the winning goal on a slapshot from the left wing early in the third period and Hawks' goalie Krister Toews made it stand with a sparkling 32 save performance.

The win was Portland's eighth in its last ten games and allowed the Hawks, (27-22-4-1) for 59 points, to remain just 2 points behind the first place Tri-City Americans, who beat Moose Jaw Saturday. The Hawks have played four fewer games.

Michael Funk also scored for the Hawks and Dustin Johner was the lone Thunderbirds to get a puck past Toews. The win avenged a 6-2 loss the Hawks took in Seattle Friday and also snapped a two-game Rose Garden losing streak against the T-Birds.

Seattle, (17-26-8-4), 46 points, was (3-1-0-1) it its last 5 games and has been climbing on Spokane in the race for the last playoff spot in the U.S. Division, but Spokane beat Prince George Saturday to snap an 11 game losing streak and extend their lead to 8 points over Seattle.

Portland concludes this 4-game in 5-night stretch Sunday at 5:00 against Moose Jaw in Memorial Coliseum, the 1,000th regular season home game in franchise history that started with a 7-5 win over the New Westminster Bruins on October 10, 1976.

Portland, which is healthy right now, has 23 players on the roster and only 20 can dress for any one game. So, the Hawks scratched 16-year-old defenseman Brendan Mikkelson, 16-year-old forward Frazer Mc Laren, and 17-year-old forward C.J. Jackson on Saturday. Seattle welcomed back veteran defenseman Zack FitzGerald (3rd Round, St. Louis Blues) from a long-term ankle injury in Seattle's 6-2 win over Portland on Friday in Key Arena. FitzGerald, who had 232 penalty minutes last year, can be an intimidating force in front of the Seattle net. Seattle is still without forward David Svagrovsky (4th Round, Colorado) due to a long-term shoulder injury.

The head to head series with Seattle is now all even, each team with 4 wins and a tie in the nine games. The T-Birds had won 6 of their last 8 games when visiting Portland and certainly seem to enjoy the Rose Garden, where they won three playoff games on the way to a stunning upset in a 7-game series in 2001. Portland wanted to play the way it did in the third period of a 2-1 win in Key Arena January 23 when the Hawks scored the winning goal early in the third period and then completely shut down Seattle, allowing only 2 shots on net the rest of the game.

The first period provided immediate testiness that included five Portland power plays, but also the ejection of Portland forward Robin Big Snake. Big Snake was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct minor at 9:19 of the first period by referee Chris Savage for jousting with Seattle's Dustin Johner before the puck was dropped for a neutral zone face off. Big Snake started out mildly arguing the call, but he kept it up. Savage responded by issuing him a ten minute misconduct. That really fired Snake up and he took an aggressive step toward the referee. Then, as the linesman was trying to put him in the penalty box, there was some bumping between he and Big Snake. Savage assessed the game misconduct and Portland was without a player on its top line. It is Big Snake's fourth game misconduct of the season, which means an automatic two-game suspension.

Seattle took the bulk of the penalties, though, after controlling play at even strength early in the game. Toews, in particular, had to contend with Seattle sophomore forward Aaron Gagnon, who seemed to constantly be in his crease. Toews made a couple of good stops on Gagnon and Johner as Seattle enjoyed extended time in Portland territory. But, penalties led to the Hawks getting some momentum. The Hawks did not get a lot going on their first two power plays, but increased pressure as the period went on. They had some very good chances on their last power play of the first period, but Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges was up to the task stopping Cody Mc Leod in the slot, Darrell May from the wing, and Brandon Dubinsky hit a goal post. Shots wound up 13-11, Portland, but the game was scoreless.

The goaltending show continued in the second period between Toews and Bridges. The period started out defensive, close to the vest and safe. But, the Hawks started to take command, effectively controlling center ice and using superb chip passes to gain the Seattle zone, sometimes with speed and scoring chances. Mc Leod stepped onto Dubinsky's line replacing Big Snake and he and Dan Da Silva had one goalmouth flurry turned aside by Bridges. Garrett Festerling took a nice chip pass from Brad Priestlay and broke in with speed, setting up Brian Woolger, who Bridges stopped. Bridges made a great save on Alex Aldred, point blank range, shortly before the Hawks finally were rewarded for their work. Funk stepped down from the left point as Aldred won a battle for possession behind the net, getting the puck to May. The Seattle defense went to May leaving an open lane for Funk, who wired a one-timer, short side, over Bridges' shoulder to open the scoring at 9:37. Seattle started to come back and gain some territorial play, getting the only power play of the period and following it up with a couple of strong shifts. The power play produced a fantastic chance for Gagnon in the low slot, but Toews came up with a brilliant glove save. Toews could not stop Johner's rocket from the high slot, though, after Seattle freed the puck along the boards near center ice, 16-year-old Chris Durand with the feed to Johner. After that, a memorable back and forth sequence featured three straight amazing saves by Toews at one end, two on Steven Goertzen and one on Gagnon, and then Bridges stopped Brad Priestlay twice at the other end. Portland outshot Seattle 15-9 and the game entered the third period tied 1-1.

Portland got the lead early in the third period off a transition rush. Priestlay was sent down left wing by Festerling and just before he was closed off by a Seattle defender, Priestlay unloaded. It was a hard shot that went past the defenseman and beat Bridges between the pads to make it 2-1. It was only the fourth goal of the season for Priestlay, but it was significant because Seattle has very little confidence in close games this season. They are (4-15) in one goal games and (4-9) in two goal games. So, Seattle is (8-24) in close games. Turn a few of those around and see where they are in the standings. Portland played pretty solid, but Braydon Coburn was whistled for holding and Richie Regehr for roughing and suddenly Seattle started to pepper Toews. Gagnon was stopped again, Johner with a blast, a slapshot by Nate Thompson from the inside of the right circle, and a superb short side save off a quick shot in the slot. Then, Sutherlin took center stage with 6:53 left and Festerling making a nuisance of himself on the penalty kill. Festerling forced Zack FitzGerald to hurry a pass and tipped the puck. Sutherlin swooped in and fired a wicked blast, high blocker, to give Portland a needed two-goal cushion.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 8, 2004


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