Winter Hawks Lose Fourth in A Row, 4-2
Published on January 17, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
Kyle Fecho (FAY-ko) knocked down a Portland clearing attempt at the blue line and fired a long shot through traffic that went over the outstretched glove of Portland goalie Krister Tows midway through the third period for the winner as Seattle beat Portland 4-2 in front of 9,771 Friday in the Rose Garden.
Dustin Johner added an empty net goal for Seattle's final tally.
Dan Da Silva, coming back after missing four games with a rib injury, and Brian Woolger scored for Portland, which has lost 4 in a row and is just (1-5-1-1) in the 8 games since returning from the Christmas break and the Hawks are winless, (0-4-1-1) in 6 home games since the break.
Portland, (19-19-4-1) for 43 points, came into the game in fourth place, 3 points behind Everett and only 8 points behind first place Spokane. But, with the win Seattle is now only 7 points behind the Hawks. One team in each of the four 5-team divisions in the WHL misses the playoffs.
Friday's game started a 7-game in 9-night run, with 5 of those games on the road. Portland plays at Everett Saturday (radio broadcast on 970-AM KUPL will be joined in progress, live, about 7:15 after Oregon Duck basketball), at Kamloops Sunday (radio airtime is 6:35 p.m.) and at Prince George Tuesday (airtime 7:05 p.m.). Portland's next home game is Thursday against Spokane at 7:00 in the Rose Garden.
Friday's game was telecast on Comcast cable channel CNW-14 and will be replayed in the Portland and Salem area markets on Tuesday and Thursday of the coming week, both replays aired at 7:00 p.m.
Seattle, (13-21-8-2), has been outshooting and outplaying teams lately, but the record doesn't show it, just (2-5-2) in their last 9 games before Friday's win. But, Seattle brings back quite a few players from last year's US Division championship team that finished (44-22-3-3). Overage Dustin Johner had 77 points last year, including 36 goals and Ryan Gibbons, Steven Geortzen, Justin Maier, David Svagrovsky, Nate Thompson, Zack FitzGerald and Matthew Hansen are all NHL draft picks. No other team in the division can claim that many prospects. But, Gibbons and Svagrovsky were out with shoulder injuries and therein lies part of the story of the T-Birds' season.
Portland iced its first completely healthy lineup since before the Christmas break as leading goal scorer Dan Da Silva, who has missed four straight games and 5 of 7 since the Christmas break with rib and concussion problems, returned Friday. So, the Hawks scratched Taylor Sutherlin, Ivan Dornic, and Frazer Mc Laren due to numbers. But, Seattle was missing Svagrovsky (shoulder), Gibbons (shoulder) and FitzGerald (ankle) and they all could be out of the Seattle line-up long term.
In the first period, Seattle won a majority of little battles on the boards and to the puck to gain the territorial advantage early. With Gibbons and Svagrovsky out with long-term injuries, 16-year-old Chris Durand, a first round bantam pick and the top 16-year-old point producer in the league, was put on the top line with Tyler Metcalfe and Dustin Johner. They were dangerous several times, including Johner hitting the right post on a backhand in tight, before they parlayed the only goal in the first period. Metcalfe was first on a puck behind the Portland net and fed a nice pass out to Durand at the top of the crease and he just got the tip of his stick on it, but it was enough to nudge it past Portland goalie Krister Toews and in. Seattle got a chance to really take early command when Hawks' defenseman Mike Funk was called for cross-checking and apparently did not agree, getting and additional two minutes in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct by referee Rob Matsuoka. Portland picked it up during the kill, only allowing a couple of harmless shots at the end of the man-advantage. The Hawks did not get a shot on goal until the last minute of the first period, even though they did get a few chances early that did not result in shots. In the last minute, though, Garrett Festerling set up Brad Priestlay at the side of the net for Portland's best chance of the period, but shots wound up 11-1 on the shot clock.
Portland opened the second period on a power play and wasted little time getting the equalizer. Just 39 seconds in, Dubinsky held the puck on the half wall to allow Regehr to get into position for the big shot from the point and for Da Silva to get to the net. Seattle goalie Bryan Bridges made the initial save, but left a weak side rebound and Da Silva backhanded it home for his team leading 21st goal of the season. With Seattle 20-year-old forward Justin Maiser off for elbowing, the Hawks' power play struck again. Braydon Coburn jumped down from his defense position down to the corner boards and forced a Seattle turnover. The puck came to Woolger for a blast from the top of the right circle that found the top corner, perfectly placed, to give Portland a 2-1 lead. But, Seattle came back as Nate Thompson drove, full speed, down right wing and caught Hawks' defender Derek Poplawski a little flat footed. Thompson drove to the net and Toews made a sliding save, but Portland could not get possession and clear the puck of trouble. With Toews still down from the initial save, a shot by Adam Huxley wet wide, but Metcalfe found the rebound off the endboards and rifled it past the fallen Hawks' goalie to tie the game 2-2 after two.
The Hawks had most of the attack time in the Seattle zone early in the third period and Woolger and Big Snake both had good chances to give the Hawks the lead. But, both teams played tight and Seattle got the break it was looking for at 10:56. Toews came out of the net to play a dump-in on the end boards and sent the puck up the wall. It got past the Portland winger all the way to Fecho at the right point. He got the shot away quickly. Toews was back in his net, but there were quite a few bodies in front and the shot found an opening in the top right corner of the net. Portland, which has seen leads disappear in every game since the break, did not flinch this time. The Hawks had several shifts in a row in the Seattle end, but the Thunderbirds did a good job of keeping most of the action to the outside. The Hawks waited too long a few times to shoot from the wings and several times were guilty of stickhandling too far toward the Seattle net, getting the puck poke-checked away or plays broken up. Still Da Silva had a good chance on two quick shots to the right of Bridges off a face off, Festerling had a deflection just miss wide, and several times Portland was just a step late getting to pucks near the Seattle goal.
It was one of those games where, after the first period at least, the Hawks carried quite a bit of the play making the final shots, 25-18 for Seattle, somewhat deceptive.
Western Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2004
- Winter Hawks Lose Fourth in A Row, 4-2 - Portland Winterhawks
- Americans Shutout Silvertips 2-0 - Everett Silvertips
- T-Birds Win 4-2; Johner Scores 16th - Seattle Thunderbirds
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