By RON OLSON
of the Oregonian staff
KELOWNA, British Columbia - "Defense" hasn't exactly been Portland's slogan this season but the WinterHawks and goalie Peter Fry turned in a defensive gem here Thursday night and recorded a 3-1 Western Hockey League win over the Kelowna Wings.
It may have been out of shock or desperation too. The Hawks learned after their 7-6 loss to New Westminister Wednesday night in Portland that General Manager Brian Shaw had traded rookies Trevor Hendry and Jamie Huscroft to the Seattle Breakers for veteran forward-defenseman Sean Harder.
The Hawks, 12-7, have been plagued recently by poor defensive play, ranking No. 11 out of 14 teams in the WHL. The recent moves to acquire Craig Butz and Harder have been necessitated by that statistic.
"Tonight we didn't want to hurry our attack," said defenseman John Kordic. "If we were in trouble, we wanted to ice the puck or freeze it along the boards so that we could re-organize." The strategy paid off as the Hawks held the Wings to 29 shots on goal. They did sacrifice their league-leading offense somewhat, firing only 28 shots on Kelowna goalie Bruno Campese, but second period goals by Alfie Turcotte and newcomer Dan Woodley enabled Portland to break a 1-1 tie.
"I thought we showed a lot of discipline and our forwards were superlative in their checking assignments," said Coach Ken Hodge. "And, Peter was just outstanding."
Both clubs appeared at the outset to be trying to find themselves. The Hawks have been hampered by a porous defense of late and entered the contest with five losses in their last six games. Kelowna, on the other hand, had lost its last eight. Goals by Portland's Grant Sasser and Kelowna's RJ dundas gave the teams a 1-1 standoff after the opening 20 minutes, a period that featured excellent goaltending by both Campese and Fry.
Sasser, who midway through the second period went down with a strained knee on a check by Dave McLay and was lost for the rest of the game, gave the Winter Hawks a 1-0 lead with the 19th goal of the season at the 7:25 mark, taking a pass from Turcotte to score off a 2 on 1 break. That advantage, though lasted less than two minutes when the wings working on a power play with Portland's Rick Davidson in the box, used a pass from the right point by Dave McDonald to Dundas in the crease to pick up the equalizer.
Fry came up with big saves on Mcdonald twice and once each on Darren Cota and Jeff Fenton when the Hawk defense broke down a bit, leaving Fry to fend for himself. At the other end, Campese stopped one serious flurry by Turcotte, Tim Lorenz and Kordic.
Fry continued his strong play in the second period. The Wings managed just 11 shots, but as in the opening period, a few of them came from close range. Dundas had two clear shots from inside 10 feet and Cam Lazoruk directed a point shot that caught Fry by surprise. The young goalie, though was able to get a pad on the shot before the defense cleared it out of the way. Turcotte gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead early in the second period when, using Sasser as a screen at the blueline, he broke behind the Wing defense, pulled Campese out and put in a sharp angled shot for a short handed tally.
WINTER HAWK NOTES - Defenseman Bryan Walker and winger Randy Heath stayed home for this short trip that will conclude Friday when the Hawks meet the Junior Oilers at Kamloops before returning home for a Sunday game against Regina in Memorial coliseum. Walker has developed a case of mononucleosis to go along with tonsillitis, while Heath played sparingly against Seattle Wednesday and is diagnosed to have a bruised liver. Walker is out indefinitely, but the Hawks expect Heath back in the lineup Sunday. Defenseman Craig Butz returned to face his former team Thursday after having asked Wings coach Mark Pezzin to be traded. Butz was dealt to Portland for defenseman Jim Playfair, who remains with the National Hockey League Edmonton Oilers.
SCORE BY PERIODS
Portland...............................................................1 2 0-3
Kelowna......................................................................1 0 0-1
FIRST PERIOD
1. Portland - Sasser (Turcotte, Benning) 7:25
2. Kelowna - RJ Dundas (Mcdonald, Zaporzan) 9:01
Penalties - Davidson (P) 8:42; McDonald (K) 12:52 Davidson (P) 16:06.
SECOND PERIOD
3. Portland - Turcotte (unassisted) 3:31
4. Portlaand - Woodley (Rohlicek, G. Walker) 16:29
Penalties - Benning (P) 2:42; Wenaas (K) 5:59; Lorenz (P) 17:28
Scoring - none
Penalties - Butz (P) :44; /cota (K) Butz (P) 7:46
SHOTS ON GOAL - Portland 10-11-7-28; Kelowna 7-11-11-29
GOALTENDERS - Portland: Fry; Kelowna: Campese.
REFEREE - Forbes
No comments:
Post a Comment