The Portland Winterhawks knew it would be a long trip home on Wednesday. But, the bus ride of more than 1,300 miles wasn’t as taxing as it might have been.
When you’re at the top of the league standings and ranked second in all of North American junior hockey, it makes the inconvenience of a 24-hour bus ride easier to handle.
While making stops in each of the Western Hockey League’s East Division towns, the Winterhawks went 5-1 and put significant distance between themselves and the Western Conference competition.
Heading into weekend home games on Saturday against Kamloops and on Sunday against Spokane, Portland (19-3-0-1) has 12 more points than the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants. Both teams have played 23 games. In the U.S. Division, Seattle (19 games) and Tri-City (20 games) trail Portland by 15 points.
The Winterhawks have won 13 of 14 since an Oct. 13 home loss to Calgary. The lone loss was 4-3 at Saskatoon one week ago in a contest that matched the two highest-ranked teams in the WHL.
Johnston said he was surprised “to a degree” that his club went 5-1 on the longest road swing of the season.
“You never really know (what to expect) until you see the other teams in the league,” Johnston said, noting that most of the opponents in the East were quality clubs.
The coach has come to expect solid third-period play from his team.
“We found a way to play well in third periods of close games,” Johnston said.
One factor is Portland’s depth. Two high-power lines and little drop off to the third and fourth lines, make the Winterhawks a tough matchup for opposing coaches.
“We feel we can put two, three, even four lines together that have some scoring depth,” Johnston said.
Ty Rattie continues to roll. The 17-year-old is second in the WHL with 39 points (14 goals, 25 assists), one behind Vancouver’s Craig Cunningham.
Sven Bartschi had a 16-game scoring streak end on Tuesday at Brandon. The Swiss rookie has 16 goals and 17 assists.
Bartschi is ranked second and Rattie third by NHL Central Scouting among WHL skaters eligible for the 2011 NHL Draft. Defensemen Joe Morrow (fifth) and Tyler Wotherspoon (ninth) give Portland four of the top-10 prospects for next year’s draft.
• Four Winterhawks — defenseman Brett Ponich, and forwards Rattie, Brad Ross and Ryan Johansen — played on Thursday in Prince George for the Western Hockey League in the final game of the Subway Super Series. None scored as Russia won 5-2 to finish 4-1-1 in six games between teams of CHL players and Team Russia. All four will be back in Portland for the weekend games.
• Winterhawks players will serve meals to homeless Portlanders on Monday at the Union Gospel Mission.
Jags play at home
The River City Jaguars and their fans will see both the worst and the best of their division in games today and Saturday at Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver.
The Jaguars are 6-11 and sit fourth in the Pacific Division of the Northern Pacific Hockey League, a Junior A-level league. At 7:55 p.m. today, the Jaguars take on the 1-18 Puget Sound Tomahawks. At 6:40 p.m. Saturday, the 19-1 Seattle Totems pay a visit to Vancouver.
River City coach Ross Gale said he isn’t focusing on the challenges posed by opponents. He wants his Jaguars to play with the intensity they showed last weekend in narrow losses at Eugene and Medford.
“Our emphasis is always on playing with high intensity,” Gale said. “The focus is to make sure we are working hard every shift.”
From a strategic perspective, Ross said he will continue to experiment with line combinations in an effort to get more players onto the scoresheet.
River City has scored 48 goals through 17 games, half of them from three players. Shane McGuiness (10 goals), Cameron Callaway (eight) and Alex Sulitzer (six) have led the way.
“We’re trying to find the right line matches,” Gale said. “We continue to try a little bit of everything to see what might work best.”
Playing at home might help. The Jags will play 18 of their 28 remaining games at Mountain View Ice Arena, including a Thanksgiving Day match against Eugene at 12:35 p.m. next Thursday.
