Seattle Thunderbirds at Portland Winterhawks: Preview, updates, chat, how to listen and watch the stream
What: The Portland Winterhawks (0-0-0-1) compete in the Western Hockey League against the Seattle Thunderbirds (0-0).
When: Saturday, October 2nd, 6pm.
Where: Memorial Coliseum.
Watch: You can stream the game on CHL TV pay-per-view (CAD 6.99 for a game). (And have your refund request ready.)
Hear: Winterhawks and Thunderbirds audio.
Consequences:
- The box score.
- Get updates and chat before, during and after the game.
A bit disappointing for the Winterhawks not to take the two points on Friday, but they came back from 3-0 down. And nothing was done to shake belief that they will not have a good year. Allowing four more goals, however, could cause it to wobble.
All four Winter Hawks who returned from Covid loan to the USHL had strong offensive games, with James Stefan, Clay Hanus and Jack O’Brien receiving two points each and Cross Hanas one.
It is the Winterhawks’ first home game in front of an audience since March 8, 2020. A lot has changed since then. New owners, a new logo, vaccination / testing guidelines, and some contactless things that they apparently wanted to implement anyway. I have no idea what a lot it will be. You will have the people who think the constraints are too much and the people who think the constraints are too few and we just don’t know how many people will be in the middle.
| Forward | |
|---|---|
| 19th | 11-Robbie Fromm-Delorme (145 games) 18-Tyson Kozak (91) 24-set Jarvis (159) 71-Cross Hanas (139) |
| 18th | 9-Aidan Litke (11) 13-James Stefan (56) 16-handing classes (50) 21-Jonah Bevington (14) 67-Dawson Pasternak (1) 92-Jack O’Brien (62) |
| 17th | 17-Luke Schelter (7) 19-Kyle Chyzowski (21) 72-Marcus Nguyen (17) |
Jarvis is still at the NHL camp where statistically he didn’t have a good game last night.
Leading strikers: Stefan (2 points / 1 game), O’Brien (2/1), Fromm-Delorme (1/1), Hanas (1/1), Klassen (1/1).
| defender | |
|---|---|
| 20th | 2-Kade Nolan (111) 27-Jonas Brøndberg (70) 58-tone Hanus (196) |
| 19th | 23-Kurtis Smythe (54) |
| 18th | 6-Ryan McCleary (19) 44-Brody Big One (9) |
| 17th | 8-Josh Mori (0) 26-Marek Alscher (1) 43-Ryder Thompson (15) 73-Luca Cagnoli (11) |
Leading defenders: Hanus (2/1), McCleary (1/1), Cagnoni (1/1).
| goalkeeper | |
|---|---|
| 19th | 31-Dante Giannuzzi (34) |
| 18th | 70 holes Gordon (0) |
Save percentages: Giannuzzi .789.
If most of the Seattle Thunderbirds players are just pursuing normal career paths, this team should be a powerhouse for the next year and next. And they’d hope the players develop early and add to that mix this year. It may happen. They think they could be Portland’s biggest rival for the US division title. Last year’s numbers show they had more trouble scoring goals than preventing them; I think the outlook for this year could be reversed and their defenses will have to catch up on their offensive. We will see.
The league has always wanted a playoff series between Portland and Seattle with a division title or more at stake, and they have partially rigged the playoffs into a division format in order to achieve this. There is a good chance that this would happen this year … and they changed the playoffs back to a conference format. The only year in which Portland and Seattle met in division format was not an even duel.
| Forward | |
|---|---|
| 20th | 12-Henrik Rybinski (198) |
| 19th | 29-Jared Davidson (133) 32-Matthew Rempe (55) |
| 18th | 15 Mekai Grinder (47) 18-Sam Popowich (30) 24-Reid Shepherd (25) 34 Conner Roulette (66) 47-Lucas Ciona (79) |
| 17th | 7-Jordan Gustafson (24) 11-gift Ludwig (23) 26-Nico Myatovic (12) 77-Alessandro Segafredo (0) |
| 16 | 9-Cost Dunn (0) 19 Sam Oremba (15) |
The roster report still has roulette in the NHL warehouse.
Leading (return) strikers: Rybinski (28/23), Davidson (19/23), Ciona (13/23), Roulette (12/11), Gustafson (11/23).
| defender | |
|---|---|
| 20th | 27-Ryan Gottfried (131) |
| 19th | 6 Tire Builder (155) |
| 18th | 4-Jeremy Hänzel (23) 5-Leon Okonkwo Prada (0) |
| 17th | 14-Kevin Korchinski (24) 44-Spencer Bum (15) |
| 16 | 23-Ethane Mittelsteadt (0) 43-Sawyer Mynio (0) |
Bauer is apparently also in the NHL camp. Hanzel is injured and doesn’t seem to be playing.
Leading (returning) defenders: Korchinski (10/23), Hanzel (8/23), Bauer (7/23), Gottfried (7/23).
| goalkeeper | |
|---|---|
| 18th | 35-Thomas Milic (11) 37-Mason Dunsford (23) |
| 16 | 33-Scott Ratzlaff (3) |
Milic, a big part of this season, seems questionable for this game.
Savings percentages (last season): Milic .913, Dunsford .857, Ratzlaff .867.
| Winter hawks | Thunderbirds | average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 0-0-0-1 | 0-0 | |
| Goal difference | -1 | ||
| Goals / game | 4.0 | 3.6 | |
| Allowed goals / game | 5.0 | 3.6 | |
| Power play | 33.3% | 15.0% | |
| penalties shoot | 100.0% | 85.0% | |
| Power games for / game | 6.0 | 4.3 | |
| Power games against / game | 4.0 | 4.3 | |
| Excessive opponents | 1-0 | ||
| Result, last 10 games | 47-26 | 27-40 | |
| Result, last 20 games | 87-65 | 57-75 |
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