What: In Western Hockey League action, Portland (17-12-2) plays at Spokane (22-10).
When: 7 p.m. PST on Tuesday, December 17.
Memorial Coliseum is the location.
Watch: The game is available to stream on the CLH TV pay-per-view service, which costs roughly US$7.50 each game.
Check out Portland and Spokane audio.
Do the following:
-
The box score.
-
Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.
Portland
Portland’s final game before Christmas break wraps up a strong first half. Even though they didn’t play their best in the latter two periods against Seattle on Saturday, they still won 5-2. They’ve won three in a row. They were 6-7-2 when they fell in Spokane on November 1st, and their underlying statistics indicated they weren’t performing all that well. Their underlying numbers have significantly improved since then, and they are currently 11-5. They are essentially at the very high end of their season predictions with 17 victories in 31 games.
[Later revisions may be made to the statistics]
| Forwards | (Career games – season points/games) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 19-Kyle Chyzowski (276 – 45/31) |
| 19 |
8-Braeden Jockims (75 – 1/30) 15-Joel Plante (2 – 1/2) 28-Josh Zakreski (207 – 33/29) 39-Tyson Yaremko (108 – 24/31) 88-Alex Weiermair (5 – 6/5) |
| 18 |
17-Carsyn Dyck (34 – 13/31) 29-Hudson Darby (97 – 10/24) 61-Brodie Hankel (21 – 0/21) 90-Diego Buttazzoni (178 – 37/28) |
| 17 |
18-Kyle McDonough (90 – 18/27) 23-Ryan Miller (81 – 12/17) 37-David Hoy (25 – 3/25) |
| 16 |
9-Jordan Duguay (31 – 14/31) 11-Owen Chapman (3 – 0/3) 72-Reed Brown (31 – 8/31) |
Buttazzoni leads the forwards with four goals and five assists during a six-game point streak.
Weiermair, Yaremko, and Zakreski are all on three-game streaks.
Chyzowski leads the forwards in power play points and is tied for ninth place in scoring.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
27-Tyson Jugnauth (88 – 40/29) 43-Ryder Thompson (265 – 13/31) |
| 19 | 59-Carter Sotheran (186 – 15/29) |
| 18 | 12-Cole Slobodian (36 – 2/31) |
| 17 | 7-Kayd Ruedig (32 – 9/30) |
| 16 |
22-Griffin Darby (27 – 3/27) 93-Aaron Zulinick (3 – 1/3) |
Jugnauth’s impressive run is still going strong; he has 14 assists and 6 points in a row. He is now the leading scorer among defenseman and leads all players in power play points. However, none of his five assists from last week came on a power play.
| Goalies | (Career games – season save%/games) |
|---|---|
| 18 | 74-Marek Schlenker (14 – .897/14) |
| 17 | 1-Ondrej t bet k (20 – .896/20) |
Together, Portland’s goaltender duo is playing well. In terms of save %, they have moved Portland up from the lowest rankings to average.
Spokane
Prince George ended Spokane’s 10-game winning run on Saturday at home. It ended up being a low-scoring 3-1 game since neither team was playing at their best because Prince George was traveling overnight from Portland and Spokane was traveling overnight from Seattle.
Naturally, they are missing Berkly Catton, the greatest player, team captain, and Kraken first-rounder for Team Canada at the World Juniors. Portland won’t be missing him because he has already scored seven points in three games against them.
Portland’s goal differential on special teams is a league-best +23, while Spokane’s is +10. Spokane’s power play and penalty kill percentage are both superior to Portland’s. More significantly, Spokane has allowed nine shorthanded goals to Portland’s one, despite the fact that Portland draws a lot more power plays.
This game begins the stretch of the final three games in Portland. The first three games of the six-game season series were played in Spokane, where Spokane won all three.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
13-Rasmus Ekstr m (67 – 26/29) 20-Shea Van Olm (253 – 45/31) |
| 19 |
12-Matthew Edwards (112 – 1/15) 55-Sam Oremba (263 – 17/29) |
| 18 |
8-Coco Armstrong (59 – 3/13) 16-Smyth Rebman (138 – 22/31) 27-Berkly Catton (176 – 47/28) 28-Asanali Sarkenov (21 – 15/21) 37-Cameron Parr (141 – 5/30) |
| 17 |
10-Dane Pyatt (1 – 1/1) 21-Owen Martin (78 – 13/19) 22-Hayden Paupanekis (98 – 19/32) 26-Chase Harrington (100 – 23/32) |
| 16 |
11-Cohen Harris (27 – 6/27) 17-Brody Gillespie (31 – 3/28) 96-Mathis Preston (34 – 21/26) |
Van Olm has two assists in four games this season without Catton, including one in two games with Catton out in the past week. Without Catton, their sole remaining point per game player is Van Olm. Ekstr m had a 4-game skid without scoring, but he was scoring more than one point each game.
At three games, Rebman is the only Spokane player with a noteworthy point streak.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 3-Brayden Crampton (219 – 29/32) |
| 19 | 44-Saige Weinstein (221 – 8/29) |
| 18 |
5-Nathan Mayes (98 – 9/20) 18-Will McIsaac (172 – 8/30) |
| 17 | 7-Owen Schoettler (101 – 12/32) |
| 16 |
6-Kaden Allan (25 – 3/23) 47-Rhett Sather (25 – 3/25) |
On paper, they still have a strong defense thanks to Crampton, NHL draft picks Mayes and McIsaac, and Weinstein, who is enjoying a somewhat slow offensive season.
| Goalies | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 73-Dawson Cowan (104 – .904/25) |
| 16 | 30-Carter Esler (7 – .888/7) |
Esler is listed at five feet nine and a half, which is unusual for a goalie these days.
Cowan has a.912 save percentage after stopping 73 of 80 in three appearances against Portland.
Tale of the tape
| Portland | Spokane | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 17-12-2 (.581) | 22-10 (.688) | .550 |
| Goals/game | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
| Team shooting % | .113 | .110 | .111 |
| Team save % | .889 | .897 | .889 |
| Power play | 28.1% | 28.6% | 22.8% |
| Penalty kill | 81.5% | 83.2% | 77.2% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.8 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Outshooting opponents | 11-19-1 | 20-10-2 | 15-15-1 |
| After 1 period | 9-12-10 | 12-9-11 | 11-11-9 |
| After 2 periods | 11-15-5 | 19-8-5 | 12-12-6 |
| Score, last 10 games | 43-37 (+6) | 44-22 (+22) | 36-35 |
| Score, last 20 games | 78-74 (+4) | 79-63 (+16) | 73-74 |
| Total WHL games | 1935 | 2571 | 2451 |
| WHL drafted top 60 | 7 | 12 | 10 |
| NHL drafted | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| NHL drafted top 80 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Players 6 2 or over | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Players 5 10 or under | 10 | 6 | 6 |
Live updates and chat
Visit my website to join us. Everyone is welcome.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
