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Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Game Day Preview: Portland at Vancouver - Game #58

February 18, 2019 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


After clinching a spot to the playoffs last night, the Winterhawks now look to make it three straight wins on the holiday weekend. They head to Vancouver for the final regular season meeting of the year for a President's Day(US)/Family Day(CAN) afternoon game.

Puck Drop: 3:00 p.m.

Venue: Langley Events Centre

Tickets: Portland vs. Seattle

Listen: winterhawks.com/listen

Watch: WHL Live

PREVIOUS GAME - Winterhawks 5 vs. Thunderbirds 2: For the tenth straight season, the Portland Winterhawks are heading to the WHL postseason. The Hawks beat the Thunderbirds 5-2 at the Moda Center on Sunday evening in front of a crowd of 9,000-plus fans.

Joachim Blichfeld increased his goal-scoring and point lead in the Western Hockey League with the help of a hat trick. Both of his second period goals came on special teams and the hat trick goal was the loan score in the third period. His third goal of the night was also the 100th of his WHL regular season career.

Portland controlled the game offensively with 52 shots on goal, their highest total in 2019. The Winterhawks become the fourth Western Hockey League team to punch its ticket to the 2019 playoffs.

NOTABLES:

The victory marks Mike Johnston's 350th career win as a head coach of the Portland Winterhawks.

Blichfeld recorded his fourth career WHL hat trick and 11th time he has recorded four or more points in a single game.

Josh Paterson cashed in on a two-point night, his third multi-point game with the Winterhawks in the last month.

Cody Glass picked up three primary assists. It's the eighth time this season Glass has recorded three assists in a game this year.

Portland's special team play helped the team in the win, scoring twice on the man advantage and once shorthanded. The Hawks have 11 shorthanded goals, which is second among WHL teams.

The Hawks have won six straight meetings against Seattle to improve to 7-2-0-0 head-to-head this year with three meetings left. TODAY'S MATCH-UP:

The Vancouver Giants are currently one of the strongest teams in the WHL with points in nine of its last ten games. Good news for the Winterhawks, Shane Farkas has backstopped three impressive wins against the Western Conference-leading Giants and they are 3-0 head-to-head this year.

The Giants are at the top of the division with 39 wins and their 22 home victories is tied for the most in the WHL with the Hawks.

Davis Koch is one of the forwards to keep an eye on for Vancouver. He leads his team with 59 points and has points in his last three (G-4A). Oddly enough, in three meetings this year, rookie forward Yannik Valenti is the only Giants skater with multiple points this year against the Hawks. Portland has held Vancouver to just one goal in their last two meetings dating back to October.

Team Slovakian National Junior Team member Milos Roman has found his scoring touch in February with four goals, and ever since Thanksgiving, future top ten NHL pick Bowen Byram has stolen the show on the blueline for Vancouver.

From the goaltending perspective, today's match-up is an intriguing one. Trent Miner and David Tendeck of the Giants are both in the top five of goals against average, but neither has beaten the Winterhawks this year. Meanwhile, Shane Farkas has drawn all the starts against Vancouver and is 4-0-0-0 in his career against them, with a 0.99 goals against average, .960 save percentage and two shutouts. St. Louis Blues draftee Joel Hofer has had a darn good weekend, stopping 59 of 61 shots in the pair of wins.

Offensively, the Giants have scored four or more goals in five of their seven games since they were last shut out by the Winterhawks. They are most recently coming off a 22-save Tendeck shutout in Kelowna against the Rockets on Saturday. Prior to that, they showed they could put up five goals against one of the better offensive units in the U.S. Division, Spokane.

Needless to say, it should be a tremendous game this afternoon to wrap up the weekend slate. The Hawks next home game is coming up on Friday. March 1 against the Spokane Chiefs at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Please visit winterhawks.com/tickets for full details on pricing and availability.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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