The unofficial first half of the Portland Winterhawks’ (22-6-1-3) season came to an end on Sunday against the rival Seattle Thunderbirds (11-17-2-1).
In the latest iteration of the I-5 rivalry, the Thunderbirds left the Rose City with a 4-3 shootout victory.
Seattle scored the only goal of the first period when Ryan Gottfried spotted Conner Roulette behind the Portland defense. The 16-year-old forward scored his seventh goal of the season, beating Isaiah DiLaura with a snap shot.
Five minor penalties were called in the opening 20 minutes which interrupted the flow of the game.
The middle frame saw more back-and-forth style of hockey. Portland’s line of Tyson Kozak, Cross Hanas, and James Stefan continued its strong weekend. Kozak and Stefan went in on a two-on-one rush. The Souris, Manitoba, native outwaited a sliding Gottfried before sending a pass to Stefan. The goal was the 16-year-old’s third of the season and second against Seattle.
About four minutes later, Seattle was called for a slashing penalty, sending the Winterhawks power play to the ice for the third time. Jaydon Dureau held the puck at the top of the circle before sending it low to Jake Gricius. With his head up, the Colorado Springs, Colorado, native saw a lane through Seattle’s penalty killers. Seth Jarvis one-timed the 20-year-old’s pass by Roddy Ross, giving Portland a 2-1 advantage.
Seattle’s head coach Matt O’Dette said, “We talk about it all the time. The response after goals — you have to focus on your next shift, try to get the puck in their end and calm the building down and kind of reset. I thought we did that. Buildings like this, and in Everett, you have to keep your composure or the game is out of reach in a blink of an eye.”
Less than a minute after Jarvis’ goal, Matthew Rempe evened the score at two. Portland’s breakout pass hit a skate and went to Andrej Kukuca. The Thunderbirds’ Slovakian import sent a puck towards DiLaura who made the initial save; however, Rempe cleaned up the loose puck. The goal was the six-foot-eight, 206-pound forward’s fifth goal of the campaign.
The teams were tied at two entering the third period with Seattle holding a slight edge in shots, 23-20.
Jake Gricius put the Winterhawks in front 3:41 into the final 20 minutes of regulation. The puck hit Roddy Ross’ water bottle in the corner and went to Newkirk. The 18-year-old forward hit Robbie Fromm-Delorme with a pass in front of the net. Rather than shooting, Fromm-Delorme slid the puck over to Gricius for his 12th goal of the season.
Once again, penalties cost Portland as they took four more in the third period. With Seattle pressuring, Johnny Ludvig was whistled for interference. Then, 61 seconds later Nick Cicek picked up a high sticking penalty, giving the Thunderbirds 59 seconds of five-on-three power-play time.
Ultimately, the Winterhawks killed off both penalties but shortened their bench in the process.
Winterhawks vice president, general manager, and head coach Mike Johnston said, “We took too many penalties. We can’t take that many penalties against them. We did that before against Seattle. Seven power plays to give them and a five-on-three when you have a lead in the game — you can’t do that. Whether it was questionable calls or the right calls, we just have to be better in those situations.”
Protecting their one-goal lead, a seventh Portland penalty — another in the offensive zone — put Seattle on the man advantage with 2:46 remaining. O’Dette pulled Ross with 1:38 on the clock. The Thunderbirds didn’t capitalize on the power play but ended up getting the equalizer with 45 seconds remaining.
Roulette banged the puck in after DiLaura was forced into a turnover behind the Winterhawks net.
O’Dette credited his young team, saying, “(Portland) went ahead in the third there, and we didn’t panic, stayed calm, kept pushing. We stayed in the fight and got rewarded for it.”
The teams went to overtime, but the three-on-three did not produce a winner.
After a dry scrape of the ice and five shooters unable to convert, Roulette completed a special night, scoring the only goal in the shootout.
“He is pretty calm and cool for a kid that age,” O’Dette said of Roulette. “He has a knack, tremendous vision offensively, finds ways to make plays, very slippery and elusive; calm and cool to get the shootout winner.”
Roddy Ross made 30-of-33 saves, two on Portland wraparound attempts, on Sunday as well as three more in the shootout.
O’Dette was impressed with his 19-year-old’s play in net. “He was good. (Roddy) plays good in these type of environments, had several good games in Everett when it has been loud and raucous crowds. He just seems calm in there, holds down the fort. With a three-in-three, we wanted to give him some rest going into tonight’s game, and he played great tonight.”
Despite the loss, Portland picked up five of a possible six points in their three-in-three to close out the first half of their season.
“As I told the players, that was a hard weekend,” Johnston said. “We had really hard travel last night with the Teddy Bear Toss game (in Tri-City) and getting back late. I felt for the players. That was a hard three-in-three. Certainly Seattle did as well, had a three-in-three with a little bit easier travel. Again, our guys put together a nice streak at the end of the first half. We carried some momentum and that is all positive. Now we get a break. Everyone needs a little bit of a break right now.”
The Winterhawks are off until December 27 when they head back to Tri-City.
During their time off, Johnston wants his players to “take a mental break is most important. You come back with energy. It is a chance for them to get home with their family. They will certainly get workouts done for sure.”
