WHL Portland Winterhawks

Hawks Fall One Period and Five Goals Short

Published on December 18, 2005 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Vancouver, B.C. - On Saturday night, the Portland Winter Hawks were reminded, yet again, that anything short of a 60-minute effort will not suffice. The Winter Hawks and Giants were locked in a scoreless game until 8:06 of the third period, when the patient Giants scored 5 goals on 6 shots. Portland goaltender, Luke Shier, held the Giants off until Vancouver mounted a scoring flurry with 3 goals in 4 minutes and 2 more in less than 3 minutes, issuing Portland a 5-0 defeat. The shutout loss was the first for the Hawks this season and a sad ending to their disastrous 4-game road trip. The Winter Hawks go into the Christmas break having lost 5 in a row and 7 of their last 8. Mitch Bartley set the pace for Vancouver with a goal and an assist.

The Vancouver Giants are definitely where the Winter Hawks would prefer to be. Vancouver has lost just one game in regulation in their last 20 games, boasts the second best record in the Western Conference, and has 9 wins in their last 11 games. Meanwhile, the struggling Winter Hawks have just 4 wins in their last 11 games. Saturday was the second of five meetings, three of which are in Portland, and the Giants now lead the season series 2-0 after dominating the Hawks last Saturday, holding Portland to just 16 shots in a 4-1 win.

With the 5-game losing streak, Portland's record now stands at 15-14-1-2 (33 points). The Winter Hawks still have a 1 point lead over third place Seattle in the U.S. Division because the Thunderbirds are also enduring a 5-game losing streak. With 110 goals in 32 games you wouldn't suspect scoring to be an issue, but it has been during the 5-game skid as Portland has been outscored 28-5 and averaged just a goal a game. Oddly enough, the Hawks had only lost one game all season by 3 goals or more until the current losing streak. Portland's power-play continued to struggle on Saturday, going 0-for-6. The Hawks are now 2 for their last 41 (4.8%) on the man-advantage in the last six games after going 16-for-42 (38.1%) in the previous six. The Hawks' penalty-kill did improve on Saturday, killing 5-of-6 Vancouver power-plays. Portland had allowed 12 power-play goals in 32 shorthanded situations in the first three games of the road trip. Vancouver outshot Portland 27-13 in the game and Portland has now been outshot in each of the last five games, and 7 of their last 9, after outshooting the opponent in the previous seven. Portland's last win came on December 9th in Kennewick, WA, a 3-2 buzzer beater victory over the Tri-City Americans.

Luke Shier made his third straight start and fourth in five games. Prior to Friday night's 5-2 loss to Kelowna, where Shier made 20 saves on 23 shots, Shier had seen an average of 42.2 shots per game in five starts.

Shier, who made 38 saves in last Saturday's 4-1 home loss to the Giants, came up big early as he denied the Giants' on a pair of quality scoring chances just a minute into the game, including a couple of big saves on Vancouver's first power-play of the night. The puck spent most of the first period in the Portland zone and Shier stopped all 13 Vancouver shots. Shier's counterpart, Dustin Slade, denied all five Portland shots in the first period.

Goaltending had the upper hand in the second period and the game remained scoreless after 40 minutes of play. Shier made 8 saves in the second period, one more than Vancouver's Dustin Slade.

After being shutout for 48 minutes, Vancouver surged to a 3-0 lead in a four minute span. Vancouver finally got a shot past Shier, eight minutes into the third period. J.D. Watt, who was stoned by Shier in the opening minutes of the game, picked up a blocked shot rebound and slipped the puck past Shier at 8:06 to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Mitch Bartley made it 2- 0 with a power-play goal at 11:20. Less than a minute later, Kyle Lamb kept the scoring rally going with his 13th goal of the season at 12:15. Vancouver scored again on a 3-on-1 shorthanded play when Tim Kraus netted his 17th at 14:21. And Mario Bliznak capped the scoring with his third of the year at 16:53. Portland registered just one shot in the third period and Vancouver scored five goals on their period total, six shots.

15-year-old forward, Thomas Frazee, who normally plays for the North Shore Vancouver AAA Midgets, was called up for his first WHL game in Kelowna on Friday night. The North Vancouver, B.C. native, who was Portland's first round selection in the 2005 WHL Bantam Draft, saw plenty of playing time on Saturday, including some shifts on the Hawks' power-play.

Former Winter Hawk, Brendan Mikkelson, played his first game against his former team on Saturday night. Mikkelson returned to the Giants' lineup on Friday night after being out for more than a month with a knee injury.

Defenseman, Mike McDonald, is listed as day-to-day with illness. Kurtis Mucha was a scratch due to numbers. Rookie right wing, Colton Sceviour, is month-to-month with a broken jaw. Defenseman, Cameron Cepek, is also month-to-month with a broken wrist. Defenseman, Jordie Fike, is out indefinitely with mono. Jannik Hansen missed his sixth game while playing for Team Denmark in the World Junior Relegation Tournament in Slovenia. Hansen will return after the holiday break.

The Hawks begin the second half of the 2005-06 season with three games in three nights, beginning with a meeting against Kamloops on Thursday, December 29th at 7PM in the Rose Garden. Portland then wraps up 2005 with a home-and-home series against the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Winter Hawks are in Seattle on Friday, December 30th at 7 PM and back in Portland for the annual New Year's Eve game in the Rose Garden, Saturday, December 31st, with the special game start of 5 PM. Call 236-HAWK (4295) for tickets.

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 18, 2005


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