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Winterhawks seize playoff slot PORTLAND SEALS FINAL PLAYOFF SPOT WITH CLOSE VICTORY OVER PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS BY TRAVIS DAVID V WHITTAKER The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Prince George Cougars 5-4 on March 8. W ith the w in, the Hawks clinched the e ig h th and fin al spot in th e W estern H ockey League’ s W estern Conference a fte r th e Spokane C h iefs lo st to the Everett Silvertips. W ith th e P o rtla n d W in te rh a w k s advancing to The playoffs for the eighth straight season, the team is confident with how they are playing moving forward into the last couple of games in the regular season, The stretch o f eight playoff appearances includes four straight Western Conference cham pionships, as w ell as the 2013 Ed Ghynoweth Cup team who ended up losing the 2013 Memorial Cup final to the Halifax Mooseheads. “ We’ve got some divisional teams here to play next, and it’ s a good statem ent go in g in to th e p la y o ffs ,” said Hawks centreman Ryan Hughes. W ith only a handful of games left and less and less games to earn points towards the standings, team s who have clinched a p layo ff spot are lookin g to secure a possible division title as w ell as seeding in the W estern Conference playoff race. “ Wherever we end up, we’re just gonna play hard. I think we match up well against any team.” -C o d y Glass W interhaw ks centrem an C ody Glass was named the W estern Hockey League Player of the W eek for the w eek ending March 12 and is considered a top 20 pick by Sportsnet’ s Jeff Marek in his March mock draft for the June NHL draft. Glass is confident w ith how his team Stas been playing down the stretch of the regular season and w ho th ey could m atch -u p with, i “Wherever we end up, w e’re just gonna play hard,” said Glass. “ I think we match up w ell against any team .” The Winterhawks’ Cody Glass, No. 8, faces off against the Cougars’ Brogan O ’Brien, No. 15, on March 8 at the Moda Center. As of the last week of the regular season, Portland has the possibility of matching up to four teams in the first round o f the playoffs. The two team s th at are m ost likely to com e in to p la y are th e S e a ttle Thunderbirds and the Everett Silvertips. At the time of press, Portland would be playing Everett, who they split the regular season series w ith at five gam es each, but Portland is 5-2 in the past seven of those games. Everett features Carter Hart, one o f the best goalies in the WHL in terms of overall stats. Hart leads the WHL in goals against and in overall shutouts w ith a 2.01 goals against average and nine shutouts. Hart w as also drafted in the second round, 46th overall last June by the Philadelphia Flyers. Portland could face Seattle, a team they have gone 5-6 with this season, w ith one regular season matchup left on March 18. But Seattle could be without one of their best players in Matthew Barzal, who may be sick w ith the mumps virus. “ We are treating it as mumps until we learn otherw ise,” said Seattle General Manager Russ Farwell on March 134 A few w eeks ago, the league had a ban o n access to all players, leagu e-w ide, due to ongoing reports of mumps. It was lifted, but could be put back in taeffect as players could have the virus arise once again. The two other teams-that Portland could m atch up w ith are the Prince George Cougars and the red-hot Kelowna Rockets. The Hawks have fared better against Prince George this season, going 2 -1-0 - 1, where as w ith Kelowna they are 1-3. Kelowna has won seven in a row and nine of their past ten. The last time the Hawks played Kelowna was at the end o f January w hen they lost 5-4. Of the four teams that Portland could match up with, I see Kelowna as the least likely for Portland to see in th e opening round of playoffs. , The downfall o f playing Prince George is the long bus trips. From Portland to Prince George B.C. is a 13-hour bus ride. W ith the potential for a long series, the Hawks could make the trip north three tim es in a tw o-w eek span, if the series were to go to seven games. Assistant coach Oliver David feels the team would be confident against them in the playoffs. “ Were down for some com petition,” said David. “ If [the playoffs] were to start today, we would be on a big upswing; and if [Prince George] was our opponent, we would feel very confident. ” The Hawks have two games left to try and im prove their seeding, th o s e are against the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Spokane Chiefs. The postseason will start the following weekend in either Kent or Everett, Wash, Prince George, B.C. or Kelowna B.C. j Clackamas Print MARCH 15,2017 thedadamasprintcom 7
