WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks Drop Third Straight Game, 3-1

Published on January 12, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Everett Silvertips scored three goals in the third period to come from behind and beat the Portland Winter Hawks for the second straight night, 3-1, Sunday in Memorial Coliseum.

It is the Hawks' third straight loss and Portland is (1-4-1-1) since the Christmas break, even though they have led in all seven games.

Portland carried a narrow 1-0 lead into the third period Sunday on Darrell May's first goal as a Winter Hawk since being acquired at Thursday's WHL trading deadline, but Marc Desloges scored on a perfect deflection, John Dahl off a transition rush from a Portland turnover in the attacking zone, and then Barry Horman put the nail in the coffin with a shorthanded goal as Everett won both games this weekend against Portland by scoring five unanswered third period goals.

The Hawks called two illegal sticks on Everett in the last 5:55 of the game to get two power plays, but Horman scored shorthanded on one of them and goaltender Jeff Harvey stopped several fairly good scoring chances on the other.

Portland, (19-18-4-1) for 43 points, came into the game in fourth place, 1 point behind Everett and only 7 points behind first place Spokane, but now the Hawks are only 9 points ahead of last place Seattle, who invades the Rose Garden this Friday at 7:00.

The Silvertips, who love to play a slow, methodical, no-risk defensive game that keeps the puck on the boards for long stretches, have the most veteran team in the WHL even though they are a first year team. Everett, now (19-16-7-1), is allowed to have five 20-year olds on its roster in its first season of operation. They also have five 19-year olds and they have proven that they can check their way to success and have an excellent chance to have the best record of any expansion team in WHL history.

Portland, with captain Braydon Coburn and reacquired Brad Priestlay playing their first game at home for a very long time, the Hawks were hoping to shake the recent trend of not being able to bury opponents. The Hawks, still without leading goal scorer Dan Da Silva, who is "day to day" with bruised ribs, have not won any of the five home games they have played since the Christmas break.

Shortly after Priestlay was announced to a roaring crowd in the starting line-up, his line with Alex Aldred and Cody Mc Leod rumbled into Everett territory to start the game. Mc Leod ignited a flurry with three scoring chances and a couple of hits and wound up in a scrap just 30 seconds into the game with Everett defenseman Mitch Love. The next shift produced three more shots off an aggressive forecheck giving the Hawks 6 shots in the first 1:47 of the game, but Jeff Harvey, the number two goalie in the league with a 2.07 average and 92.2% save percentage, stopped everything. Then, Hawk forward Darrell May was penalized for tripping as an Everett player went down and the momentum stopped as the ‘Tips reorganized and started to gum up center ice and force seemingly endless board battles. Neither team got anything going after that as the Hawks did a nice job of playing with a lot of defensive intensity, winning battles, throwing several good body checks, and not giving Everett any room to operate either. Shots wound up 10-5 Hawks in a scoreless period.

May made quite an appearance for Portland in the second period. The newly acquired winger almost scored on the first shift of the second period when he intercepted a clearing pass, but the puck rolled on him as he moved in on Harvey. May would be rewarded later on the power play, Portland's second power play of the game, set up by a bench minor for too many men on the ice against Everett. The Hawks won a battle for the puck on the right wing boards and Richie Regehr's cross ice pass gave Braydon Coburn a lot of room and time to penetrate from the left point. Coburn patiently waited for May and Robin Big Snake to drive to the net and his low wrist shot was deflected by May between Harvey's pads. On the next shift, May almost scored again as Dubinsky got to a dump in on the end wall and put a terrific pass on May's stick out in front of the net, but Harvey committed thievery with a tremendous glove save. Everett never generated a really great scoring chance. Chad Bassen got free for one decent wrap around from behind the net, but the Silvertips only had 11 shots on goal through two periods, trailing 1-0.

But Everett feels just fine about playing the game down by a goal and Portland was not able to mount much of an attack in the third period. The Hawks didn't give up any good chances either, but Everett was still only one shot away from tying the game. That shot came from the stick of their team captain Bryan Nathe, who fired a blast from the right point as Deslodge slipped in front of the Hawks net and deflected the puck over Toews' glove side. After that, Portland started to play a little nervous and the ‘Tips started to carry the play for the first time in the game. Toews made several good saves though and the game was still tied until the Hawks finally got something going in Everett territory. Coburn rushed the puck down low and the Hawks won a battle to get possession. May fed Dubinsky across the slot and it was hard to tell if the puck just bounced off his stick backward or he tried a drop pass to Coburn. In any event, the puck got past Coburn and Martin Ruzicka and John Dahl were away on a two-on-one. Portland got back very well, but Dahl slammed on the breaks, eluding Hawks' defenseman Brendan Mikkelson, and beat Toews with a good shot, under the bar, from the left face off dot.

Portland only had two power play chances to that point and had scored on one of them. So, in an effort to get out of the current morass, the Hawks called an illegal stick on Ruzicka with 5:55 to go. Regehr had a great chance early in the power play on a screen shot from the high slot with plenty of traffic in front, but Harvey came up with the glove stop. On the next sequence, a pass to Regehr at the right point went off an Everett stick, outside the line, and Horman released early and created a partial shorthanded breakaway, cutting toward the goal and muscling a shot off Toews' left arm and in to make it 3-1 with 4:44 left.

The Hawks tried another illegal stick call on Deslodge that was also successful and then pulled Toews to get a two-man advantage, creating a flurry of shots, but Harvey made great saves on Big Snake and May and the Silvertips blocked several other shots, one of the reasons they are the second best penalty killing team in the league, and Portland now hopes a week of practice with all hands on deck will put this bad stretch of results behind them.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 12, 2004


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