The Portland Winterhawks are making their case as one of the top teams in the WHL, as a 5-2 win over the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday put them into first place in league standings with a 0.800 win percentage. Their 16 wins, ties them for second most in the WHL, behind Moose Jaw’s 19.
Skyler McKenzie scored twice, while Lane Gilliss, Brendan De Jong, and Keiffer Bellows added goals in Portland’s first and only visit to Western Financial Place this season.
Cameron Hausinger tallied his fifth goal of the season, while Gilian Kohler notched his third as the two provided the offence for the Ice.
It was a shooting gallery for both goaltenders; Ice netminder Bailey Brkin saw 55 shots come his way, while the Ice directed 39 pucks on ‘Hawks backstopper Cole Kehler.
The Kootenay crease guard was named the third star of the game for his efforts.
“It definitely helps with confidence,” said Brkin. “Every goalie has those games where they make saves, but they’ll still want one or two of them back. The fourth and fifth goal I probably could have had back, it’s just learning moments.”
But Brkin wasn’t rattled by 55 shots as he was repeatedly shelled during his time in the AJHL with the Calgary Mustangs last year.
“Coming from playing my last two years of hockey before I came here, I got over 50-plus shots a game,” Brkin said. “I just feel, because of that, that my growth was so big and I know how to play better with more shots compared to a guy that would get maybe one shot every three, four or five minutes; I think it just helps me stay focused on the game.”
Despite the loss, 39 shots on goal is still impressive and a sign that the Kootenay squad is capable of generating offence on any given night.
Unfortunately for the Ice, Kehler stood on his head.
“We just didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Hausinger. “We had some powerplays there and it’s something that we need to get better at.
“We had a good powerplay there, Krebsie’s unit, they worked it around well and got some good chances, but it’s still about paying attention to detail and playing our systems correctly.”
The Winterhawks opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game, when McKenzie picked up his first goal, snapping home a shot off an odd-man rush with Bellows.
Early in the second period, Gilliss found himself on a breakaway and he beat Brkin blocker-side top shelf to double the lead.
However, Hausinger put some life into the building a few minutes later, cleaning up a rebound in front of the net to cut into the Portland lead.
“We got to focus on getting to the net more, we got to score more garbage goals, goals around the crease, goals around that area they protect so much,” Hausinger said.
Portland regained their two-goal lead in the final minute of the period on a powerplay, as De Jong wired a slap shot from the side of the faceoff circle.
The pain kept coming for the Ice in the third peirod, as Bellows finished a backdoor play and McKenzie tallied his second of the night.
That would be it for scoring from the ‘Hawks, however, Peyton Krebs threaded a ridiculous pass to Kohler, who found the back of the net for Kootenay’s second goal with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Hausinger said it was hard to pin the loss on any one facet of the game.
“I thought we let too many shots come through,” Hausinger said. “Brkin played good and he stood on his head, so it’s our job to limit the shots. The 55 shots that they had is not acceptable, so we got to be a better defensive team, we got to be better in the neutral zone. We can’t allow that many odd-man rushes to come down on us, so just some things to work towards in practice tomorrow.”
