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
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