Portland Winterhawks/Matthew Wolfe

Winterhawks celebrate Glass’ return with a 2-0 win

The past eight games the Portland Winterhawks played without team captain Cody Glass. On Saturday night against the Red Deer Rebels, he was a game-time decision and ultimately decided to play. His presence was key in a 2-0 Winterhawks win.

For Glass it was a big relief to get back on the ice.

“As a hockey player you hate watching. You want to help the team win and it was nice to finally be in uniform  and helping our team win,” Glass said.

It was on January 26th, in a game against the Seattle Thunderbirds that Glass went down and had to be helped off the ice, not putting any weight on his leg.

That moment was an extremely concerning one for Glass.

“It was a scary injury. It could have been my last time playing in Portland. It was very scary for me and my family. Being back in the lineup and being in front of this crowd is unbelievable.”

Prior to the game, Glass – who was not starting – came out for a ceremonial faceoff and when the realization that the team’s captain was back swept through the crowd, fans came to their feet in a standing ovation.

“It gives you chills as a player,” Glass said about the moment.

Joel Hofer (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Matthew Wolfe)

In the other end, Portland goalie Joel Hofer turned away all 25 Red Deer shots he faced to notch his second shutout with the Winterhawks and fourth in his WHL career.

Glass was impressed with how the St. Louis Blues drafted goalie played.

“It’s a huge help. We gave up a lot for him and he is proving why he was worth all that. We were trying our best to block shots and play well defensively, but you always have that confidence he is back there. You can kind of cheat to offense too. We are lucky to have him on our team.”

Hofer credited his team with playing well in their own end.

“Our team played really good in front of me. Guys made some really key blocks at big times. I think the biggest thing is to keep good sightlines open. Let’s hope to keep things going with the three-in-three,” Hofer said.

It was the odd occurrence in the WHL where one team was playing their third game in three nights {Red Deer}, while the opponent {Portland} had not played for the previous five nights.

Red Deer assistant coach Brad Flynn saw his team played well through 40 and had the rested Winterhawks on their heels.

“I thought that we had 20 men show up and do a job and for two and a half periods I thought that we were the better team. I know after the second period there that by our calculations we had out-chanced them, and anytime you hold a team like Portland to under 30 shots and one goal plus an empty-netter, you know you are doing a lot of things right.

Red Deer proved they had the legs as they skated right with Portland and had them out shot 19-16 through 40 minutes.

Joel Hofer (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Pat Kempany)

The Rebels hit a post and created many strong looks right in front of the net, but Hofer and the Winterhawks kept them at bay.

Portland’s “Futures” line created some strong looks including one where Jarvis tipped a shot just wide with Red Deer goalie Ethan Anders scrambling in the second period.

That combination created the best looks for the Winterhawks through the first two periods and ended up setting up the game’s first goal and the eventual game-winner.

41 seconds into the third, Seth Jarvis worked the puck back to Jared Freadrich and the overage blue liner wired a hard slap shot by Anders. Reece Newkirk created a screen in front.

“I don’t know if it hit me or not. Freddy {Freadrich} got a good shot through the screen {Jaydon} Dureau and me ran into each other behind the net and I went to the front of the net and provided a screen,” Newkirk said.

The goal was Freadrich’s 10th of the season.

With Anders pulled for an extra attacker late, Freadrich and Blichfeld worked the puck up to Glass, who added some insurance with his 14th of the season.

Ethan Anders (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Pat Kempany)

“It was nice, in a game like that with high intensity not too much scoring. You can’t expect to score a lot of goals every game. To get the empty netter is nice but you just want to play hard in the d-zone and you don’t want to get too cocky and cheat.

Defense and Hofer were key for the Winterhawks late in the third period as Red Deer made a push.

Playing key minutes for the Winterhawks blue line were rookies Nick Cicek, Kade Nolan and Nick Perna with Brendan De Jong and Matthew Quigley out of the lineup.

“They have stepped up big. For key guys to be out is tough but the young guys stepped up big,” Hofer said.

Newkirk continued the praise for the team’s new defensemen.

“It’s a chance for some of them to step up and they have been doing that so far. Kade and Perna played sound defensively and Cicek has been good all year.”

For Red Deer, Anders played another strong game on the U.S. trip, stopping 27-of-28 shots.

“I thought Ethan (Anders) was spectacular tonight I think that he made a lot of saves he should have made and then he made a bunch that he shouldn’t have had to make. In saying that I thought that we defended really hard around him. He was good with any rebounds and scrambles and our guys blocked shots for him to which was key,” Flynn said.

Red Deer continues their trip Tuesday against the Tri-City Americans. They are 1-2-1-0 on their five-game U.S. trip so far.

Game Notes:

-Portland was playing the first of their three-in-three with a game tomorrow at home against the Seattle Thunderbirds and a trip up to Langley, B.C. for a day game with the Vancouver Giants on Monday.

– Jake Gricius played with a full cage after leaving practice early on Friday

– The shutout victory was the sixth of the season for the Portland Winterhawks. Shane Farkas has four while Joel Hofer picked up his second

– Portland’s penalty kill was three-for-three defending the Red Deer power play