WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks Come Back, But Seattle Scores Winner Late

Published on November 7, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Tyler Metcalfe converted a short rebound with 2:02 left to give the Seattle Thunderbirds a 3-2 win over the Portland Winter Hawks in front of 10,354 Saturday in the Rose Garden.

Portland overcame a 2-0 deficit for the fifth time this season with third period goals by Braydon Coburn and Brendan Mikkelson, but Seattle controlled the play for nearly the entire game, outshooting Portland 36-19, to nail down the win.

Aaron Gagnon (GANN-yun) and Ladislav (LADD-iss-lahv) Skurko (SKIRK-oh) scored for first place Seattle, (12-4-0-0). The Thunderbirds have won all three head to head meetings with Portland this season to lead the Hawks by 5 points in the very close U.S. Division race. The loss ends a two-game winning streak, and a four game home ice winning steak for Portland.

The Winter Hawks, now (9-8-0-1) on the season, only play 4 games in the next 17 days, all on the road, beginning at Vancouver this Friday at 7:30 p.m. (Airtime on 970-AM KUPL at 6:35). Portland has a big Thanksgiving week of hockey planned for Memorial Coliseum. The top team in the entire league, the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers, make their only Portland visit on Wednesday November 24, the night before Thanksgiving, at 7:00; Tri-Cities is in town the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 26, at 7:00 and the Calgary Hitmen will be here Saturday November 27 for the annual "Teddy Bear Toss" game at 7:00. All fans are encouraged to bring as many new stuffed animals as they are able to carry in the door of Memorial Coliseum and then throw all of them on the ice when the Hawks score their first goal of the game. Last year, just over 6,000 stuffed animals were thrown onto the ice and then Winter Hawks' players, themselves, deliver them to local kids in Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Shriner's Hospital and Emmanuel Children's Hospital during the holiday season. Last year, the event received national attention on NBC's "The Today Show".

Seattle was the lone team to miss the playoffs in the five-team US Division last season. But, this year, they are off to one of their best starts in franchise history under first year head coach Rob Sumner. Sumner, who used to play for the old Victoria Cougars in the WHL, worked for six years as an Assistant Coach in Seattle, much the same way coach Mike Williamson worked his way to the head coaching position in Portland. Seattle had a very strong returning nucleus from last year's team and they have bought into Sumner's "defense first" philosophy. In addition, they are getting incredible goaltending from 19-year-old veteran Bryan Bridges, who came into Saturday's game ranked second in the league with a 1.18 average and 95.5% save percentage.

Meanwhile, the Winter Hawks came into Saturday's game on a two game winning streak, including an emotional, satisfying, 3-2 come-from-behind win in Tri-Cities Friday. Portland's key to success, too, is to play well enough defensively and not make too many glaring errors to allow their deep offensive attack to win games. The Hawks came into Saturday's game with the best offense in the entire Western Conference featuring a very balanced attack with 7 players in double figures in points compared to only 3 players in double figures for Seattle. And, Portland's offense has been perking pretty good without its best offensive player, Brandon Dubinsky, still missing "day to day" with a finger tip laceration. Dubinsky is not one of the 7 Winter Hawks in double figures in points. Seattle has had its success this season without one of its best offensive players too, 20-year-old forward Nate Thomspon, who had missed all but two games with a knee injury, but Thompson picked tonight to return and he kept Portland on its heels much of the evening with some fine skating.

Seattle had a 6-game winning streak halted last weekend with a 3-2 loss at home to Kamloops when they went with Josh Lepp in goal instead of Bridges. But, Bridges returned for an impressive 3-0 shut out win in Tri-Cities Wednesday and the T-Birds were resting Friday night while Portland spent eight hours on the bus going back and forth to Tri-Cities for Friday night's win there, and it seemed to have an effect. Portland's forwards, other than 17-year-old rookie Nick Hotson, and isolated moments from several others, just did not seem to be able to shift into the extra gear they normally have. The Hawks forwards, especially, just looked slow to the puck and slow away from the puck most of the game.

