Sports stats



WHL Portland Winterhawks

Game Day Hub: February 24 at Victoria

February 24, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Ready For The Rematch

How about that for a Friday night W? The Hawks took down the Royals in the first leg of the back-to-back, notching six consecutive goals en route to a 6-2 win last night. Four Winterhawks (James Stefan, Gabe Klassen, Jack O'Brien and Marek Alscher) recorded multiple points, with Klassen hitting a special milestone as well - more on that below.

It was a dominant showing for the visitors, but a new day brings a new challenge, even if it is the same opponent. Victoria's injury-laden lineup may be struggling for depth, but veteran talent like Tyson Laventure and Dawson Pasternak still posted multi-point efforts last night and will be keen to take another swing at the Hawks. Star rookie Cole Reschny was quiet last night but can also go off at a moment's notice, leaving the Hawks with plenty to keep an eye on as we head into the Saturday night clash. Buckle up!

Scoring In Bunches

The key to Friday's victory was the Winterhawks' ability to not only score, but score often, tallying flurries of goals in short spans throughout the night to both generate and capitalize on momentum. That's been their calling card in the majority of their recent wins, and has been notably absent in recent losses.

Portland's four-lines-deep attack can paralyze opponents with wave after wave of pressure, and the Hawks demonstrated the value of that depth and their balanced lines in last night's win. Klassen and Stefan took the headlines with fantastic games, while O'Brien and Danielson showed off their playmaking ability elsewhere in the lineup and Zakreski and Nguyen each chipped in goals to complete a team-wide offensive effort. And that's to say nothing of the contributions from the back end - Alscher's multi-point night and Jugnauth's bar-down beauty in the third period again demonstrated the talent on the blue line even beyond WHL leading defensive scorer Luca Cagnoni.

In what could be a tighter game tonight, look for Portland to again lean on its depth in search of another two points in Victoria.

250 For The Captain

Winterhawks captain Gabe Klassen joined elite company last night, becoming just the 20th all-time Winterhawk to record 250 points in his WHL career. The Prince Albert, Sask. native bagged a crucial game-tying goal in the first period to reach the milestone with his 31st goal of the year, then tacked on an assist later in the game to bring his scoring total to 92 points this year - good for fourth in the WHL.

Klassen is the first Hawk to hit 250 points since Nashville Predators forward Cody Glass reached the mark in the 2018-19 season. His 114 career goals are good for 17th in team history, and his 137 assists rank 31st. A two-time captain of the Winterhawks, Klassen is also approaching the top 40 in games played with 236 regular season contests under his belt.

Congratulations, Captain!

STAY SOCIAL: (X) Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from February 24, 2024


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.

OurSports Central