They wear hockey helmets, not light-blue berets. But with players on three different teams at this month’s world junior championship, the Portland Winterhawks are kind of like the United Nations of the WHL.
The Winterhawks (29-19-3) have certainly been all-world lately, winning their sixth consecutive game and ninth of their last 11, with a 4-3 victory over the Victoria Royals before 5,798 fans at the Moda Center on Wednesday evening.
Winnipeg Jets 2014 draft-pick Chase De Leo scored the winner in the third period on a two-point night. The Californian performed for the U.S. at the world juniors, while Portland teammates Oliver Bjorkstrand played for Denmark and Nic Petan for gold-medallist Canada.
The Winterhawks won the season series 3-1 against Victoria. These are two clubs that have built a sometimes-rancorous rivalry over the past few years.
Victoria (26-20-4) came close in the third period but shots by Austin Carroll and Logan Fisher rang off the post as the Royals had a seven-game unbeaten streak snapped in a contest played with a playoff-like spirit.
“These are two good teams that are playing very well right now. It was a good, intense game and both teams fought for space,” said Royals coach Dave Lowry, whose club has won eight of its last 11 games.
“Our guys played hard and I’m disappointed for them. But the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins the game and Portland made one fewer than we did tonight.”
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Alex Forsberg led the Royals with two goals with Regan Nagy scoring the other. Royals scoring-leader Carroll picked up an assist to extend his points streak to six games.
Portland’s six-foot-three Adin Hill, the ninth-ranked North American goaltender for the 2015 NHL draft, faced down the Victoria shooters in a 36-save performance. Justin Paulic, who had won all four of his previous starts for Victoria since being acquired in a trade from Moose Jaw on Jan. 7, made 32 saves in losing for the first time in Royals colours.
Portland also got goals from Dominic Turgeon and two defencemen — Adam Henry and 16-year-old Victoria-raised Brendan De Jong. The six-foot-four Winterhawks rookie De Jong scored for the third time in his last five games. They are the first three goals of the Islander’s budding WHL career.
The Royals continue their three-game U.S. Division swing Friday night in Spokane (23-20-4) and Saturday in Tri-City (24-23-2).
