Kelowna Rockets at Portland Winterhawks
Saturday, October 31, 3pm PDT
Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon
Portland Winterhawks
The Winterhawks defense has jumped to the top story, as a strong 3-1 victory on Wednesday over the Vancouver Giants has put them tied for 3rd-best in the league in goal prevention, at 2.5 goals per game. And it’s 2.0 in the 8 games since Max Pšenička has been injured.
The goaltending remained strong with Ondřej Štěbeták stopping 22 of 23 shots Wednesday. Portland’s overall save percentage matches their goals allowed, 3rd-best in the league.
Special teams is still a little unclear. They only had to kill one penalty, but it was a momentum-helper early in the 2nd period. The power play did score a goal, but it was a pretty soft one by Giants goalie Burke Hood, beaten by Jordan Duguay from the goal line. Portland has 3 power play goals in the last 2 games, but only that soft goal was 5-on-4. So there’s still some work.
The Winterhawks got shut out of the Central Scouting rankings, very rare for a Winterhawks team. It’s not a surprise. Their draft-eligible players were mostly playing on the 4th forward line or in a protected role on defense. But these aren’t set in stone; Cody Glass started as a C the season he went 6th overall. They’ve all been better lately with some added responsibility, and Jordin St. Louis scored the first goal on Wednesday.
Rehashing parking, there this story about the city looking to make street parking around the arena harder. You have some sympathy for the organization, as there isn’t a lot conventional that they can do about it, but the bottom line is you are basically adding the price of another ticket to the game cost. It’s not getting better, and it’s going to hurt them if it keeps escalating.
Old business: Ozzie Ware doesn’t play until Black Friday; Portland’s home return was obviously a success.
Rank the Winterhawks’ wins so far
- 10/28 3-1 over Vancouver. Best effort of the season.
- 9/19 3-2 OT at Everett. Spoiled the Tips’ banner-raising.
- 9/26 5-3 over Kamloops. Season-high in goals.
- 10/21 3-2 SO at Kelowna.
- 10/14 2-0 at Penticton. Cruz Chase’s season debut.
- 10/9 4-1 over Wenatchee. Came back after a doubleheader loss to Spokane caused worry.
Kelowna Rockets
Since Portland left Kelowna, they’ve only played a road doubleheader at the Victoria Royals. They lost both, the first in a shootout.
But that shootout loss was their 5th overtime game in a row. 7 of their 12 games so far have gone to overtime. They’ve only won 2, so they have 5 loser points; the next-highest team has 3. So even though they’re 4-8, they’re only one point behind the Winterhawks and are currently in the last playoff spot.
Which, given that this is their first year recovering from having to sell the farm while hosting the Memorial Cup, is a very respectable start. Their roster isn’t bad.
They’re in the odd situation where Madden Daneault, their only point-per-game player, has a limit of how many games he can play for them as a 15-year-old. He got sent to his AAA team, and is also playing in the World U-17 Challenge. Portland missed him in 2 out of 3 games.
Goaltending has been a struggle. Harrison Boettiger is off to a slow start, which might be a welcome for Portland, as they’ve faced a lot of goalies with gaudy numbers so far.
As we talk about defense, the Rockets are 2nd-best in the league at limiting shots. They were number one when the Winterhawks played them last.
Previous games
October 16 at Kelowna: 3-2 overtime loss. Tomas Poletin scores the OT winner after Portland tied it in the 3rd.
October 21 at Kelowna: 3-2 shootout win. Portland overcomes Jordan Henderson’s 2 goals to get the split.
Top players 1 Peyton Kettles, KEL 2 Jacob Henderson, KEL 3 Jordan Duguay, POR 4 Tomas Poletin, KEL 5 Dawson Gerwing, KEL 6 Ondřej Štěbeták, POR 7 Will McLaughlin, POR 8 Kyle McDonough, POR 9 Corbet, Nate, KEL 10 Luke Wilfley, POR
Portland last game lines
Reed Brown-Jordin St. Louis-Kyle McDonough
Nathan Brown-Luke Wilfley-Jake Gustafson
Trevor Toyne-Sam Spehar-Jordan Duguay
David Hoy-Sam Auld-Alessandro Domenichelli
Stevie Grumley-Will McLaughlin
Avery Laliberte-Easton Dozark
Cameron Jacobson-Luke Christopherson
Kelowna last game lines
Cole Braunshausen-Tomas Poletin-Jakub Frolo
Dawson Gerwing-Owen Folstrom-Ryan Oothoudt
Von Lakovic-William Matte-Eli Barrett
Gabriel O'Brien-Jack Morgan-Drew Larioza
Nate Corbet-Peyton Kettles
Dane Sorensen-Jacob Henderson
Will Kelts-Remy Koch
