Winterhawks in precarious position after preseason


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After five preliminary games before next Friday’s opening night, the Winterhawks have good momentum.

Unfortunately, they also have an uncertain team-building method that continues to undermine the nature of their league.

Coming up on his twentieth birthday during the latter half of this season, Brendan Burke (G) is starting in the net for Portland despite having worse numbers than the other two goalies during these five matches. For several years, Burke has played second banana to the likes of Mac Carruth and Corbin Boes. Meanwhile younger guys are being drafted who can keep it together during those rough parts of the season.

Well, at least they would be. Portland has a frightening amount of older players this year. Twelve of the 30 names listed for the preseason roster will be over 20 years old by the end of the season, and the WHL is a spry young man’s hockey league. Burke seems to be the most apt description of the Winterhawks roster going into the 2014-15 opener: plenty of talent, but definitely hanging on the precipice between the WHL, the NHL, and retirement.

Paul Bittner (LW) seems to be heading toward that same crossroads, but on a happier note. The fan favorite is poised to be a formidable NHL draft pick with his eighteenth birthday around the corner in November.

And where would the team be without the double-threat of Nic Petan (C) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (RW)? They’d be struggling, as they did against Red Deer this last Saturday. These two returning forwards (both 19 years old) sat out the exhibition that took place in Kenniwick, WA and Portland sure took the loss on the chin 4-2.

Obviously, Petan and Bjorkstrand will be limited in their ability to carry the offense unless they have a serviceable line to relieve them. And to make matters worse, the defense is not what it has been the last few years. We’ve lost the cutthroat defensemen that have scored so reliably for Portland (Seth Jones, Derek Pouliot, Garrett Haar) and the points-per-game average has plummeted. I will grant Blake Heinrich is looking very solid, but he’s not a puck-handler. He’s certainly aggressive, but he puts defense first. This is lining up to be the first season we’ve had without much help from the defense since 2012.

On paper, a 4-1 preseason record looks decent enough. But the end result of this new Winterhawks team in action is that the older guys are getting tired faster, and the younger guys—what ones we have—are struggling to pick up the slack. And with the defense being restructured to accommodate a smaller PPG average, this may turn into a struggle for points heading into the regular season.

There’s still good times ahead, though. A shaky September sometimes makes for a phenomenal back half of the season, and there’s nothing happening now that suggests 2014-15 will become one of those “rebuilding” years. It’s just too bad WHL teams get so many of those that the threat is always looming around autumn.

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Kyle Martinak
In addition to being a hockey nerd, Kyle is also is an on-camera personality for www.escapistmagazine.com and maintains various podcasts and webcomics revolving around movies, video games, and comics at his personal site, www.chaingangmedia.com.
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