Portland Winterhawks practice report 1/25

On Friday afternoon I made my way to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to attend the Portland Winterhawks practice.

Fresh off their first victory against Tri-City this season on Wednesday, the Winterhawks are preparing to face the red-hot Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday and Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sunday. Entering Friday night, the Thunderbirds were 5-0-0-1 in their last six games. Seattle’s streak included using momentum from their eastern road trip, which included a win in WHL leading Prince Albert.

Portland is 4-2 against their I-5 division rivals this season with the Winterhawks winning the last three matchups including a 6-3 victory on New Year’s Eve.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes prior to Friday’s games sit fourth in the Central Division and will be completing a three-in-three when they face Portland on Sunday in the VMC. The Hurricanes decided to break up their trip through the U.S. Division by first playing Spokane and Tri-City earlier in the year. Then, this weekend they battle Seattle on Friday, Everett on Saturday, and finally Portland on Sunday. Earlier this week, former Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Liam Hughes announced he retired from the Hurricanes.

A quick video of one of the individual skating drills:

Shooting drill and game at end of practice

Once the formal portion of practice is complete, several players and Joel Hofer stayed on the ice to compete in a mini-game/shooting drill.

There are three teams, Hofer on his own, three players in a black jersey, and three players in red. The shooters rotate taking turns shooting from the slot trying to beat Hofer. If they are successful they get a point and shoot again. The two teams battle for the loose puck if there is a rebound and may make one pass before they have to beat Hofer.

If either the initial shot or the rebound is converted, the corresponding team scores a point, if the puck is stopped by Hofer, or goes below the goal line, the newly acquired netminder earns the point.

By my count, Hofer won the drill on Friday.

Below are some quick videos of the action.

 

 

Jack O’Brien and James Stefan skating with the team

Recently signed forward prospects Jack O’Brien and James Stefan are skating with the Winterhawks while their current team, Little Caesars, is on a short break, The forward duo play on the same line together back in Michigan. O’Brien plays center while Stefan flanks him on the wing. Jack feels he is the “distributor” while James says he “is the shooter for sure.”

Neither player will see game action, but are up getting some time to practice with the team. Once their season is completed, both players will return to Portland to join the team as a Black Ace. Each will be with the team until Sunday morning when they fly back to join Little Caesars.

I interviewed Jack & James on Friday and will post our conversation later this weekend.

On Wednesday Joachim Blichfeld said, “They both have a lot of skill & came in and make plays. They aren’t afraid to make plays at this level; two really good players who will be great for us in the future.”

Some quick footage of the 2003-born forward prospects skating after practice was completed:

Nick Cicek relishing opportunity to jump into the lineup

The 18-year-old rookie defenseman has been part of the three-man rotation (Kade Nolan, Nick Perna, & Nick Cicek) Mike Johnston and Kyle Gustafson have utilized so far this season. Cicek elevated his play recently, and by doing so, appeared in the lineup 11 of the last 12 games.

Associate coach Kyle Gustafson, who coaches the defensemen, said, “I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for any of those guys. At the end of the day we value all of them. That was important that we made sure that we kept them. As you are starting to see there are injuries. If we limited ourselves with some options, we could have been in trouble. However, we know we have great options should someone go down.”

Nick Cicek (Portland Winterhawks/Ben Ludeman)

When asked about the increased playing time Cicek said, “I mean, I’m getting the opportunity to be in the lineup which is always good. I’m just playing calm, confident, and things are just going my way right now. My defensive partners, forwards, and goalies; everybody is helping out right now.”

Cicek was called upon more when Brendan De Jong was sidelined with an injury, John Ludvig suspended, and Matthew Quigley also suspended prior to the holiday break. Nick expressed, “Obviously you don’t want to see suspensions and injuries, but that is what opens up ice time. Every guy on the back end is good enough to play. I’m also fine playing with anyone.”

“It shows the coach’s trust and is building confidence in my game which has helped me improve” the Winnipeg native said.

