WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Earn Runaway Win with 9-2 Victory Over Chilliwack

Published on January 27, 2011 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks (33-14-0-3) pounced on the Chilliwack Bruins (21-22-2-2) early and never let up, coming away with a 9-2 win in front of 2,346 fans at the Memorial Coliseum. It was the team's sixth straight win, the longest active streak in the Western Conference, and they remain in first place in the Western Conference with 69 points.

Four Winterhawks posted four points on the night: Brendan Leipsic with two goals and two assists, and Craig Cunningham, Riley Boychuk and Sven Bartschi each tallying a goal and three assists.

The nine goals were a season-high by the Winterhawks, after twice scoring eight this season. They also outshot the Bruins 51-29, the 51 shots one shy of a season-high.

The Winterhawks took the action right to the Bruins early in the game, scoring three goals in the first 10:39 of the game. Brendan Leipsic opened the scoring 2:49 into the game, and was quickly followed by goals from Ty Rattie and Riley Boychuk as the Winterhawks took an early 3-0 lead. After Boychuk made it 3-0, the Bruins made a goaltending change, with Braden Gamble replacing Lucas Gore between the pipes.

After the switch, Leipsic tipped one in at the side of the net for his second of the period to give the Hawks a 4-0 lead. The Bruins would get one back before the end of the period when Kevin Sundher scored a power play goal with two minutes to go in the first to make it 4-1 heading into the second period.

The Winterhawks made it 5-1 at the 5:43 mark of the second when Craig Cunningham brought the puck into the Chilliwack zone and fed Ty Rattie in front, with Rattie putting it in for his second of the game and a 5-1 lead for the Hawks. Portland struck again at the 10:58 mark when Sven Bartschi scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season to make it 6-1. Then just over two minutes later, Cunningham scored at the 13:06 mark to make it 7-1.

After Cunningham's goal, the Bruins made their second goaltending switch of the game, bringing Gore back into the game in relief of Gamble, and the score remained 7-1 going into the third period.

Just 27 seconds into the third, Taylor Peters fired a shot from the slot past Gore to give the Winterhawks an 8-1 lead. Later in the period at the 6:15 on a power play, Brad Ross fed Nino Niederreiter on the doorstep, who banged it in to make it 9-1. Chilliwack would add a power play goal by Robin Soudek to make it 9-2, which would stand as the final.

Mac Carruth earned the win in net, stopping 27 of 29 shots.

The Winterhawks take to the road with games Friday in Tri-Cities and Saturday in Seattle before returning home to host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday, February 4 at the Memorial Coliseum.

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2011


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