The Portland Winterhawks finished their training camp on Saturday with the awarding of the Neely Cup.
84 players were split into four different teams and played two 25 minute doubleheader games against one another in a round-robin format. The top two teams based upon records faced off in the championship game on Saturday with the 3rd place game being played earlier in the day.
From a game perspective, Team Scatchard (White) defeated Team Peterson (Red) 5-4 in three-on-three overtime thanks to a Reece Newkirk breakaway goal.
Portland’s projected opening night goalie tandem of Joel Hofer and Dante Giannuzzi played the entire game.
The previous three days saw a different netminder in goal for each 25 minute period. Johnston spoke about this situation as it was not planned. “It just so happened that Giannuzzi’s goaltending partner was injured and Hofer’s had to leave for other tryout camps. They went against each other the whole game. It wasn’t supposed to be like that, just the way it played out.”
Johnston was impressed with the level of their play, “I thought they both played really good in (Saturday’s) game even though the score was 5-4. There were some (defensive) breakdowns, but I thought the goaltending was pretty good in camp.”
After the championship game, Newkirk talked about scoring the game-winning goal, “I was paired up with Chyzowski there, the third-rounder, and he’s a good player. He just got the puck and gave me the pass. Luckily he got it on my tape, and I just put it in; lucky goal though.”
Newkirk continued talking about what it meant to win the Neely Cup. “It was awesome. Quigs (Matthew Quigley) in the room was getting the boys fired up; it is his last Neely Cup. He gave us a little pregame speech and everyone bought in; you know the 2004’s even came out to play. They’re here for the experience, but they also helped out our team huge.”
While winning the Neely Cup was important for Newkirk, he also took on a different role in 2019 compared to previous years, especially with the 2004 born players. “It is my third or fourth year here. The time flies by, and I remember when I was that age, I was scared coming to camp. Obviously, I had good guys, (Joachim) Blichfeld, (Keegan) Iverson, all those older guys. I looked up to them, and now I look at these 2004’s and they look up to me. I just got to lead them and show them what it is all about.”
Portland Winterhawks Head Coach Mike Johnston was pleased with how training camp went, “I thought the week was really competitive which is nice to see at camp. The tournament (ended) in that fashion where it is in overtime and a breakaway goal. I thought we had more young kids maybe than we’ve ever had here. I really liked the talent level that was here all week.”
Johnston also commented on the 2004 age group, “A lot of the 2004’s are here for an experience and evaluation. Some of them we drafted, some of them we’ve listed, other ones are free agents. It is a matter of now trying to sort through those evaluations and see if there is anybody we want to add to our list, adjust our list, and then now, starting (Sunday) it is about getting ready for the season.”
Portland’s 2017 first-round bantam draft selection Seth Jarvis had a strong showing in camp leading the Neely Cup tournament in goals with eight.
“The guys got the puck to me, and I pride myself on my ability to score goals. I got to showcase that here,” Jarvis said.
One area which helped Jarvis was playing in the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup earlier this summer. “The Hlinka really prepared me for this especially that week at camp against the best (Canadian) players, and then honestly, the best players in the world at that tournament,” Seth commented. “I think it really got me in the right mindset and got me back in game shape and ready to go for the season.”
Mike Johnston was impressed when asked about the play of Jarvis at the Neely Cup, “He is a really good player, not sure what else you can say about him; he had a great camp. He was skating hard and working and scoring, doing a little bit of everything now. (Jarvis) is at another level.”
“It has been super fun just meeting all the new guys and kind of showing them the ropes,” Seth commented about being back in Portland. “I’m taking a little bit more of a leadership role showing the younger guys, with Cross (Hanas) and me being the oldest forward (on Team Gray), around and how to act like a pro as well as prepare like one too.”
With Neely Cup and training camp in the rearview mirror, Portland, Mike Johnston, and the rest of the organization now turns their attention towards preseason as well as the regular season.
“We start to progress into more of a teaching phase,” Johnston described. “Learning our system and learning how we play, practicing a certain way, getting some habits down that we can reinforce because really, we only have six practice games and that’s it before the season starts. So, it is not a lot, and every day we work in practice. We’ve got our skills coach, Tomas Pacina, in this week doing some skill things. So it goes from evaluation into teaching. Then, we hit some games, a little bit more evaluation to narrow down those final few spots and also decide on signings.”
Some of those signings could be 2003- or 2004-born players.
Two recent 2019 bantam draft selections for Portland had a strong showing at camp. Jimmy Snuggerud, 10th round, and Kyle Chyzowski, third round, each showcased their talents.
When asked about Snuggerud Johnston said, “He is a really good player from Minnesota. I think he is one of the top US players in the country.”
Johnston thought Chyzowski played well and also mentioned how “there is a lot of guys that we drafted here. I thought they all (played well) like (Carter) Streek, (Landon) Van Engelen, (Marcus) Nguyen, a lot of guys played well. Ryder Thompson has really been on the fence, so I like the group that we drafted this year; they all showed well.”
He also talked about some of the United States born draftees, “You look at Snuggerud, (Marek) Hejduk, and (Luke) Schelter, are other good kids. The talent level is there, it is just sorting out for us when they can play in the league, projecting when they can play, what spots are they going to fill, and then discussing that with families as we decide if we are going to sign them.”
Portland currently does not have any 2003 or 2004 defensemen signed; however, that could change in the next couple of weeks. Johnston said the team is “keeping three or four (defenseman) this week. We will watch them in practice, and evaluate if they’re ready to sign or not.”
Portland opens their preseason portion of the schedule next Friday afternoon up in Everett. The Winterhawks will play three games in three days while in Everett before returning back to the Rose City. Another week of practice will commence before three more games in Tri-City to close out the exhibition games.
Portland opens the regular season at home, against Tri-City, on Saturday, September 21 at 6:00.
Note: Defenseman Nick Perna did not participate in any of the games, but was in Portland, skated in a non-contact jersey at practice, and participated in team activities
For a more in-depth, game-by-game, review of the Neely Cup, listen to the Pucklandia Podcast as Chad Balcom and I recapped each day.