Gustafson continued, “Nick has been good. He is a little bit more mature than Nolan and Perna with having one year of junior experience. When Nick is at his best, he is moving the puck quick and playing simple minutes for us. He is playing more and is becoming a little more confident. [Cicek] is playing in a lot of different situations including getting a little more five-on-five and penalty kill time. He has a lot more offensive ability than we thought we had. His ability to move the puck up, his read on the offensive side, and getting shots through which we are happy with.”

Nick Cicek (photo-Ben Ludeman/Portland Winterhawks))

In his last ten appearances Cicek recorded ten assists. Prior to this most recent run, his last point came in the season opener in Seattle back on September 22nd.

“I’m jumping into the play and read when I can go” Nick said. “I’m trying to get my shot through to the net and get more shots in the game too” when asked what is contributing to his increased offensive productivity.

For Gustafson in terms of the rotation he said, “We always challenge them with, ‘give us a reason to keep you in the lineup.’ All of them respond well to this. Again, it is a challenge for all of them, but they have embraced it and have done a great job being professional about it.”

Power Play numbers decreasing compared to earlier in the season

Over the last five games the Winterhawks power play only scored on four of their 26 opportunities (15.4 percent).

Despite the decrease in efficiency, Portland’s power play is still second in the WHL (entering Friday’s games) scoring on 25.6 percent of their chances.

Gustafson, who manages and coaches the power play, feels, “I think it is one of those things where you start playing a team over and over like we have in Tri-City and Seattle. The scouting reports starts to become more refined. They start to key on certain guys and handle them certain ways. We have been in a little bit of a rut right now, but has been a good learning experience for us.”

Kelly Buchberger, Tri-City Americans Head Coach, spoke on Wednesday about shutting down Portland’s power play “We key on certain players there is no question; we know who they are. We try to take away their time and space, have good sticks, and good reads. Obviously strong goaltending helped.”

Portland’s power play went a combined zero-for-ten in the back-to-back games against the Americans.

Cody Glass and Josh Paterson (Photo: Portland Winterhawks/Keith Dwiggins)

“If Cody [Glass] is a key point on our power play, it means something else is going to open up.” Gustafson said. “You have to trust that process and have different looks at times. I always say, ‘if you are stale in your power play it is because you don’t have looks.’ However, there are some looks so I’m not totally against our power play right now. You look at the timely goal we had in the Everett game with the five-on-three at a crucial time and a big boost for our power play.”

While Portland isn’t converting their chances into goals Gustafson feels “there are other things about the power play, it isn’t just what you see in the offensive zone. I’m really happy with the way the puck is being entered into the zone, starting with the puck with our faceoff guys, the guys at the net-front. For right now, it just isn’t going in. We have been through this before in the season. Cody, Joachim, and Josh [Paterson] in Saskatoon, are going to go through some of those ups-and-downs or have already. We just have to work through it, and that is the bottom line.”

With Josh Paterson joining Portland and Hughes going to Saskatoon, the move gave Portland a second bigger body player on the power play. Gustafson feels “we [now] feel that we give teams two different looks whether it is a right shot or left shot down low. I’m really impressed with how Josh handles himself at the net. That was a big thing our scouts identified with his game that he could give us a little bit of an improvement, not that Jake [Gricius] was a slouch by any means, just a different look or handle the puck down low on the goal line. With two bigger body guys, not only do they clog up space at the net, but they both are quick on puck recovery. I think that is really important for the power play.”

Seth Jarvis (photo-Brian Liesse)

Another area of focus has been the amount of time the second unit is receiving. While exact ice time is not available, over the last several games, I’ve been keeping a rough estimate. The top unit is receiving, on average, 60-75 percent of the man advantage time. Portland is faced with the challenge of getting the top unit back on track, needing a goal given the game situation, as well as providing development opportunities for other players.

“The second unit has been good all season” Gustafson said. “We feel like we have eight or nine guys that can play on that second unit. Part of the development process is giving guys a little bit of that experience. Brendan [De Jong] and Clay [Hanus] have been good from the back. They can shoot pucks when we need to and have gotten the puck in the zone cleanly.”

