By james art 
What: The Portland Winterhawks (6-7-2) take on the Seattle Thunderbirds (5-9-1-1) in Western Hockey League action.
When: Saturday, November 2, 6:00 PM PDT.
where: accesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington.
Watch: Local CW TV in Portland. Or you can stream the game via CHL TV pay per view (about US$7.50 per game).
listen: Audio from Winterhawks and Thunderbirds.
Follow:
- The result of the box.
- Get updates and chat before, during and after the game.
The Portland Winterhawks’ losing streak is now 8 games. They took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period in Spokane, more on the back of Ondrej Štebetak in goal than anything else, but it didn’t last as Spokane won the game and then added an empty-net goal to win by 4 -2.
Now they return to the site of Game 2 of the series, Seattle, where they also had a third-period lead on Oct. 12 and couldn’t hold on to it either. And at the end of that game, Diego Butazzoni cross-checked Sawyer Minio and got a 3-game suspension, which really hurt Portland, especially since 2 of the 3 games he missed went into overtime. In many ways, the ShoWare Center was where it all fell apart, so they came back here to try and clean it up.
You’d consider it a 50-50 game, except Portland has to take an overnight trip through Washington and get into town very early in the morning. That would point him to the Thunderbirds.
[stats are subject to late adjustments]
| Forward | (Career Games – Season Points/Games) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 19-Kyle Chizowski (260 – 20/15) |
| 19 | 8-Brayden Joachims (59 – 1/14) 28-Josh Zakreski (191 – 10/13) 39-Tyson Yaremko (92 – 11/15) |
| 18 | 17-Carsyn Dyke (18 – 6/15) 29-Hudson Darby (88 – 5/15) 61-Brody Hankel (9 – 0/9) 90-Diego Butazzoni (162 – 13/12) |
| 17 | 18-Kyle McDonough (75 – 4/12) 23-Ryan Miller (79 – 10/15) 37-David Hoy (11 – 2/11) 42-Nikita Mikailhov (4 – 0/4) |
| 16 | 9-Jordan Duguay (15 – 7/15) 72-reed brown (15 – 3/15) |
Buttazzoni was Portland’s leading scorer in that 10/12 game and had a 4 game scoring streak after that game. This suspension slowed him down.
Zakreski scored a no-play goal against Spokane. He is the Winterhawks leader in hits per game.
| Defenders | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 27-Tyson Jugnaut (72 – 14/13) 43-Ryder Thompson (249 – 5/15) |
| 19 | 59-Carter Sotheran (170 – 4/13) |
| 18 | 4-Cohen Massey (6 – 0/4) 12-Cole Slobodian (20 – 1/15) |
| 17 | 7-Kayd Ruedig (17 – 4/15) |
| 16 | 22-Griffin Darby (14 – 1/14) |
| Goalkeepers | (Career Games – Season Save%/Games) |
|---|---|
| 18 | 74-Marek Schlenker (6 – .896/6) |
| 17 | 1-Ondrej Shchebetak (12 – .880/12) |
In this 10/12 game, Shchebetak allowed two bad goals in the third period that turned the game around. He had a very good game on Friday against Spokane. It would be a little surprising if they brought him back for this match.
After beating Portland on 10/12, the Seattle Thunderbirds weren’t in the best shape. They have lost 6 of 7 and have been outscored 17-34, although most of that was on their annual trip east. On Friday, they played the Edmonton Oil Kings to a draw, taking three 1-goal leads but not holding onto any of them and eventually lost in a shootout.
They have the worst goal difference in the league. They are tied for the bottom with Portland in even-strength goal difference and near the bottom with Portland in shot differential, shooting percentage and save percentage. And these teams play each other nine more times!
| Forward | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 23-Kieren Gronik (209 – 9/12) 29-Nathan Pilling (163 – 16/12) |
| 19 | 9-Coster Dunn (124 – 8/16) 73-Arjun Bawa (140 – 8/14) |
| 18 | 8-Will Jamieson (53 – 0/10) 22-Simon Lovsin (70 – 7/14) 81-Nishaan Parmar (82 – 10/16) |
| 17 | 24-Brayden Holberton (62 – 4/16) 77-Kazden Mathis (76 – 4/15) 86-Brayden Coutts (87 – 15/16) 88-Matej Pekar (12 – 10/12) 89-Antonio Martorana (69 – 1/1) 91-Sam Charko (74 – 5/16) |
| 16 | 17-Brandon Rudolph (18 – 1/13) 18-Colton Guerrier (15 – 4/12) |
Coutts and Pekar, both of whom appeared in the Central Scouting rankings, are each on 5-point streaks. Pilling has a streak of 3 games; around the same time Buttazzoni was earning his suspension, Pilling hit Tyson Jugnauth in the head and received a 2 match suspension.
They acquired Gronick from Vancouver during the week as the Giants had to waive a 20-year-old. He had a 2-point night in his debut on Friday.
The promising 17-year-old Martorana made his season debut on Friday after returning from injury and scored in the 2nd period.
Mathis had 2 goals against the Winterhawks on 10/12, including the game-winning goal, which is half of his points so far this season.
| Defenders | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 44-Owen Boucher (193 – 1/8) |
| 19 | 3-Ashton Cumby (155 – 2/16) 43-Sawyer Minio (231 – 16/13) |
| 18 | 5-Hyde Davidson (123 – 1/16) |
| 17 | 25-Ty Riley (14 – 3/14) 27-Caleb Hartman (68 – 3/14) 28-Jackson Pavlenchuk (9 – 0/9) |
| 16 | 6-Vanek Popil (13 – 1/12) |
Boucher is week by week via the Weekly Report.
Mynio, as always, is their best player, although he didn’t have a great game against Portland on 10/12. He likely has a month left in his Thunderbirds career as he heads to the World Juniors and will likely be traded to a contender after that.
| Goalkeepers | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 33-Scott Ratzlaff (120 – .903/9) |
| 17 | 31-Grayson Malinoski (10 – .842/7) |
Ratzlaff is in the same boat as Mynio. Seattle’s goalies have the worst save percentage in the league, but that’s because of goalies other than Ratzlaff. So if he is moved, the second half could be a free-for-all.
| Winterhawks | Thunderbirds | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 6-7-2 (.467) | 5-9-1-1 (.375) | .551 |
| Entered/Enabled (vs.) | 48-65 (-17) | 47-74 (-27) | 52-52 |
| Goals/game | 3.2 | 2.9 | 3.6 |
| Goals Allowed/Game | 4.3 | 4.6 | 3.6 |
| Power play | 27.4% | 28.9% | 23.2% |
| Criminal murder | 80.4% | 70.3% | 76.8% |
| Power plays for/plays | 4.1 | 2.8 | 3.8 |
| Power play against/play | 3.1 | 4.6 | 3.8 |
| Overtaking opponents | 3-11-1 | 4-10-2 | 7-7-1 |
| After 1 period | 2-9-4 | 3-9-4 | 5-5-5 |
| After 2 periods | 3-9-3 | 4-10-2 | 6-6-3 |
| Result, last 10 games | 28-47 (-19) | 31-42 (-11) | 36-36 |
| Result, last 20 games | 58-82 (-24) | 60-87 (-27) | 68-75 |
| Total WHL Games | 1644 | 2190 | 2195 |
| The WHL compiled the top 60 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| NHL draft | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| The NHL compiled the top 80 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Players 6′2 or taller | 5 | 9 | 8 |
| Players 5′10 or under | 8 | 4 | 6 |
Join us here on my site. Everyone is welcome.