WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winter Hawks Win Big Game

Published on March 15, 2004 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


Portland goaltender Krister Toews made his best save of the season on Tri-Cities' most dangerous goal scorer, Ryan Kinasewich (Kinn-ASS-uh-witch), in the dying seconds as the Portland Winter Hawks secured second place in the U.S. Division with a 2-1 win in front of 10,825 Sunday in the Rose Garden.

The win gives Portland home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, a best-of-seven series against Tri-Cities that starts Friday at 7:00 and Sunday at 5:00 in the Rose Garden.

Everett won the division with a 2-1 win in Tri-Cities Friday and will play Spokane in the other U.S. Division first round series.

Brandon Dubinsky and Michael Funk scored for Portland and Kinasewich had the lone goal for Tri-Cities. Funk scored the winning goal 7:15 into the third period after a determined play on the boards by Robin Big Snake and a nice pass from Cody Mc Loed. Funk blasted a shot from the slot past Tri-Cities goalie Carey Price, who was brilliant in a losing cause with 40 saves.

Toews, who finished with 21 saves, had to be perfect on Kinasewich with about 10 seconds left as a cross ice pass forced him to slide across and kick out his left pad just in the nick of time.

Portland finished (34-29-6-3) for 77 points, which was a 27-point improvement over last year's team.

The Hawks came out fired up from the get go, outshooting Tri-Cities 10-1 in the first five minutes of the game and getting the goal from Dubinsky on a rebound on one of Portland's 10 power plays in the game. .Alex Aldred, who was terrific at both ends of the ice all night, threaded the needle with a nice pass through the slot to Brian Woolger, who fired. Price made a spectacular save, but Dubinsky was there to finish off the rebound. Portland had a chance to put the Americans away as Tri-Cities was called for four straight penalties by referee Chris Savage. But, the Americans stiffened on their penalty kill and Portland could only get perimeter shots through on Price, who made all the saves he was supposed to make. Portland outshot Tri-Cities 16-6 in the first period.

Early in the second, the Hawks had an extended power play when Nikita Korovkin cut Kyle Bailey with his stick. But, the Hawks couldn't get it organized, partially due to limited personnel. Bailey was in the dressing room getting stitches and Darrell May had broken a skate blade and was unavailable until late in the second period. That is why trainer Innes Mackie was not on the bench when Bailey suffered his cut – he was working on May's skate. Tri-Cities sensed a momentum switch after their penalty kill, and then Richie Regehr tried a long outlet pass up the middle of the ice. Kinasewich snatched it and had a lot of open real estate between he and Toews. He is a premier player and he made a premier zigzag move, tucking a backhand from the goal crease to tie the game. Then, Tri-Cities started to come hard and the Winter Hawks appeared rattled for several shifts in their own zone. Tri-Cities got a power pay as a result of a skirmish involving several players near penalty boxes, and the Hawks had to brace for a kill. They did a good job of keeping the Ams' power play to the outside except for one great chance for Cam Mc Caffrey that rang the right goal post. Festerling came out of the box and led a charge into the Tri-Cities zone that resulted in the Hawks seizing momentum back. Portland had a couple of glorious chances to get the lead back, but Price came up with a fantastic glove save on Aldred and Dan Da Silva missed a one-timer just above the cross bar fro the slot. The game remained tied 1-1 after two as Price stopped 31 of the first 32 shots he faced.

After Funk's goal that turned out to be the winner, Festerling was called for holding for pulling down Logan Stevenson on a drive down the right wing. Portland gritted its teeth for one of the best penalty kills of the season. Regehr more than atoned for his earlier mistake with several big hits and excellent clears, Mc Leod brought a big ovation from the crowd for combining with Bailey on an extended board battle that kept Tri-Cities in its own end. Mc Leod, in fact, disrupted the whole power play by throwing two huge hits on Kinasewich. The Ams didn't really get a great chance. With time winding down, the Ams pulled Price for the extra attacker and Portland cleared the zone a couple of times before Stanley found the puck on left wing and zinged a perfect strike to Kinasewich, alone on the back door, and Toews worked his miracle to preserve a very significant win for the Hawks.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 15, 2004


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