Ultimately though, the associate coach feels, “It is always a work in progress, but we are happy with some of the possession and the experience these guys are getting.”

NHL Central Scouting and the Winterhawks

When the NHL Central Scouting service released their midterm rankings current Winterhawks Reece Newkirk and John Ludvig found their names on the list. Newkirk was listed at 66th for North American Skaters while John Ludvig appeared at 144th in his second season eligible for the draft.

Reece Newkirk (Portland Winterhawks/Keith Dwiggins)

Gustafson gave his opinion on Newkirk, “I think with Reece he had a great start to the season playing with Cody and Joachim. He was a great fit there as a guy who would retrieve pucks. At the end of the day, if you look at his numbers it is quite impressive that he has been able to maintain a point-per-game and also carry a line. For a 17-year-old guy you could maybe say the numbers may have been skewed early, playing with 8 and 20, but now that he has to carry a line, his line has been effective still in most games. One thing that he has is a real strong work ethic whether it is in practice or in games. You know what you are getting with Reece. He is going to get under the skin of some players, is going to work hard, retrieve pucks, be hard on the forecheck. We feel he is really well rounded, if anything, his skill is underrated. We are really pleased there.”

“Johnny is a warrior” Gustafson said when asked about the 18-year-old second year defenseman. “I don’t want to say he is a throwback guy, but he is a throwback guy. He can move the puck, skate the puck out of trouble, and in my opinion, the toughest defender in the league. We are happy with how he defends and also brings it in practice. We know our forwards are going to get better playing against him there too. Johnny is an outstanding, if there was an award for a shut-down defensemen, he would be right there in the conversation.”

I also asked Gustafson about listed prospect Ryan Johnson who is currently playing defense for Sioux Falls in the USHL. The California native is committed to the University of Minnesota in the NCAA at the moment. “A really impressive 17 World Challenge and made a name for himself last year” Gustafson said. “Now that he is growing, maturing, and getting stronger, he is sky rocketing. He is our type of defenseman, which if we can get him, he is a deceptive defenseman who carries the puck and can transport the puck up the ice. He then also impacts a power play, real heavy, really smart, and a student of the game from what I understand.”

Bobby Brink (Photo: Youth Hockey Hut)

The last player I asked the assistant general manager about was newly acquired forward prospect Bobby Brink who was ranked 29th for North American skaters. Similar to Johnson, Brink is currently committed to the NCAA, but for University of Denver. Brink played with current Winterhawks defenseman Clay Hanus at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota prior to joining the Winterhawks.

Gustafson spoke about Brink, “A highlight real player who had a strong World Junior A Challenge and was the star of the tournament. Unfortunately, he just broke his ankle so he is going to be on the shelf. However, with where his draft status is, and how impressed scouts at the NHL level were with his play at that tournament, and leading up to it, he is going to have a high draft. He is a crafty, shooter, offensive guy who would work well in our league. He would compliment some players and can find the back of the net.”

Two other Winterhawks prospects were on the list in Drew Helleson (33rd) and Judd Caulfield (50th). Helleson is committed to Boston College while Caulfield announced his commitment to University of North Dakota.

John Ludvig injury update

John Ludvig (photo-Portland Winterhawks)

Defenseman John Ludvig was a surprise scratch on Wednesday evening against Tri-City. On Friday Ludvig practiced, but was wearing a non-contact jersey. I spoke with Gustafson regarding his timeline to return, “I think he should be fine; would say he is day-to-day at this point. I don’t know about playing [Saturday] night, but hopefully on the weekend.”

“We certainly miss him” Gustafson continued. “He is a stable guy back there. It is very easy for me to put a guy with Johnny to calm them down a little bit, especially when there are 10,000 people in here and nerves get going.”

No update on starting goalie for Saturday and Sunday

When asked for an update on whether Shane Farkas or Joel Hofer is expected to start against Seattle or Lethbridge Gustafson deflected, “No, we are going to look at it. The importance of both of these games with one being a divisional game, and one being an out-of-conference team that you need to win to make ground on some teams; we are going to evaluate it this weekend.”