Winterhawks Complete Sweep with 6-2 Win Over Everett
Published on March 31, 2011 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
The Portland Winterhawks completed their first round sweep of the Everett Silvertips Thursday with a 6-2 victory, advancing the Hawks to the second round of the playoffs. Portland's six goals came from six different players.
It marks the Winterhawks' first playoff series sweep since the 1998 WHL Finals, when Portland swept the Brandon Wheat Kings to advance to the Memorial Cup.
The Winterhawks now await the result of the series between the Spokane Chiefs and Chilliwack Bruins to see who they will play in the second round, a series the Chiefs currently lead 3-1 after a win tonight. If Spokane wins, the Winterhawks will take on the Kelowna Rockets. If Chilliwack overcomes the 3-1 deficit and wins that series, Portland will then take on the Bruins.
Everett opened the scoring Thursday with a goal by Jari Erricson 5:22 into the game, but the Winterhawks stormed back with five straight goals. Taylor Peters scored at the 16:28 mark of the first to even the game at 1-1, then Riley Boychuk scored a power play goal at the 18:51 mark to give Portland a 2-1 lead going into the second period.
The Winterhawks then came out firing in the second, as Craig Cunningham scored just 45 seconds into the period to extend the lead to 3-1. Cunningham's goal was followed at the 4:10 mark by a goal from Sven Bartschi, and just 29 seconds later Portland struck again with a goal from Joe Morrow to race out to a 5-1 lead.
Everett got one back at the 10:08 mark when Manraj Hayer cut Portland's lead to 5-2, but the Hawks again went up by four when Brad Ross scored from a great setup by Ryan Johansen at the 16:57 mark to make it 6-2, a lead they would take into the third period.
The score remained 6-2 through the third period as the Hawks closed out the game and the series to advance to the second round.
Bartschi finished with a goal and two assists, while Cunningham, Ross, Niederreiter and Ty Rattie all had two points in the win.
Mac Carruth picked up the victory with 31 saves on 33 Everett shots. Luke Siemens allowed six Portland goals on 44 shots.
The Winterhawks were 1-4 on the power play and a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill.
Western Hockey League Stories from March 31, 2011
- Silvertips Season Tomahawked by Portland - Everett Silvertips
- Winterhawks Complete Sweep with 6-2 Win Over Everett - Portland Winterhawks
- WHL Issues Suspensions - Spokane Chiefs
- Red Deer Rebels Nugent-Hopkins Named Husky WHL Player of the Month - WHL
- Kelowna Rockets' Brown Named Vaughn WHL Goaltender of the Month - WHL
- Blades Address Rumours Surrounding Brayden Schenn's Alleged Facebook Status - Saskatoon Blades
- Rockets Tickets Update - Kelowna Rockets
- Americans Sweep Giants with 5-1 Win; Advance to Conference Semi-Finals - Tri-City Americans
- Chiefs Drop Game 3 in OT - Spokane Chiefs
- Tri-City Eliminates Vancouver from the Playoffs - Vancouver Giants
- Portland Defeats Everett, 5-4 - Everett Silvertips
- Rockets Complete Sweep with 4-2 Win - Kelowna Rockets
- Winterhawks Win Game 3 in Everett 5-4; Lead Series 3-0 - Portland Winterhawks
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