Game Day @ Portland

"We feel good, and we should," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "We've worked hard and we've put a stamp on who we are this season. We know how good the teams are in the league and we don't take anyone for granted."

"They have lost four, two were in a shootout, which ultimately is a tie," Hiller said of the Winterhawks. "They want to get back to winning and we are a team they'd like to beat. They are a good team and they are always good games."


"They have given us challenges over the last year," said Portland coach Mike Johnston. "Hopefully the nine games this year will be better. They are a good team and that is my main concern. They are well prepared, well coached and you have to be aware of what they are doing in certain situations. They are good on the power play and that's a danger if you give them that."


"Usually when you see a team not playing well, you try and nip it in the bud," Johnston said. "We did a little and continued to play well. You always have concerns and you try to sharpen them up. We haven't had a lot of practice time lately -- nothing consistent in the last couple of weeks."


"We had a plan of everybody sitting out a game and letting us get a good look at Neal," Hiller said. "That was the best way to approach this. They have all been in for big wins. We can't worry about next week. Right now, we are just making sure we are playing with passion and believing in ourselves." (Herald)

Couple of interesting bits concerning Portland that I found on the interwebs, the first comes from 'Hawks p-b-p guy Andy Kemper.  Yesterday he took a look at the Winterhawks' (and other teams') home ice power play advantage.  My first reaction was one of thinking Kemper's got some sour grapes going on.  Then annoyance with him saying a conspiracy theorist could have a hayday.  If you don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, don't say things like "I know there isn’t a movement in place to penalize the Hawks and Blades for being good road teams, but the numbers certainly are interesting."  By suggesting it, even if saying there isn't a conspiracy, it means you've thought about it.  Maybe that's just me being an Ams fan looking at a Winterhawks website. 

Taking a read at the comments, it seems 'Hawks fans know their team--they know they're still taking some dumb penalties.  This isn't new, it's been the trend for the team the last couple seasons.  It's just that now they're a really good team and one would expect them to knock it off.  Another commenter, Chad Balcom, notes "Jordan is behaving really well this season, but the rest of the hat trick of Ross & Boychuck are still making poor decisions in the eyes of the officials. You don’t get ‘reputation calls’ without developing a reputation."  Which is why I always get so mad at Tyler Schmidt blabbering on to the officials, he's drawing attention to himself and that could get him in trouble.  That being said, he's stayed out of the box the last couple games so HUZZAH for that.


Another piece about the Winterhawks I came across concerns their new (horrendous, IMO) third jerseys.  Teebz over at Hockey Blog in Canada did the research and found their Hawk eye look is nearly identical to a minor-league baseball team in California.

There's no doubt that junior hockey teams have to keep their fans engaged in order to make a profit. That's true for 99.9% of businesses, but hockey teams require fans to buy-in with their hearts and wallets in order for them to remain highly competitive in an ever-expanding entertainment world. Hockey teams seem to fall back to alternate jerseys as a way to capture the fans' imaginations, but there's something far too familiar about the new Portland Winterhawks alternate jersey.


I mean, I've seen hats with that logo of angry eyes. I've seen it on shirts and on baseballs, too. So why would the Winterhawks have all of these things, especially baseballs?


Because the logo is nearly identical to that of the Lake Elsinore Storm, a Class A - Advanced minor-league baseball team in the California League. Don't believe me? Look at the comparison of the two logos. Yes, there are some minor differences, but the idea of the logo itself is definitely similar. After all, all three of the merchandise items - the hat, shirt, and baseball - come from the Lake Elsinore Storm merchandise page. (HBIC)

It's a terrible jersey, it really is.  And that grey-ish mess behind the eye logo is very weird.  And unnecessary.  To me, 3rd jerseys are a chance for teams to really be creative and come up with something fantastic.  They could have gone with a great retro-inspired look like the old Portland Buckaroos.  I liked the 3rds they had a couple years ago with the skyline on them.  And what the hell, they're already copying the Chicago Blackhawks jerseys (it's a great logo and design) so why not copy their 3rds?  Nutty.  The Lethbridge Hurricanes ripped off the Washington Capitals with their new 3rds.

The Ams' thirds aren't particularly fabulous.  They're not ugly by any means, I like the deep red they used instead of some obnoxious bright red.  But they look just like the Kitchener Rangers' jerseys, minus the stripes on the sleeves.  The best 3rds in the WHL in my opinion are the Brandon Wheatkings' jerseys.  They're just hot.

Speaking of the Wheaties, they got Brayden Schenn back from the LA Kings yesterday.  The message board lit up like a Christmas tree with speculation about where he would go--assuming Brandon would trade him.  The always awesome Gregg Drinnan breaks it down:

McCrimmon will have to decide whether the presence of Schenn and Glennie is enough to make his club competitive with the Saskatoon Blades, Kootenay Ice, Red Deer Rebels and Medicine Hat Tigers, the four teams at the head of this conference’s class.



Or he could decide to be a seller between now and the Jan. 10 trade deadline.


This always is an interesting time of the season because of the impending arrival of that deadline.


Were you a WHL general manager, you would have to look at the trade deadline something like this: Although the deadline is more than a month away, the window really is much smaller. Today is Dec. 3. Trading isn’t allowed from Dec. 15 through Dec. 27. You might have players away at one or more of the various Christmas tournaments that are on the schedule, and those players will start leaving any day now. That being the case, you may not have what now is your roster together for more than a game or two between, say, Dec. 10 and Jan. 10.


If you’re McCrimmon and you have Schenn back in time to play at some point this weekend, you may only have him for two or three games before he leaves for the Canadian national junior team’s selection camp. That camp opens Dec. 11 in Toronto.


If we assume Schenn will make the Canadian team, he will be gone until after Jan. 5. That means he would miss as many as eight games, and it could be nine or 10 should he be given three or four days off after the World Junior Championship.


So McCrimmon has to try and figure out where in the standings his Wheat Kings might be by Jan. 10?


And that isn’t an easy task.  (Taking Note)

I just hope he doesn't end up in the US Division.  Even as an American because you know the price for him will be steep.

Back to the task at hand, there's a game tonight in Portland.  The 'Hawks have lost 5 in a row so you know they're going to be hungry and probably pretty chippy.  Ams need to ride their momentum into the Rose Garden and be prepared.  We don't know yet who will be the sitting 20-year-old.  If they stick with taking turns it's Tyler's turn, but it would be dangerous to not have his veteran presence on defense against the Winterhawks.  Ah hell, it's scary not to have any of the 4 out there, they all bring something different to the table.  I hate this part of junior hockey.

I'm going to assume Drew will be in net, though I'm starting to feel bad for Dreidger.  Additionally, Owsley will need to rest at some point (and not just the holiday break) or he'll be burnt out come playoffs time.  The trouble is that there are no really bad easy teams in the division or the conference in which to play the backup goalie.  He's going to have to get tossed into the fire eventually.  As we all know, Owsley plays better the busier he is, but again, burnout is the issue.  It's a tough call.  And one more reason I'd never be a good coach or GM.

As usual, we'll be liveblogging the game here tonight, so click on the "Read More" and as a friend says, "Keep it cute or put it on mute"--that pretty much sums it up as far as contributing to the liveblog.