On Wednesday the WHL released the 2019-2020 regular season schedule. The Portland Winterhawks portion of the schedule has a couple of changes from a season ago.
Also, as with years past, the venue location for the Winterhawks home games will not be finalized for a couple of weeks. The building availability between the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum gets worked out after the Portland Trail Blazers schedule is finalized.
I took a quick dive into the schedule and found a couple of noteworthy items.
First, Portland will play seven ‘three-in-three’ series in 2019-2020 after playing six last season.
Portland opens with two games at home (Tri-City and Kamloops) before they go on a season-long seven game road trip. The road trip includes their games against the Central Division. Unlike some other U.S. Division teams, the Winterhawks are doing the trip all at once. The first stop though is to Vancouver where the Western Conference Champions will raise their banner.
Portland’s U.S. Division schedule got adjusted compared to 2018-2019. Last year they faced the Everett Silvertips ten times and the Spokane Chiefs only six. However, the Chiefs schedule needed to be altered after they played the Kootenay ICE five times last season. With the ICE’s relocation to Winnipeg, and move to the East Division, the Chiefs now only have one game against Winnipeg. Portland now battles with the Silvertips and Chiefs eight times each.
The number of matchups between the Tri-City Americans (eight) and Seattle Thunderbirds (12) remained unchanged.
Portland’s first game against their I-5 rival Thunderbirds occurs at home on November 2.
Starting with their game against Seattle on November 2, the team plays eight of their next ten contests at home. Their longest homestand consists of four straight starting on Sunday, November 17 against Winnipeg and ends Sunday, November 24 against the Saskatoon Blades.
Portland will play the Prince George Cougars four straight games starting with two contests at the CN Centre. After the back-to-back games on December 3 and 4, the teams make their way back to the Rose City for games on Saturday (7) and Sunday (8). Historically, when the Winterhawks face a team four straight, head coach Mike Johnston likes to treat this portion of the schedule like a playoff series preview.
The holiday break runs December 16 through the 26. The Winterhawks return on the road for two games, once in Kennewick to face the Americans, and once at the ShoWare Center in Seattle.
Portland will see a familiar face when they travel to face the Victoria Royals on January 10 and 11. Goalie Shane Farkas could play his first game against his former team. Victoria makes their only visit to Portland on March 7 and 8.
The Winterhawks will get their first look at the 2019 CHL Memorial Cup hosts, Kelowna Rockets, in the middle of January. The Rockets make their way to the Rose Quarter on back-to-back nights January 18 and 19. Portland visits Kelowna less than a month later on February 7 and 8, a Friday/Saturday doubleheader.
Portland closes out the last ten games of the regular season with an even split of five games at home and five on the road. Eight of the ten games are against U.S. Division teams. The final weekend of the season concludes with a home-and-home with Seattle.
The playoffs could begin as early as March 27.
57 of Portland’s 68 games will be played on either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. They have six games on Tuesday and five on a Wednesday evening. Portland will not play a game on a Monday or Thursday unless a game is rescheduled.
Before you know it, the puck will be dropped on the 2019-2020 season.
