PORTLAND — The gathering in downtown Portland on Tuesday afternoon wasn’t just another preseason press conference. Before beginning training camp today, the Portland Winterhawks wanted to celebrate.
And so seven of the eight returning players who were selected in June’s National Hockey League draft — minus Nino Niederreiter, who was in New York preparing for training camp with the New York Islanders — were introduced wearing the sweater of their NHL team. It was a recognition of those players’ accomplishments, and of the distance the Winterhawks franchise has covered in less than two years.
“When I first came to the team, we were one of the worst teams in the league,” noted 19-year-old power forward Riley Boychuk, a selection of the Buffalo Sabres in June who is entering his third full season with the Winterhawks. “But it’s changed big-time. The turnaround is unreal. Our expectations are nothing but winning. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m sure everyone else is, too.”
By winning, he means a championship — something that seemed laughable to consider less than two years ago when the team was in its fourth year as one of the worst in the Western Hockey League. Coach and general manager Mike Johnston said in his comments to media and assembled fans that this team has the talent to become champions.
The process of taking the Winterhawks from nice revival story to championship contender in 2011 begins today when 82 players arrive for the team’s training camp.
After undergoing physicals and fitness testing today, the players will be on the ice Thursday through Sunday at Memorial Coliseum. The camp will consist of both practices and games.
Johnston said that he will make initial cuts after the Sunday morning games. He said he expects to keep 38 players in camp beyond Sunday, a larger number than usual because 13 current Winterhawks will be attending NHL training camps in early September.
Therein is the mixed blessing of having eight players selected in the NHL draft.
“It presents a challenge to put a team together,” Johnston said. “This time of year you want to get your systems down, your structure down, and your chemistry down. Having players coming and going is something we’re going to have to be prepared for.”
While it’s possible — perhaps probable — that all of the NHL draftees will play for the Winterhawks in 2010-11, the players are excited to get a shot at the big league.
Topping that list are Ryan Johansen and Niederreiter.
Because they were high first-round draft picks — Johansen No. 4 by Columbus and Niederreiter No. 5 by the Islanders — the 18-year-old forwards figure to get extended looks from their NHL teams.
“If they can play in a top-line role as an 18-year-old, I think they’ll keep them,” Johnston said. “But if it’s not like they’re going to keep them on the fourth line or as an extra player. They’ll send them back to junior and then we’ll have them for the year.”
Johansen — who called this the busiest summer of his young life — said he is looking forward to the challenge of proving he belongs in the NHL.
“I think there might be a few guys who want to put me on my butt,” Johansen said. “But those are things you have to deal with being a top draft pick. I’m looking forward to going to camp and trying to make a great impression on the coaches that I want to stay there.”
Even if Johansen and Niederreiter make the NHL, the Winterhawks still have an impressive group of players who are arriving at the prime of their junior hockey years in their late teens.
One of those is Boychuk. The team’s first-round bantam selection in 2006, Boychuk was hampered by injury early in his Hawks career. Now he is almost 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds of power forward with confidence.
“I felt I played my role well for the team last year, but I feel that I can do a lot more this year,” said Boychuk, who registered 14 goals and 16 assists in 66 regular-season games as an 18-year-old.
“With a little bit of confidence from being picked by an NHL team, that confidence will probably show in my play.”
Confidence. It’s something the Portland Winterhawks and their fans went without for an extended stretch. Tuesday’s presentation celebrated its return.
