WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Earn 7-2 Win Monday Over Vancouver

Published on September 28, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks opened their home schedule with a 7-2 win over the visiting Vancouver Giants Monday at the Rose Garden.

The win came in large part because of a dominating effort in the third period. Coming into the final frame with a 4-2 lead, the Winterhawks weren't content to sit on the advantage and milk the clock. The Winterhawks attacked throughout the third period, outshooting the Giants 23-5 over the last 20 minutes.

The Giants were able to withstand the Winterhawks' barrage for much of the period, but when Spencer Bennett scored his second of the night with just under four minutes to go to make it 5-2, it opened the floodgates and the Winterhawks added two more late goals to seal the win.

Portland opened the scoring just 1:47 into the game when Ty Rattie found Spencer Bennett alone in the slot, and he fired it past Vancouver netminder Derek Tendler to make it 1-0. The Giants evened the score at the 12:03 mark when Brendan Gallagher picked up a loose puck off a faceoff and beat Portland goaltender Keith Hamilton to tie the game at 1-1.

The Winterhawks then got a late goal with just 34 seconds remaining in the period when a Taylor Aronson shot from the point deflected off a Giants player right on to the stick of Brendan Leipsic in front of the net. Leipsic beat Tendler high to earn his first career WHL goal and gave the Winterhawks a 2-1 lead entering the second period.

Brad Ross, playing his first game of the season after attending training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs, made two great plays in the second period. First he picked up the puck at his own blueline on a Vancouver turnover, brought the puck up-ice turned a Giants defenseman inside out and beat Tendler to make it 3-1 at the 6:03 mark.

Later in the period, Ross had the puck down low in the corner, fired it back to the opposite point to Josh Hanson, who took a shot that deflected off a Giants defender and into the net, giving Hanson his first career WHL goal. The Giants would get one back late in the period when James Henry scored with just over a minute remaining in the period to cut Portland's lead to 4-2 heading into the third period, but from there the Winterhawks dominated to close out the win.

Keith Hamilton got the win in net for Portland, stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced. Tendler made 33 saves on the 40 Winterhawks shots he faced. The Winterhawks were 2-7 on the power play, and 6-7 on the penalty kill.

Joe Morrow had three assists on the night, while Bennett also had three points with two goals and an assist.

The two teams meet again Wednesday night in Vancouver. The Winterhawks return home for a pair on the weekend at the Rose Garden, Saturday against Seattle and Sunday against Lethbridge.

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from September 28, 2010


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