WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Fall 8-5 to Kelowna Saturday

Published on November 8, 2015 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks (7-9-0-0) fell 8-5 to the Kelowna Rockets (13-5-0-0) Saturday at the Moda Center in front of a sold out crowd of 10,947.

The Hawks opened the game by building a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes, opening the scoring 3:24 into the game when Ryan Hughes tallied his first career goal for a 1-0 lead.

They extended the lead at 16:25 when defenseman Brendan de Jong jumped into a rush, went to the net and tipped the puck past Kelowna netminder Michael Herringer for a 2-0 advantage. Then just 1:36 later Caleb Jones fired a shot that beat Herringer for a 3-0 lead Portland took into the second.

Kelowna replaced Herringer in net with Jackson Whistle to open the second, then scored three goals midway through the period to tie the game. Kelowna got on the board at 9:04 when Nick Merkley scored shorthanded to cut Portland's lead to 3-1. Just under two minutes later Kelowna's Tyson Baillie scored during a goalmouth scramble make it a one-goal game at 3-2, then the Rockets tied it 24 seconds after that on a goal by Cole Linaker to bring it to 3-3.

The Rockets added one more before the end of the period when Rodney Southam scored on a power play at 18:21 to give Kelowna a 4-3 lead going into the third.

Kelowna made it a two-goal game when Kole Lind scored at 4:13, but the Hawks got back within one just 54 seconds later when Alex Schoenborn netted his sixth goal of the season to bring the Hawks within one at 5-4.

The Rockets again made it a two-goal game at 9:16 when Justin Kirkland scored to give Kelowna a 6-4 advantage, with Kirkland striking again with a power play goal at 14:56 to make it 7-4.

Portland got back within two at 17:46 when Rihards Bukarts registered his first as a Winterhawk, scoring on a power play to cut the deficit to 7-5. Kelowna's Devante Stephens sealed the game with an empty net goal to give Kelowna the 8-5 win.

The Hawks will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Kennewick, WA to take on the Tri-City Americans.

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 8, 2015


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