Perhaps the most impressive statistic in the Portland Winterhawks’ 11-2 drubbing of the Tri-City Americans, in their last game, was that eight different players scored.
Portland leads the Western Hockey League in goals with 261. The Winterhawks have scored 11 goals in a game twice this season. Just who to key on is an issue tonight and Sunday as the Victoria Royals look for ways to contend with the second-best team in the WHL. Do you watch Seth Jarvis, the No. 19-ranked North American skater for the 2020 NHL draft, who was an incredible plus-7 against Tri-City and is a WHL second-best with 94 points and third-best with 41 goals? Or do you shadow Simon Knak, Cross Hanas and Jonas Brondberg, the No. 61-, No. 65- and No. 107-ranked North American skaters for this year’s NHL draft?
And when opponents get their own chances on the Portland goal, facing them down is Joel Hofer, who backstopped Canada to the gold medal in the 2020 IIHF world junior championship tournament in the Czech Republic.
The prospects are not very tantalizing at either end of the rink.
Heading into Friday night, the Winterhawks (43-11-7) had the second-best winning percentage in the WHL at .762, behind only U.S. Division-rival Everett Silvertips.
But the Winterhawks, 6-4 in their last 10 games, dropped from No. 4 to No. 6 in the weekly Canadian Hockey League top-10 poll. So that’s something for opponents like the Royals looking for a glimmer against the ’Hawks.
Victoria is 31-23-7 with seven games remaining and is almost certainly headed into a first-round playoff match-up against the B.C. Division-rival Vancouver Giants, with only home-ice advantage to be decided. The Giants (32-23-5) used up one of their two games in hand on Victoria in a 5-4 loss Friday night in Prince George against the Cougars.
“There’s still a lot to play for because home-ice advantage for the playoffs is important,” said Royals forward Brandon Cutler, who has 17 goals on the season.
“We’re not giving up. It’s still a race for home ice.”
That will mean getting results this weekend in Oregon.
The Winterhawks, meanwhile, are one of the few teams in any sport that splits its home games between venues. Tonight’s contest is at the venerable Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the Victoria Maple Leafs used to play the Portland Buckaroos in the old pro WHL in the 1960s and where the Victoria Cougars battled the Winterhawks in the current WHL from 1971-72 to 1993-94. The Royals-Winterhawks game Sunday is at the Moda Center, also home of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA.
Victoria forward Carson Miller will be returning to the lineup in Portland after sitting out a two-game suspension. That relieves some of the pressure on a hard-pressed Royals roster. Listed on this week’s injury report are forwards Graeme Bryks and Kaid Oliver and defencemen Jacob Herauf and Noah Lamb, all day-to-day with upper-body injuries. Forward Ty Yoder is still a week or two away and goaltender Shane Farkas week-to-week.
Following the two-game set in Portland, the Royals head back across the border to play the Rockets in Kelowna on Wednesday, before returning to the Island to host the Prince George Cougars next Friday and Saturday nights at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
