Winterhawks Aim For Top Division Slot
With the winter break coming up and an ironed-out first half of the season in the books, the Winterhawks have a simple New Year’s resolution that they are preparing for: come back with a bang. Part of that plan is to conquer the U.S. Division in one swift stroke.
This last weekend, Portland announced their presence as a contender with a tidy 5-3 victory over the division-leading Everett Silvertips, but are still lagging by a hair. An opportunity to race out ahead is right at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum doorstep with three games before their two-week break against some lesser U.S. teams.
The possible division blitz begins at home against the Spokane Chiefs. This should be an interesting bout, as the bizarre scheduling this season has conspired to make this the very first game between the Chiefs and the Hawks. With no precedent for their current lineups, one can look toward their on-ice tendencies; Spokane has won just as many games at home as they have on the road, but are currently cultivating a nasty five-game losing streak. They appear to be weak on their power play, and starting goalie Tyson Verhelst has had a habit of falling prey to deflection shots. This bodes well for Portland, with their PK unit on a hot streak and the offense working aggressively from all angles with diverse scoring.
After that, the Hawks are headed for Seattle on Saturday night. All three games against the Thunderbirds this season have been losses, which is disappointing considering that Seattle is dead-last in the division. Portland’s losses can be contributed to early-in-the-season jitters, with an abundance of needless penalties and fights with their most bitter rivals. Now that the offense has congealed properly and can put together some cross-ice passes through the neutral zone, I would bet on a much better showing.
Sunday night will see the Winterhawks against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick. With only one game against the Americans this year, there’s again not much to go on. Currently, the central Washington-based team has only converted one power play out of ten chances in the last two games, but have held their own with shots on goal against their betters. I give the advantage to Portland, but I sure hope the game doesn’t go past regulation as the Americans become junkyard dogs in overtime periods and have had plenty of practice in shootouts (which Portland has had a hard time with this year).
There’s a distinct possibility that the Winterhawks could finish out this week ahead of the entire division, but only if they continue to play as if they are fighting the best in the league, even if they aren’t. Sometimes the easiest wins can become the most absurd losses, and those can hurt harder than any other. Let’s hope Portland is through with that type of hockey for 2014.
