Hawks Take Preseason Opener 7-5

The Portland Winterhawks opened the 2014 preseason schedule with a 7-5 win against the Spokane Chiefs in Everett, WA.

Portland opened the scoring with a pair of 5-on-3 power play goals in the first period. The first came at the 9:28 mark when defenseman Joshua Smith scored on a shot from the point, with the Hawks striking again on a two-man advantage at the 16:05 mark on a goal by defenseman Blake Heinrich.

Portland kept applying pressure through the first and broke through again at the 18:05 mark on a goal by Skyler McKenzie to make it 3-0 heading into the second.

Spokane’s Tyson Helgeson got the Chiefs on the board with a power play goal 1:45 into the second, but the Hawks got that one back at the 7:47 mark on Heinrich’s second goal of the game to make it 4-1.

Later in the period Portland’s Cody Glass and Reed Morison each scored, the former on a power play, as the Hawks went ahead 6-1. The Chiefs added a late goal from Keanu Yamamoto as Portland went into the third period with a 6-2 advantage, while outshooting Spokane 32-10 to that point.

Spokane got on the scoresheet for a third time 7:46 into the third on a goal by Riley Whittingham, then made it a two-goal game at the 11:49 mark when Curtis Miske scored to make it 6-4. The Hawks went back up by three when Glass scored his second power play goal of the game to give Portland a 7-4 lead. A late shorthanded Chiefs goal by Jacob Cardiff cut Portland’s lead to 7-5, which stood as the final.

Heinrich, Glass, Smith, Chase De Leo, Alex Schoenborn, Trent Lofthouse and Colton Veloso all finished with two points apiece in the Hawks’ win.

Portland was 4-8 on the power play and 1-2 on the penalty kill.

The Hawks are back in action at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow morning against the Tri-City Americans in Everett, WA.