The Portland Winterhawks were on the ice Monday afternoon at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. After an off day following a home-and-home with the Vancouver Giants, head coach Mike Johnston and his coaching staff held a spirited practice which included the dreaded “bag skate” to conclude the afternoon.
The team worked on small-area games towards the end of practice. Those in red jerseys picked up the “victory.” The celebration which followed rivaled the one from Saturday night when Joel Hofer stopped Vancouver in the ninth round of the shootout. The excitement was short lived though, Johnston called the players to line up the “bag skate”.
All of the players on the ice were physically exhausted which also included assistant coach Don Hay who was skating goal line to goal line as well.
Joining the Winterhawks for practice was guest coach Juha Jokiharju, Henri’s dad.
Juha played in 288 games in the Liga, Finland’s top pro league, where he scored 105 goals and 158 assists.
Roster Updates
Not all Winterhawks were accounted for on Monday afternoon. First, 17-year-old forward Robbie Fromm-Delorme was not on the ice after missing Saturday’s game due to injury.
With any injury, specific details are not available, Johnston just confirmed, “He has an upper-body injury.”
As far as timeline for Fromm-Delorme’s to return to the lineup Johnston said, “Anytime somebody gets injured it takes a few days to really analyze what it is and what the timeline is. I’m always afraid to give timelines in anything because usually Richy (Rich Campbell, athletic trainer and strength & conditioning coach) has been really good getting guys back into our lineup. I don’t think it is going to be too long.”
With having 13 forwards on roster and Fromm-Delorme not available to play for at least few games, Portland will be calling up a familiar face.
“We will bring (Gabe) Klassen up this week,” Johnston said. “He is our depth guy right now as far as an older player that is signed, not older as he is 16, but he has been up already and we will bring him back this week.”
Klassen has been added to the roster and will join the Winterhawks in practice before the team begins their three-in-three home against Spokane. Gabe made his WHL debut against Seattle on November 2. He joins Portland from the Prince Albert Mintos in the SMHL where he has 11 goals and 7 assists, for 18 points in 12 games played.
Some questions arose when Klassen was first called up regarding the number of games he could play this season for Portland. On Monday Johnston confirmed, “He can play all year, he is 16.” There are different rules for affiliate players based upon age and nationality. However, Johnston confirmed Klassen does not have a game restriction.
Also missing from the ice was Portland’s starting goaltender Joel Hofer. The signed St. Louis Blues draft pick is away representing the WHL in the CIBC Canada Russia Series. Hofer will practice with the team on Tuesday before Team WHL battles Team Russia on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Hofer is expected to start one of the two games, but it hasn’t been announced yet which game quite yet.
All three CHL leagues play two games against Team Russia in preparation for selecting players to represent Hockey Canada at the World Juniors. Players are evaluated during the regular season, as well as these games, before a preliminary roster is announced for those selected to attend a selection camp.
Hofer will return from Saskatoon and Prince Albert in time for Portland’s game on Friday against Spokane. However, whether he is able to start is still to be determined. The Winterhawks are home on Friday, on the road in Kent against Seattle on Saturday, and then back home on Sunday to face the Winnipeg Ice.
Joining practice this week is listed Winterhawks goaltending prospect Thomas Wardle who currently plays for the Powell River Kings in the BCHL. He started the season with the Coquitlam Express before joining the River Kings.
Wardle was one of the goaltenders who was not able to attend Portland’s training camp at the start of the season.
Mike Johnston commented on having Wardle with the team this week, “He couldn’t come into training camp. He was a player we listed last year. We like him, he couldn’t come into training camp because he was at a BC junior camp. We asked the BC junior team if he could come in for a week of practice with us while Hofer was away. Gives him a chance to take a look at our organization, give us a chance to take a look at him, and we will kind of see where he is at.”
Johnston continued, “We would have liked to have seen him in training camp, but we didn’t get a chance to see him because he couldn’t come down for camp. This is my first live look at him, so it is a good opportunity to do that and good of their team to allow him to come in and practice with us for a few days.”
In four games in the BCHL (3 with Coquitlam Express and 1 with Powell River Kings) Wardle is 2-2 with 240 minutes played, a 3.25 goals-against-average, and a 0.902 save percentage.
