What: In Western Hockey League play, the Portland Winterhawks (25-15-2-1) play the Swift Current Broncos (20-18-1-1).

When: January 18, Saturday, 5 p.m. PST (7 p.m. CST)

Innovationplex, Swift Current, Saskatchewan 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.

Listen: Broncos and Winterhawks audio.

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  The box score.
  
  
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  Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.
  
  

Portland Winterhawks

On their east coast road tour, the Portland Winterhawks have one more game to play. They defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2 on Friday. It wasn’t a particularly strong showing for the full 60 minutes, but it was a fairly balanced effort, which is respectable for the fifth game out of six. About halfway through the game, they were locked 2-2, but as has been the case this season, the second half proved good to them.

The Winterhawks are attempting to duplicate the Everett Silvertips’ division-best 5-1 record during their east coast tour. Here, there are conflicting factors. After six games in nine days and a lot of bus travel, Portland is on the road. Even yet, their schedule is excellent; they will actually have a lot less travel time on Friday nights and Saturday mornings than the Swift Current Broncos, and the Broncos have another game on Sunday.

Portland has overtaken the Prince George Cougars in the rankings and is tied with them for fourth place in the conference after they have lost three straight games (and are traveling to Everett).

[Later revisions may be made to the statistics]

Chyzowski remains three points ahead of first position and three points behind second in the WHL scoring race. He anchored the top line, which was by far the best play of the game for both sides, and had two assists on Friday. He has scored five points in a row. Weiermair, who has a 5-game scoring run, and linemates Duguay each scored two points.

The opponent for Hudson and Griffin Darby will be their father, Regan, an assistant coach for the Broncos.

Jugnauth continues to dominate when he’s on the ice and has a seven-game point run. Given how slowly they have risen in the rankings, we haven’t used the term “contender” very much, but as long as he is healthy and performing at this level, Portland appears to be a contender.

Against the Warriors, Portland’s blue line provided offensive support. Sotheran had a goal (not yet officially acknowledged), and Ruedig had a goal and an assist.

With Max P eni ka joining the team, assistance might be on the way. If that enables us to use the contender word a bit more, we’ll see.

However, they will need to make a tiny advancement in order to be considered a serious competitor. After a shaky start, he was good enough to defeat the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday. However, he has a.840 save % over his last four appearances. He was.913,.903, and.877 in November, December, and January, respectively.

Swift Current Broncos

The Swift Current Broncos had to make the four-and-a-half-hour journey home after losing to the Prince Albert Raiders 7-1 in Prince Albert on Friday night. They must travel three hours north overnight to play Saskatoon on Sunday after playing Portland on Saturday. The Prince Albert and Saskatoon games are against division rivals in an Eastern Division race that they are attempting to enter and remain in, thus they must have something left for the following night in addition to their match versus Portland. In terms of their priorities this weekend, the Winterhawks game would have come in a far third. They might get more focused if they lose poorly to the Raiders, but this game isn’t a good fit for their schedule.

They are now in 15th place in the league rankings overall, and they are in that position in almost every category. They are between slightly above and slightly below average in almost every other area, but they have a solid shooting percentage and don’t give up power plays.

They are playing the Winterhawks at home for the second consecutive year. With more time, the Broncos returned to the East this season with its closer Saskatchewan teams after Wenatchee’s late transfer to the Western Conference last season kept them in the Central Division.

It is perplexing that despite all of these players collecting points per game (and more), their goal scoring is barely mediocre.

Mistelbacher, who was not selected in the NHL draft last year, is currently enjoying a fantastic season at the age of 19 and is ranked 72 by Central Scouting.

Caswell is the team captain and a fifth-round pick of the Kraken.

Dezainde knows him from Prince George’s days. This season’s iconic game, in which Ryan Miller scored in the closing seconds, was his final game with the Cougars before they had to cut him to make room for their 20-year-olds. In that game, he received five minor penalties, which accounted for over one-fifth of his season-long penalty minutes.

As their major trade deadline acquisition, they acquired Mayo from Red Deer.

Central Scouting has ranked Kettles, McGregor, and Burzynski; despite having the poorest numbers, Kettles is placed 26th, far ahead of the others.

Dyck gave up four goals on fourteen shots and was fired on Friday. You would assume they would want to hold Dyck back and keep him fresh for Sunday’s game, which is more crucial for them. But now that they’ve pulled him, will that change? Rocha hadn’t played in five games in a row, so they at least gave him some minutes.

Tale of the tape

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