WHL Portland Winterhawks

Scrappy Hawks Fall One Short to Seattle 4-3

February 22, 2009 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Portland, OR: The Seattle Thunderbirds got a late power play goal from Jonathan Parker, his second goal of the game, and they escape the Memorial Coliseum, knocking off the scrappy Portland Winter Hawks by a score of 4-3.

Parker finished the night with four points, two goals and two assists. Greg Scott had the other two goals for Seattle.

Seattle took an early 1-0 lead, but Portland tied it when Chris Francis scored on his own rebound, set up by Luke Walker, late in the first period. The goal extended Francis' point streak to 10 games, garnering 15 points in those 10 games.

Again Seattle would take the lead in the second period, but once again, Portland rallied to tie it on another rebound with Riley Boychuk knocking home a Travis Ehrhardt entry shot. Tayler Jordan added an assist on the goal.

Seattle's Scott gave the Thunderbirds a 3-2 lead scoring in the final minute of the middle period. Portland's Radim Valchar would tie the score on a wrap-around early in the third period, set up by Boychuk and Joel Ridgeway.

Seattle got the game-winner when Parker found a loose puck in the slot and beat Kurtis Mucha with a backhand. Portland pulled Mucha for an extra-attacker in the final minute, but couldn't get the equalizer.

Mucha stopped 25 of 29 shots for Portland while Calvin Pickard made 29 saves on 32 shots as Portland outshot Seattle for the game.

On special teams, Portland went 0 for 2 on the power play while killing 4 of 5 chances against.

Portland also welcomed their 7,000,000th fan to Memorial Coliseum in a pre-game festivity.

Next up, the Hawks will host the Tri City Americans on Sunday night at 5:00 at the Memorial Coliseum.

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from February 22, 2009


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