The Portland Winterhawks should be glad to put November behind them.
And it has nothing to do with the team’s current four-game losing streak.
Over a 24-day stretch between Nov. 5 and Nov. 28, Portland played 14 games. That included the six-game trip to the Eastern Division. It ended with four games in five nights last week that meant traveling to Chilliwack on Friday and Tri-City on Saturday and then home on Sunday to face Medicine Hat.
“We knew it was going to be the toughest part of the year,” Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston said.
Until last weekend, the tough schedule hadn’t slowed the Winterhawks. And even with four consecutive losses — two of them in shootouts — Portland still has a comfortable lead in the Western Conference at 21-6-0-3 for 45 points. Tri-City, which visits the Rose Garden tonight, is the closest rival with 34 points, though the Americans and every team in the Western Conference have played at least three fewer games than Portland’s 30.
Johnston said his team played “very good” games in its shootout losses at Tri-City on Saturday and at home Sunday to Medicine Hat.
Portland has been successful in close games all season.
“We won a lot of those games previously and now we aren’t,” Johnston said. “We just aren’t sharp right now.”
The biggest difference the coach sees between all those close victories and this week’s tight losses is timing-related.
“Our puck movement hasn’t been very good,” Johnston said.
The speed of the game means that getting to the correct spot on the ice a second or two late doesn’t get it done, Johnston said.
• Four Winterhawks players have been invited to participate in their countries’ World Junior Championship training camps. Ryan Johansen and Brad Ross will attend Canada’s national junior team selection camp Dec. 12-15 in Toronto. Sven Bartschi and Nino Niederreiter have been named to Switzerland’s pre-tournament roster for the annual tournament, which will be played Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Earlier in November, it was announced that Winterhawks forward Brendan Leipsic and defenseman Derrick Pouliot will play for Canada’s Team West for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which takes place Dec. 29 to Jan. 4 in Manitoba.
• This week: The Winterhawks play host to Tri-City at 7 p.m. today at the Rose Garden, After the game, women 18 and older can take a shot at winning a ham from Fred Meyer. Portland then visits Spokane for games on Saturday and again on Wednesday.
Penalties hurting Jags
The River City Jaguars are 9-13, fourth in the Pacific Division of the Northern Pacific Hockey League. They trail third-place Eugene by two points and second-place Southern Oregon by 10.
To successfully climb up the standings, they need to stay on the ice.
The Vancouver-based Junior A-level hockey team leads the Northern Pacific Hockey League in penalty minutes with 726. In their 6-2 loss to Eugene on Thanksgiving Day, the visiting Generals scored on four of eight power plays for their margin of victory.
Jaguars’ coach Ross Gale said that early in the season some of the Jaguars’ penalties were lazy infractions such as holding from being caught out of position. Those problems have been corrected, Gale said, but the team recently has been cited often aggressive penalties.
Another challenge has been scoring.
The Jaguars’ offense received a boost recently with the addition of brothers Avik Bordak, 16, and Joe Bordak, 17, from Vancouver. Teamed with fellow Clark County resident Sam Petrino, Avik Bordak has three goals and one assist in three games, and Joe Bordak has two assists in three games.
“We need more goals,” Gale said. “They are guys who can score.”
• This week: The Jaguars play Southern Oregon at 12:55 p.m. on Sunday at Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver. Dec. 10-12, the entire NORPAC meets in Spokane for three days of games between teams from the East and West divisions.
