WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks Storm Swift Current, Win 4-0

Published on December 8, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winter Hawks outshot the Swift Current Broncos 53-17 Tuesday in Memorial Coliseum, but it took third period goals by Brandon Dubinsky, Darrell May and Dan Da Silva to break open a close game and give the Hawks a 4-0 win.

Da Silva was the only Hawk to put a puck behind Swift Current goalie Kyle Moir (MOY-er) in the first two periods as Portland only led 1-0 even though the Broncos hardly got out of their end of the ice.

Moir, a 5th round NHL draft choice of the Nashville Predators, put on quite a show, but Dubinsky's unassisted goal at 1:21 of the third period on a nice shot from the mid-slot finally gave the Hawks some breathing room and they coasted from there.

Dustin Butler only had to make 17 saves for his 4th shut out of the season and 6th of his career.

It was the third straight game Portland has outshot its opponent by a wide margin, but this time the result was a win to snap a two game Portland losing streak. Swift Current, (8-18-4-1), is now (1-2) on their 6-game west coast trip. Portland (14-12-1-3), completes its 5-game home stand when the Everett Silvertips return to town for a Rose Garden date Friday with face off at 7:00. It's the Hawks' first game in the Rose Garden since November 6, and just their third Rose Garden game of the season. Portland travels to Kelowna Saturday (Airtime at 6:35 p.m. on 970-AM with game time at 7:00) and Kamloops Sunday (Airtime at 6:35 p.m. and game time at 7:00).

The Broncos went into Everett and beat the US Division leading Silvertips 2-0 on Saturday and then lost 3-0 in Seattle on Sunday. Swift Current has the league's least productive offense, averaging just 1.8 per game.

Portland's challenge was conquering the Broncos' tight checking system, a tough stay-at-home defense led by rugged Czech Matej Trojovsky (4th Round, Colorado) who came into the game with 72 penalty minutes in 18 games. But, Trojovsky did not play due to illness and/or a pending league suspension as a result of an altercation during the Everett game.

It's the first time the Broncos have ever had to "rebuild". This is a franchise that has 9 straight winning seasons and won 10 championship banners from 1988-2001. But, the Swift Current Board of Directors, which runs the community owned team, elected to clean house after two straight first round playoff ousters. They knew GM/Coach Dean Chynoweth, who came to Swift Current from Seattle over the summer to take over, would have his work cut out for him this year. The Broncos are also without center Colin Stone, who had 22 points as a 17-year-old last season, who has missed the whole season with concussion syndrome.

The Hawks scratched Nicholas Hotson (healthy). Goaltender Blake Grenier is still out "day to day" with a sprained ankle, so it was the 11th straight game that Dustin Butler has started without Grenier in uniform.

Portland had outshot its last two opponents, Everett and Kootenay, 65-35, but lost both games. Portland Coach Mike Williamson spoke of "burying chances", doing a little better job of getting forwards in front of the opposing goalie, and not taking bad penalties as ways to turn decent efforts into wins. The Hawks had a hard time burying chances against Moir, but they got full marks on everything else. Portland definitely had plenty of activity near the Bronco net and the club was only shorthanded once in the entire game.

As was the case in the last two games, Portland came out putting lots of heat on the opponent's defense. The Hawks scored once and had two other goals waived off. Shane Halifax had a great chance from the slot and Cody McLeod narrowly missed a second chance scramble opportunity in the crease.

Bronco goalie Kyle Moir poke-checked away a good chance from Garrett Festerling and turned away a quick release shot in the low slot by Brandon Dubinsky. Da Silva almost deflected home a Michael Sauer point shot on the power play shortly before he darted out of the corner and got his skate on a Braydon Coburn point shot, deflecting it in to make it 1-0. Halifax also set up an empty net for Alex Aldred, but the goal was waived off as Halifax was assessed a tripping penalty when he took possession of the puck. And, apparent goal on a shot through traffic by defenseman Michael Funk that hit inside the net, under the crossbar, was waived off. After the puck bounced back, out of the net, McLeod kicked it in, resulting in the waive-off.

Dustin Butler had to make a good save on Czech rookie Marek Knebl. Shots were 15-5 Portland in the period.

Well, if you thought the first period was dominant, the second was ridiculous. The Hawks outshot the Broncos 22-4 and only an absolutely stellar performance by Moir kept the Broncos in it. And, they not only were in the game after two, they still only trailed 1-0. Not one Winter Hawks shot got past Moir in spite of nearly constant traffic below the dots and in front of the net. Brian Woolger had four good chances, Kyle Bailey had two and set up another, and Da Silva had three or four excellent chances down low. Brendan Mikkelson, Mike Funk and Braydon Coburn all got shots through with traffic in front of the net, but nothing found its way in. The Broncos were forced to take several penalties in desperation as they spent nearly all of the period defending in their own end. Portland had 7 seconds of 5-on-3 power play, won a face off, and Coburn let fly with a booming slapshot from the mid-slot, but Moir stopped it and deflected the rebound to the side boards. But, the good news is even with the added frustration of losing the last two games, territorially controlling the play, but failing to score, the Hawks never got frustrated and just continued to work.

Portland's longest stretch of power play was without Dubinsky, though, as he settled an earlier score by fighting former Everett Silvertip Barry Horman.

Horman slashed Dubinsky, nearly severing his finger completely off, in a game in Everett on October 30. Dubinsky decided to fight his own battle and it was a good tilt, Dubinsky clearly getting the upper hand as it went on. Once again, Butler was only tested once, in the slot, stopping Luke Hunter off a Tyler Redenbach set up. Shots were 37-9 after two periods.

The onslaught on the Bronco goal continued in the third period. Ironically, it was the first shot that found twine. Dubinsky accelerated through center ice, across the Bronco line, and cut to the slot, snapping a shot that beat Moir, blocker side, just 1:21 into the period.

Swift Current was still barely able to cross the Hawks' blue line as Portland tried to add to the lead. Aldred made a nice tip pass to May, streaking at center ice and then filled the lane as May beat Moir from about the same spot, again on the blocker side, to make it 3-0 at the 8 minute mark. Da Silva added the cherry on top with his second of the game on a great give-and-go play with Woolger, batting a rebound out of the air and into the net with 3:52 left.

The 53 shots were the most the Hawks have had since December 22, 2001 when the Hawks actually fired 59 shots at Tri-Cities goalie Joel Martin in the Rose Garden and lost, 7-3.

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 8, 2004


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