WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Lose Overtime Heartbreaker 4-3 To Kamloops Wednesday

February 4, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks dropped a 4-3 overtime decision at home to the Kamloops Blazers Wednesday.

Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring 6:58 into the game on a power play when he collected a rebound in the slot and fired a puck past Blazers netminder Kurtis Mucha. But Kamloops tied the game on a shorthanded goal less than two minutes later when Jordan DePape won a footrace to the puck in the neutral zone, came in on a breakaway and beat Portland goaltender Mac Carruth to tie the game at 1-1. Kamloops then took the lead at the 14:11 mark when Chase Schaber put a high shot past Carruth to make it 2-1, a lead they'd take into the second period.

Portland tied the game at the 13:42 mark of the second period when Riley Boychuk put one past Mucha in a goalmouth scramble to make it 2-2. It was Boychuk's 13th goal of the season. Late in the period with the two teams playing four-on-four, the Blazers regained the lead when Brendan Ranford scored with just 51 seconds remaining in the period to make it 3-2 heading into the third.

The Winterhawks evened the score 3:30 into the third period when Stefan Schneider drove to the net and put a shot on Mucha, who kicked it out to a waiting Oliver Gabriel, who fired it in to tie the game at 3-3.

The score remained deadlocked through regulation, forcing overtime. In the extra frame, Portland's Ryan Johansen had a breakaway but was turned away by Mucha, who then stopped Johansen again on the same shift when Johansen had a clear shooting lane from the left faceoff circle.

Shortly after those chances, the Blazers' C.J. Stretch stole the puck at the Kamloops blueline and skated down the ice on a breakaway, and scored the game-winning goal 2:01 into overtime to give the Blazers a 4-3 win.

Portland outshot Kamloops 48-27 on the night.

The Hawks return to the ice Friday at the Rose Garden when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. It's the annual Salute to the Buckaroos, where fans can pay tribute to Portland's original hockey dynasty.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 4, 2010


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