Winterhawks Weekly: The Light, the Dark, and the Endless Knot

The life of a WHL team is one of cycles: for every good run of years they have, there is bound to be at least a few off years where rebuilding is the name of the game.  Sometimes, there are even instances where a team knows its window is closing and they go all in.  That last instance is where the Portland Winterhawks are in a sense, as you will find out later.

First, the week that was, and the Winterhawks had their first chance to take back the U.S. Division lead from Everett on Tuesday, as they took on the Silvertips.  The teams exchanged goals in the first period, as Josh Winquist and Garrett Haar opened the scoring for their respective teams.  Taylor Leier would put the Winterhawks up 2-1 to end the second period, and that's when things opened up for the Winterhawks.  Alex Schoenborn, Chase De Leo, and Oliver Bjorkstrand made it 5-1 Winterhawks before the halfway point of the third period, which caused the Silvertips to switch goalies, as Austin Lotz was benched for Daniel Cotton.  Everett would get within two on goals from Ivan Nikolishin and Winquist, but a Derrick Pouliot goal would end the Silvertips' chances and ensure that Portland would be entering the Alberta road trip with the U.S. Division lead in a 6-3 win for Brendan Burke and company.

Friday was the rematch of the last two WHL championship series, as the Winterhawks and the Edmonton Oil Kings met in the latest chapter of a budding rivalry.  Nic Petan would open the scoring for the Winterhawks, but Dysin Mayo would tie things up at one after one period.  Cody Corbett would score the lone goal in the second period to put the Oil Kings up 2-1, and like the last game the Winterhawks played, things erupted in the third period.  Curtis Lazar would put the Oil Kings up 3-1 to open the third period, but Derrick Pouliot would put the Winterhawks within one soon thereafter.  An Edgars Kulda goal would put the Oil Kings up two again, but Leier would score the next two goals, including a goal with under a minute to go in the game to force overtime.  The game would need a shootout, where Reid Petryk would score the winner for the Oil Kings and send the Winterhawks to a 5-4 loss.  Because the Silvertips also lost that evening, that assured the Winterhawks of ending the week with at least a share of first in the division, as they earned a point in the shootout loss.

The Winterhawks went to Red Deer on Saturday to take on the Rebels, who would be a key figure in the Winterhawks' immediate future plans (more on that later).  The Winterhawks started out hot, as De Leo and Paul Bittner would put the Winterhawks up 2-0 to start the game.  Adam Musil would put Red Deer on the board to close the gap at one, but Brendan Leipsic would give the Winterhawks a two goal lead once again heading into the second period.  Schoenborn would put Portland up 4-1 to begin the second period, but a Vukie Mpofu goal would make it 4-2.  Connor Bleackley would put the Rebels within one, but a Leipsic goal would make it 5-3 heading into the third period.  Dominik Volek would score the only goal of the third period, but it wasn't enough, as Portland escaped Red Deer with a 5-4 win and Jarrod Schamerhorn got the victory.

Sunday was a day the Winterhawks would like to forget, as their third game in as many days wasn't kind to them.  They concluded the Alberta road trip with a game at Calgary, and for the first period, things didn't look so bad, as Bjorkstrand would put the Winterhawks up 1-0 after one period.  However, the fatigue of the road trip caught up to them, as the Hitmen would put up four unanswered goals, with Greg Chase and Kenton Helgesen scoring in the second period and Pavel Padakin scoring twice in the third period to give the Winterhawks a 4-1 loss.

The Winterhawks will have a home and home this weekend with Seattle, with a road game Friday and a home game Saturday.  And now, for the news of the week: the Winterhawks made a trade with the Rebels yesterday, acquiring the rights to Matthew Dumba and a conditional pick in exchange for Presten Kopeck and a couple of conditional picks.  Currently, Dumba is still with the Minnesota Wild and his entry level contract started this year, as he has played 13 games this season.  However, he has not played since November 23 and was released to try out with the Canadian national team in the World Junior Championships.  The Wild can still send Dumba down to juniors, but now instead of a Red Deer team that is trying to reload, it will be a Portland team that is looking to repeat as WHL champions.  Dumba's addition, if he does get sent back to juniors, would shore up a Winterhawks defense that hasn't played as well as in recent years.