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WHL Portland Winterhawks

Litke, McCleary Help Cap Comeback for Hawks' 5-4 OT Win

December 17, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Portland, Ore. - Ryan McCleary netted his second overtime game-winner of the season 3:13 into the extra frame to help the Winterhawks (23-4-2-1) wrap up a wild 5-4 win over the visiting Vancouver Giants (12-15-4-2) on Saturday night at the VMC.

Entering the zone along the right wing with James Stefan, Portland's clutch-scoring defenseman loaded the puck on his back foot and wired a seeing-eye wrister past the Giants' defender and through the paraphernalia of Brett Mirwald to cap off a late-game comeback and seal both points for the Hawks.

With the win, Portland has won five consecutive contests and has earned at least a point in seven straight (6-0-1-0).

Kicking off a see-saw affair, the Winterhawks rattled off three straight goals in the first 25 minutes of the contest. Their first of the night came 11:42 into the contest as James Stefan capped off some beautiful power-play passing with Jack O'Brien and Robbie Fromm-Delorme. The Laguna Beach, Calif. native then doubled his club's lead early in the second period with a quick shot off the faceoff, before Carter Sotheran made it 3-0 two minutes later as he finished off a give-and-go with Kyle Chyzowski to prompt a Giants goalie change.

Stemming the tide, Vancouver eventually got on the board late in the middle frame with Mazden Leslie's sixth of the season, then quickly tied things up with two tallies from Ty Thorpe and Dylan Anderson in the first 2:27 of the final period. The Giants then broke the deadlock with four minutes to play on Tyler Thorpe's first WHL goal, but Portland fought back to again tie things up on Aidan Litke's ninth of the season. With his team trailing, Litke corralled the puck behind the net and fended off a defender before pulling off a power move to the front of the net and chipping the puck past Mirwald to force overtime.

WHL clubs are off next week for the holiday break, but the Winterhawks are back in action on Dec. 28 against the Tri-City Americans at the VMC.

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 17, 2022


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