What: In Western Hockey League play, the Portland Winterhawks (23-15-2-1) play the Saskatchewan Blades (22-14-2-2).
When: January 15, Wednesday, 5 p.m. PST (7 p.m. CST)
Where: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s SaskaTel Centre.
Watch: The game is available to stream on the CLH TV pay-per-view service, which costs roughly US$7.50 each game.
Winterhawks and Blades audio can be heard.
Do the following:
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The box score.
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Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.
Portland Winterhawks
The Portland Winterhawks have a difficult matchup on Tuesday. They appeared to have the Prince Albert Raiders on the defensive for the whole of the game, outscoring them 41–24. However, they lost 5–4 because they failed to keep the puck out of their own net and didn’t fully capitalize on their opportunities.
If they can handle business against Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, the trip still has a chance to be profitable. They will then be nearing the end of their journey, but they have a favorable schedule against Swift Current on Saturday. Their 2-1 record has already earned them 4 points; a minimum of 8 points would be a respectable achievement.
[Later revisions may be made to the statistics]
| Forwards | (Career games – season points/games) |
|---|---|
| 20 | 19-Kyle Chyzowski (286 – 68/41) |
| 19 |
15-Joel Plante (12 – 6/12) 28-Josh Zakreski (217 – 41/39) 39-Tyson Yaremko (112 – 30/35) 88-Alex Weiermair (15 – 17/15) |
| 18 |
17-Carsyn Dyck (44 – 18/41) 29-Hudson Darby (106 – 14/33) 61-Brodie Hankel (23 – 0/23) 90-Diego Buttazzoni (188 – 49/38) |
| 17 |
8-Lochlan Tetarenko (25 – 5/25) 18-Kyle McDonough (99 – 24/36) 23-Ryan Miller (87 – 16/23) 37-David Hoy (28 – 4/28) |
| 16 |
9-Jordan Duguay (41 – 22/41) 72-Reed Brown (41 – 10/41) |
Kyle McDonough participates in 90 regular season games and 10 postseason games. He appears to be headed for a 300-game WHL career.
Both Weiermair and Chyzowski have streaks of three points or more. On Tuesday, Chyzowski regained the league lead in scoring with a 2-point performance. In ten of his previous eleven games, he has scored two points or more.
Month-to-month, Yaremko is still labeled as out.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
27-Tyson Jugnauth (98 – 57/39) 43-Ryder Thompson (275 – 16/41) |
| 19 | 59-Carter Sotheran (196 – 21/39) |
| 18 | 12-Cole Slobodian (46 – 2/41) |
| 17 | 7-Kayd Ruedig (42 – 13/40) |
| 16 | 22-Griffin Darby (36 – 3/36) |
Tuesday’s 3-point performance put Jugnauth on a 5-game point run. After Portland fell behind 2-0, he came up with two fantastic goals to level the score.
| Goalies | (Career games – season save%/games) |
|---|---|
| 18 | 74-Marek Schlenker (19 – .894/19) |
| 17 | 1-Ondrej t bet k (28 – .890/28) |
Goaltending is once again somewhat problematic. In three of the last seven games, they have had the goalie hooked.
Saskatoon Blades
The first half of this season was always going to be about displaying their finest players to sell before the deadline and get some draft picks back after they sold the future in an attempt to win the league last season and lost in overtime in Game 7 of the conference finals. It was enough to stray from the plan just to be in first place. This season, they sold off Brandon Lisowsky, Tanner Molendyk, Misha Volotovskii, and Ben Riche, who had 124 games and 129 points.
After selling, they aim to still be a hair ahead of the Red Deer Rebels, Moose Jaw Warriors, and Regina Pats, and have enough margin to qualify for the playoffs. It’s odd that the objective of first place is simply to get in, but that’s where they are.
They have already dropped two straight games against Central Division challengers Edmonton and Calgary.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 29-Tanner Scott (254 – 19/30) |
| 19 |
20-Tyler Parr (213 – 39/38) 23-Rowan Calvert (191 – 34/36) 32-Franti ek Dej (0 – 0/0) |
| 18 |
27-Hunter Laing (124 – 22/38) 72-William James (67 – 10/26) |
| 17 |
11-Hudson Kibblewhite (72 – 12/32) 14-Colten Worthington (39 – 4/36) 26-Hayden Harsanyi (86 – 7/9) 77-Kazden Mathies (95 – 7/34) 86-David Lewandowski (24 – 17/24) |
| 16 |
9-Zach Olsen (36 – 15/35) 25-Cooper Williams (40 – 26/40) |
Former Medicine Hat first-rounder Harsanyi had three points in two games with the Blades and a four-game point streak overall.
Prince George brought Laing over. He was selected by the Flames in the sixth round, but he hasn’t shown enough to support that.
When it comes to 16-year-olds scoring, Williams ranks sixth.
Dej arrived from Slovakia and the World Juniors before the deadline, although he hasn’t yet played.
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 |
2-Ben Saunderson (267 – 22/40) 21-Grayden Siepmann (265 – 27/40) |
| 18 | 52-Morgan Tastad (96 – 6/36) |
| 17 |
3-Jordan Martin (46 – 6/37) 4-Brayden Klimpke (52 – 13/39) 13-Isaac Poll (35 – 3/29) 37-Jack Kachkowski (71 – 8/40) |
Now a very youthful defensive corps will attempt to be led by Saunderson and Siepmann.
| Goalies | |
|---|---|
| 18 |
33-Ethan McCallum (41 – .886/15) 35-Evan Gardner (75 – .907/30) |
The only remaining huge star is Gardner. The Blue Jackets selected him in the second round. He will be expected to win a lot of games on his own.
Tale of the tape
| Winterhawks | Blades | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 23-15-2-1 (.598) | 22-14-2-2 (.600) | .548 |
| Goals/game | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| Goals allowed/game | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Team shooting % | .118 | .113 | .111 |
| Team save % | .885 | .900 | .889 |
| Power play | 27.4% | 27.1% | 23.2% |
| Penalty kill | 78.7% | 74.4% | 76.8% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.7 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.8 | 3.0 | 3.7 |
| Outshooting opponents | 17-22-2 | 17-21-2 | 19-19-2 |
| After 1 period | 12-17-12 | 9-14-17 | 14-14-12 |
| After 2 periods | 15-20-6 | 11-16-13 | 16-16-8 |
| Score, last 10 games | 49-43 (+6) | 31-34 (-3) | 35-36 |
| Score, last 20 games | 92-80 (+12) | 64-70 (-6) | 71-71 |
| Total WHL games | 2064 | 2189 | 2564 |
| WHL drafted top 60 | 6 | 13 | 10 |
| NHL drafted | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| NHL drafted top 80 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Players 6 2 or over | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Players 5 10 or under | 9 | 2 | 5 |
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