Friday, the Winterhawks traveled to Kennewick, WA for the first half of the home and home against the Americans. A scoreless first period gave way to an Oliver Bjorkstrand goal in the second period. However, the Ams would respond with two goals of their own as Connor Rankin and Lucas Nickles would put the Ams up one heading into the final frame. Midway through the third period, Garrett Haar would tie things up and send the game into overtime, where Anton Cederholm made short work of the period and gave the Winterhawks a 3-2 OT win. Brendan Burke got the win in a solid outing.
Saturday was the Portland home game, and unlike the previous evening, it was pretty much all Winterhawks, as they dominated from start to finish. Adam de Champlain scored the only goal in the first period and a Chase de Leo feed to Bjorkstrand would make it 2-0 in the second period. Tyson Predinchuk would score his first goal in a Winterhawks uniform to make it 3-0 and by the time the second period ended, it was 4-0 after a Dominic Turgeon goal. That was enough to chase Eric Comrie from the game and only a Brian Williams goal prevented Burke from getting a shutout, as the Winterhawks won 4-1. The Winterhawks were without Taylor Leier, Derrick Pouliot, and Nic Petan, who are playing for Team Canada in the WJC. They are also without Brendan Leipsic, whose suspension ends after the Victoria game on Saturday.
The Winterhawks host league leading Kelowna on Tuesday and Thursday in a meeting of the two best teams in the league. Kelowna will be looking to extend a 14-game winning streak while Portland will be looking to put some distance between themselves and their U.S. Division rivals. Friday, the Winterhawks head back to Kennewick, WA for a game before heading home to host Victoria on Saturday.
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