The first period was nearly all Seattle and co-starred Portland goalie Dustin Butler. Seattle outplayed Portland for nearly the entire 20 minutes, showing fresh quickness, superb positional play and winning a lion's share of battles for the puck. The Hawks threw some good hits. Alex Aldred rocked a T-Bird and 16-year-old Sasha Golin got into Zack FitzGerald's face, but it was Seattle that generated nearly all of the scoring chances. But, the problem for the T-Birds was clearly Butler, who came out exceptionally sharp since he was rested last night in the Hawks' 3-2 win in Tri-Cities. Butler stopped Nate Thompson, Mitch Fadden twice, Ryan Gibbons on a partial breakaway, and Aaron Gagnon in tight. All of Butler's saves were solid and if he did leave rebounds, they were skillfully steered to the corner. Portland's only decent chance to score in the first period was a quick entry shot by Mike Funk that got to the crease where 6'4" Frazer McLaren battled for a quick backhand, but Bridges was up to the task. Shots were 13-6 Seattle in the scoreless first period.

Seattle's hockey clinic continued in the second period. It actually got better as the Thunderbirds stormed the flatfooted Hawks, outshooting them 19-7. In the first two games between the two longtime rivals, Portland actually controlled much of the play, outshooting Seattle 69-48 combined, but Bridges was the big story as he stopped 67 of the Hawks 69 shots in 2-0 and 4-2 Seattle wins. Bridges could have spent most of the first two periods of this one shopping at Fred Meyer and no one would have noticed. The Hawks just got nothing going at all. Meanwhile, Seattle kept chipping away and after Clayton Barthel hit a goal post and Butler came up with a good stop on Denis Tolpeko's wrap around, the inevitable happened. On a Seattle power play, Gagnon was left alone at the lower right circle and he beat Butler through the pads to open the scoring at 8:10 of the second period. Just 19 seconds later, Ladislav Skurko broke down the wing and unloaded a long shot that Butler fanned on with his glove and just like that it was 2-0. It was too bad for Butler, who was simply outstanding to that point and was getting no help from anyone else. Coach Mike Williamson, knowing he has only so many tools to try to light a fire under his team when they are playing this poorly, pulled Butler and put in Blake Grenier. The Hawks had a couple of decent shifts in the Seattle zone, but the T-Birds are so good defensively that nothing dangerous got in on Bridges. Meanwhile, Grenier had to made superb stops on Derek Couture, Thompson, Tolpeko, and Gagnon twice to keep the game close. Portland had one great chance as McLaren got in on the forecheck and forced a turnover. Kyle Bailey put a nifty touch pass on the stick of rookie Nick Hotson, who was one of Portland's bright spots all game. Hotson, going for his first ever WHL goal, just failed to lift the puck over a fallen Bridges, who stopped the shot on the ice with an extended goal stick. Cody McLeod tried to fire up the troops with a scrap against Couture, but the Hawks were down 2-0 and were being outshot 32-13, entering the dressing room after two.

But the thing that is weird about hockey is a team can just not have it, be badly outplayed, and still find a way to win. Portland almost pulled it off. Seattle was in its comfort zone for the first half of the third period, not allowing Portland many chances. Portland's veteran forwards just did not have any jam. But, when Metcalfe was called for interference, the Hawks' power play cashed in. It was not a goal that Bridges would have liked to think about later had his team not rallied for the win. Coburn lined up a big blast from the high slot and his slapshot went right through Bridges to finally give the Rose Garden some life. The fans started to sense something special and the players started to feed off of it. Cody McLeod got to the net for a decent chance and the Hawks started to buzz around a little in the Seattle zone forcing T-Bird defenseman Clayton Barthel to take a cross-checking penalty behind his own net. On the ensuing power play, Mikkelson shut down as he cut to the left wing sending a Seattle checker spinning into the boards. With a crowd of Hawks in front of the Seattle net, and an open shooting lane, Mikkelson wired a laser over Bridge's blocker and the Hawks were actually tied, 2-2, even though Seattle had dominated all but five minutes of the game.

Seattle coach Rob Sumner called time out and restored some order as Seattle just went back to the business of outskating Portland and winning races to loose pucks. Off another fairly long shift in the Portland zone, the Hawks turned the puck over at center ice and Seattle got an open shot from Chris Durand from the high slot. Grenier made the save, but no one was anywhere near Metcalfe in front of the Hawks' net as he slipped home the short rebound for the winning goal.

Portland coach Mike Williamson still had a time out and used it with 34 seconds left to pull Grenier for an extra attacker. The Hawks, who had done a better job on face offs in the third period to start to gain some puck possession time, got some sustained pressure for one of the only times in the game after Williamson's time out. Cody McLeod and Brian Woolger both got shots away from the low slot, but both went just wide through the maze of players in front of Bridges.

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 7, 2004


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