Sure, Brad Ross would love to still be with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But any disappointment the 18-year-old winger feels about not making the National Hockey League team hasn’t prevented him from a strong start with the Portland Winterhawks.
Ross played in two games this week and scored three goals — a highlight reel gem at home on Monday against Vancouver, and a pair of breakaway tallies in Wednesday’s 4-3 road win over the Giants.
“I knew it was a long shot to make Toronto,” Ross said following Monday’s 7-2 win in the Winterhawks home opener. “I’m just excited to come back. We’ve got a great group of guys in here and we’ve got a team that could go all the way, so it’s exciting.”
Ross is certainly part of the reason there are high hopes for these Winterhawks. Portland’s top bantam draft pick in 2007 didn’t miss a game to injury last season and was drafted 43rd overall by the Maple Leafs.
Ross said he feels good about his performance in the NHL rookie tournament and the Leafs training camp. He said the message from the Leafs coaches was to keep working.
Ross, Spencer Bennett and Ty Rattie each has a team-high three goals in the early going.
Oliver Gabriel is returning to Portland after a strong showing at the Columbus Blue Jackets camp. Columbus has until Oct. 6 to sign the undrafted free agent, or he will return to the draft pool.
That leaves top NHL draft picks Nino Niederreiter (New York Islanders) and Ryan Johansen (Columbus) as the two Winterhawks still at NHL camps.
It could be some time before Portland learns if either will be sent back to Portland this season.
Winterhawks coach Mike Johnston has said it is unlikely an NHL team will keep 18-year-old rookies unless they are seeing significant action on a top line.
Keith Hamilton has played each of the first three games in goal with Mac Carruth nursing a sore hamstring and Ian Curtis on the injured list as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. Hamilton is competing with the 20-year-old Curtis for a spot on the Winterhawks this season. He has a .290 save percentage and is allowing three goals a game in three starts.
NOTES — The Winterhawks will celebrate the start of the season on Saturday, when Seattle visits the Rose Garden. When the initial schedule was released, this was to be the home opener. So it will be treated as the grand opening game. The complete roster will be introduced before the game. The first 7,500 fans get a poster of the 10 current Hawks who have been drafted by NHL teams, and ticket package holders get a Nino Niederreiter bobblehead.
• The Winterhawks are also at the Rose Garden on Sunday, hosting the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 5 p.m. They play seven home games in October, including four in a row at the end of this month.
• Oregon Disability Sports and USA Hockey are hosting a sled hockey clinic at the Winterhawks Skating Center at 9 a.m. Saturday. Among the participants will be Portland native Rico Roman, a member of the U.S. national sled hockey team and David Conklin, member of the 2002 and 2006 U.S. Paralympic sled hockey teams. The Winterhawks Skating Center is the former Valley Ice Arena at 9250 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.
