WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks End Home Ice Woes, Win Third in A Row, 5-4

Published on January 23, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Richie Regehr (Rih-GEAR) and Ivan Dornic (DOOR-nick) scored third period goals and the Portland Winter Hawks played terrific defense, holding Spokane to only 5 shots on goal I the third period, to win 5-4 Thursday in the Rose Garden.

Regehr's slapshot from just inside the blue line broke a 3-3 tie early in the third period and Dornic scored from in front after some nice work below the goal line by Shane Halifax and Brad Priestlay to score the winning goal.

Spokane's Steven Gillen made things interesting by firing a blast from the left circle off the goal post and in with 2:41 to go, but the Hawks were very resilient and tough down the stretch, winning most of the key battles, and keeping the Chiefs to the outside.

The win snapped a 6-game home ice winless streak for Portland, which had not won at home since December 19. On the road, the Hawks have won 6 of their last 8 games.

Portland, (22-20-4-1) for 49 points now have a 3-game winning streak, winning 4-0 in Kamloops Sunday and 7-6 in Prince George on Tuesday.

The Hawks are still in fourth place, 11 points ahead of last place Seattle, just 1 point behind Everett, 2 points behind second place Spokane and only 5 points behind first place Tri-Cities as the U.S. Division continues to tighten up with six weeks left in the regular season. One team in each of the four 5-team divisions in the WHL misses the playoffs.

The Hawks conclude their busy 7-game in 9-night run at Seattle Friday (Airtime 6:35 on 970-AM KUPL) and at Kelowna Sunday. Kelowna is the top team in the league with a (35-11-4-0) record and the last time they played the Hawks in Memorial Coliseum on January 9, they outshot them 33-4 in the last two periods of a 2-1 win.

Spokane, (21-19-3-6), for 51 points was the hottest team in the division a couple of weeks ago, on a (6-1-2-1) run, but have now lost 5 straight. It's been very tough for any U.S. Division team to gain any consistent momentum as nearly every game, including Thursday's in the Rose Garden, comes down to one goal.

Portland has no injuries and welcomed back Michael Funk from the CHL Top Prospects game, the top 40 players from all three major junior leagues combined that are eligible for the NHL draft, as chosen by NHL scouts. So, the Hawks scratched Tomas Fojtik, Garrett Festerling and Frazer Mc Laren, all due to numbers.

Spokane is still missing 20-year-old forward Doug Auchenberg, who has 5 points in 3 games against the Hawks this season, with a long-term shoulder injury, forward Myles Stoesz (ankle) and 20-year-old injury riddled forward Jeff Lucky (abdominal injury). Lucky has been hampered by injuries the last three years of his WHL career after being selected in the 4th round of the 2001 NHL draft by the Washington Capitals.

Portland came out flying In the first period, generating 4 quick shots and a physical presence in the Spokane zone as Hawks' rookie Shane Halifax engaged Spokane veteran defenseman Scott Lynch in fisticuffs just 32 seconds into the game. Lynch was assessed an extra minor penalty in the fray and Portland capitalized on the power play. The Hawks, who finished (3-5) on the power play in the game, have now scored 25 power play goals in their last 18 games. Da Silva rang this one up, trying to feed a pass across the crease to Dubinsky, but it caromed off Spokane's Jakub Langhammer and past goalie Jim Watt 1:19 into the game. Portland kept he heat on as Ivan Dornic swiped an outlet pass in the neutral zone and Woolger quickly jumped into transition and the Hawks had a 2-on-1 break. Dornic put a pretty pass over to Woolger, screaming down right wing, for the stuff shot and Portland led 2-0 at 13:58. But, Lynch came out of the penalty box and was the beneficiary of some nice work to get the Chiefs on the board. Rookie 16-eyar old defenseman Scott Zimmerman, a Spokane native, won a battle for the puck, fed Steven Gillen in the slot and he just left the puck for Lynch to wind up and blast it past Toews from 40 feet. Richie Regehr sent Da Silva in on a breakaway with a beautiful up ice pass, but he didn't get a shot away as he waited too long getting the puck to his forehand. Michael Funk filled the lane with Dubinsky off the rush, but Watt robbed him in tight. Robin Big Snake also had a break when Zimmerman lost his balance at the Portland blue line, but Watt made a stick save as Big Snake tried to ram it home between his legs. Spokane was dangerous every time the line of Joff Kehler, Brad Schell and Chad Klassen was on the ice, but Klassen and Schell both barely missed the net on great chances in the low slot. Portland outshot Spokane 14-8 in the period.

Spokane had most of the play early in the second period, but Toews was solid making a handful of good stops. The Chiefs had an early power play and the best chance came from point blank range, a great set up by Brad Schell to Kehler, but Toews came up big. Brian Woolger and Darrell May both had good chances, Woolger set up by nice work in the corner by Dornic and May's shot produced a rebound, with Cody Mc Leod and Alex Aldred in front, but Watt covered up in time. Spokane's Andy Schenn got an extra two minutes in the box for roughing during a scrum ad then Jeff Lynch was hauled off for boarding, producing 5-on-3 Portland power play. Hawks' coach Mike Williamson called time out. Portland got a couple of good chances on the 5-on-3 and then scored with the one man advantage as Regehr's nice touch pass from the high slot opened up room for Dubinsky to wait at the right circle and slide a short pass to Da Silva for a blast from between the hash marks. Da Silva made no mistake and the Hawks led 3-1. But, on the next shift, May was called for goaltender interference when the replay showed he may have been pushed into the goalie by a Spokane defender. Brain Woolger was given a gross misconduct for waiving the "white flag", a towel, from the Portland bench. It was later changed to a "game" misconduct, meaning Woolger is not subject to further suspension as a result of the incident. It only took the Chiefs 14 seconds to score on the power play – a great up-ice rush by Schell along the left wing boards, feeding Kehler, who barreled right to the Portland net. Shots were 12-10, Hawks, in the second period as Portland took 3-2 lead into the intermission.

It only took Spokane 34 seconds to tie the game as Scott Lynch's outlet pass caught the Hawks' in deep and two of the league's most dangerous players, Brad Schell (6th in the league in scoring) and Chad Klassen (KLAW-sun) (7th in the league in scoring) broke in on a 2-on-1, Klassen tipping in a perfect centering pass. With the fans moaning a little, having seen several leads evaporate in recent home games, Regehr did not allow them to stay down long. Less than two minutes after Klassen's goal, he launched a power play bazooka from the high slot, with Da Silva screening in front, to regain the lead. Just 2:07 later Dornic went to the front of the net as Priestlay worked the corner and moved the puck to Halifax behind the net. Halifax outmuscled a Spokane defenseman and made a nice play to Dornic, who slammed it home to make it 5-3 4:39 into the third period. The Hawks have been a little scary with leads, including a 6-1 lead in Prince George Tuesday that wound up a 7-6 Portland win. But, Portland did a great job of gumming up center ice, forechecking when they had a chance, getting two good scoring chances for Da Silva and one for Mc Leod while now giving Spokane the slightest sniff of the Hawks' net until Gillen unloaded a bomb from the left circle that hit the post and went in with 2:41 left.

But, Alex Aldred's line with Braydon Coburn, Regehr, Brendan Mikkelson and Mike Funk held the fort at the end and then Toews stopped Gary Gladue with a straight on shot at the buzzer.

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2004


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