Saturday night marked the third of four straight games between the Prince George Cougars (6-19-1-2) and the Portland Winterhawks (19-6-1-2). With the first two games played at the CN Centre, the series shifted to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Winterhawks used the excitement to defeat the Cougars 3-0 in front of a near capacity crowd.
Portland was hosting their 22nd annual Teddy Bear Toss game, and the third time since 2010 against the Cougars.
A year ago Lane Gilliss set the record for the fastest Teddy Bear Toss goal when he scored just 2:10 into the game against the Spokane Chiefs.
On Saturday, it took him a few extra shifts, but once again Gilliss found the back of the net to send the bears flying. He picked the puck up behind Taylor Gauthier’s net and cut to the front. The 20-year-old forward found an opening short side for his seventh goal of the season.
“(Gauthier) has been really good this series, so we just thought we would throw everything on net and try to get that one out of the way. I couldn’t really believe it, I just saw it go in and then it went dark after that,” Gilliss described the moments after the goal.
Lane entered the Winterhawks history books when he became just the third player to score back-to-back Teddy Bear Toss goals.
Luke Walker was the first to go back-to-back when he scored in 2007 and 2008. Then, a couple of years later, Ty Rattie joined him after netting the famous goal in 2010 and 2011. Brandon Dubinsky has two Teddy Bear Toss goals to his name, but they came in 2003 and 2005.
Any time there is a Teddy Bear Toss there can be an extended delay while the bears are tossed, but often the clean up takes a significant portion of time. Portland was prepared with dozens of volunteers, Rosebuds dance team, tarps, trucks, and even the Fanboni helped pick up bears.
9,326 fans tossed 11,156 bears onto the ice; however, the Winterhawks organization had the game resumed within 12 minutes of the initial goal. Some delays around the league have taken upwards of 40 minutes for play to be resumed.
Joel Hofer talked about the delays with Teddy Bear Toss goals, “I think it is worse on the road because you are upset about the goal, but at home you are happy, you are taking photos, and it went by so quickly tonight.”
He continued, “The fans were awesome tonight, almost sold out crowd. We started out hot, Lane got the Teddy Bear Toss goal, we built the momentum from there, and came away with two big points and the win.”
For the second time in three games, Hofer picked up a shutout against the Cougars. On Tuesday he stopped 23 Prince George shots when the Winterhawks won 3-0 on the road. Saturday was a similar result when Hofer stopped 25 in route to his fourth shutout of the season.
Contributing to the 3-0 victory was Simon Knak who finished off a three-way passing play started by Robbie Fromm-Delorme.
“It was an amazing play by Robbie first,” Knak explained. “I just drove the net and Jack (O’Brien) had his head up and saw me. We practice that play a lot in practice, and when I tip the puck it is going to be dangerous. It was a good chance, and was a good goal, I will take it.”
Playing in a home Teddy Bear Toss was a first for the 17-year-old Swiss forward, “I never played in one before, it was pretty cool. A really good crowd, and I’ve never played before (9,000) or so people, that was awesome.”
Reece Newkirk also continued his hot scoring streak, a goal in four-straight games, tied for the longest active scoring streak in the WHL.
Jake Gricius led a two-on-one shorthanded rush with Newkirk and dished the puck off to the New York Islanders prospect right before entering the zone. The 18-year-old elected to shoot glove side. After Gauthier made the initial stop with his glove, the puck bounced up, around, and finally into the net. Gricius and Newkirk looked at one another for a few seconds to determine who should receive credit, they landed on Newkirk for his 10th of the year.
Portland led 3-0 heading into the final period where they took complete control of the game.
In the final 20 minutes, the Winterhawks outshot the Cougars 18-3, the lowest shots allowed in a period by Portland all season.
Gauthier stopped all 18 shots, and Knak felt, “we missed our chances, but the next time, maybe (Sunday), they will go in for us.”
Like Joel Hofer for Portland, Taylor Gauthier has started all three games in the series between the two teams. The 18-year-old has been stellar in net for Prince George, over the three games he has stopped 104-of-115 Portland shots, many have been high-quality shots as well.
Portland’s penalty kill, led by assistant coach Don Hay, was perfect again fending off four Cougar power plays. “Don just has us watching so much video especially with playing a team three straight, and you start to pick up their tendencies,” Gilliss commented on the PK’s success on Saturday.
Portland and Prince George conclude the season series, and four straight against one another, on Sunday back in the VMC.
“I think it has been good for us,” Hofer said. “It is like a playoff series. It is especially important for our young guys to get a taste for what it is like in the playoffs. They are a good opponent who are really physical, which is a good test for us.”
Knak agreed, “It is practice for the playoffs, pretty cool we get a chance to practice for the playoffs. I have never had this before, playing a team four times in a row. They play really hard, so we have to think quick and be ready for their hits on the forecheck.”
Sunday will be the last games for Hofer and Knak before they depart for Selection Camp for Canada (Hofer) and Switzerland (Knak) in preparation of the upcoming World Juniors tournament. Both are strong candidates to represent their country in the top best-on-best tournament.
Notes:
– Matthew Quigley left the game early, but there was no update on his status for Sunday. Portland only has six available defensemen with Jonas Brøndberg representing Team Denmark at the Division 1 World Juniors. If Quigley is unable to play on Sunday, Portland will be forced to dress 13 forwards and five defensemen.
– Cross Hanas missed his second-straight game with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. No additional updates are available on him at this time either.
– Reece Newkirk is the first Winterhawk to reach the 30 points mark in 2019-2020. Seth Jarvis and Jake Gricius are only two points away from reaching 30. Portland has five players with at least 20 points, 12 guys have at least 10 points, through 28 games played.
– Taylor Gautheir, who started his seventh straight game on Saturday for Prince George, is fifth in the WHL in minutes (1,270) played.
