Portland Winterhawks

Portland Winterhawks
City Portland, Oregon
League Western Hockey League
Conference Western
Division U.S.
Founded 1951, in the WCHL
Home arena Moda Center
Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Colors red, white and black
              
General manager Jamie Kompon
Head coach Jamie Kompon
Championships Western Hockey League Champions (1982, 1998, 2013)
Memorial Cup Champions (1983, 1998)

Website
www.winterhawks.com

Franchise history
1951–1976 Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL)
1976–2009 Portland Winter Hawks
2009–present Portland Winterhawks

The Portland Winterhawks are an American major junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon, playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), one of three leagues making up the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The Winterhawks split their home games between the Moda Center (most games) and the Memorial Coliseum. They are one of the most successful teams in terms of producing National Hockey League (NHL) alumni, a list that includes Sven Baertschi, Joe Morrow, Ryan Johansen, Braydon Coburn, Adam Deadmarsh, Rob Klinkhammer, Brandon Dubinsky, Tyler Wotherspoon, Andrew Ference, Paul Gaustad, Jannik Hansen, Marian Hossa, Seth Jones, Brenden Morrow, Nino Niederreiter, Mike Vernon, Glen Wesley and Hall of Famers Mark Messier and Cam Neely, among others.

The Winterhawks have won the Ed Chynoweth Cup three times and the Memorial Cup twice in five appearances (1982, 1983, 1986, 1998, 2013). The team has been in Portland since 1976–77. The team won the Memorial Cup twice and was runner-up seven times.

History

Previous owner Brian Shaw was a pioneer in many aspects of junior hockey, moving a team to the United States and championing the host team format of the Memorial Cup.

The Winterhawks were also pioneers of promotion and are credited with the invention of the "Dash for Cash," in which contestants are picked to run onto the ice and try to scoop up as many silver dollars in two minutes as they can. This popular promotion has been running for many years. Moreover, in late November/early December, they hold their annual teddy bear toss, in which fans throw teddy bears on the ice at the first Portland goal, which are then donated to local children's charities. On December 6, 2008, fans threw out 22,392 teddy bears after Luke Walker scored Portland's first goal against the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The Winterhawks wear jerseys similar to those of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL, causing some to erroneously assume that the Winterhawks are a minor league farm team of the Blackhawks. In actuality, the jerseys originally worn by the first Winterhawks team were a used set of Chicago jerseys obtained through connections between the owners of the two teams. In early photos, the old Chicago jerseys are identifiable by the letter "C" with crossed tomahawks on the shoulder crest. The Winterhawks eventually changed the "C" to a "P."

The Portland-Chicago connection runs deeper, as the Blackhawks were founded in 1926 by Frederic McLaughlin, who simply bought the contracts of most of the members of the Portland Rosebuds and brought them to Chicago.

In the 2009–10 season, the Winterhawks introduced an alternate "Hawk Eyes" logo as part of a new advertising campaign that featured lightning flashes on a mottled black background and the SMS-style words, "LOC8, NTMD8, DVST8" (read: "locate, intimidate, devastate"). In 2010–11, an alternate Hawk Head logo was added, with a similar design as the Blackhawks logo, but featuring only the three team colors: red, white and black. A new third jersey was also created with the Hawk Eyes on the front over stylized, mottled black fabric throughout; player names, numbers and accents are in gunmetal gray, and the new tri-color Hawk Head is featured as the shoulder patch.

On November 28, 2012, the WHL announced sanctions against the Winterhawks for a series of player benefits violations over the four previous seasons. As punishment for the violations WHL Commissioner Ron Robison suspended the team from participation in the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft and forfeiture of their first round picks from the 2014 to 2017 WHL Bantam Drafts and were fined $200,000. The WHL also suspended General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, including the 2013 WHL playoffs.[1]

On May 12, 2013, the Winterhawks defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 5–1 in Game 6 to become the 2012–13 WHL champions.

On April 25, 2014, the Winterhawks defeated the Kelowna Rockets 7–3 to win their fourth-consecutive Western Conference Championship.

Mascot

The team mascot of the Winterhawks is a white bird with multicolored tail and wing feathers, named Tom-A-Hawk. Tom-A-Hawk was introduced in 1999–2000. He wears jersey number 00. Tom-A-Hawk's main rival is Cool Bird of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Name change

The team was known as the Winter Hawks until May 2009, when it issued a press release that "the space...announced its retirement" and that the team was renaming itself the Winterhawks.[2][3]

Current ownership

Bill Gallacher, a Calgary businessman, purchased the team in October 2008.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season GP W L T OTL GF GA Points Finish Playoffs
1976–77 72 36 29 7 - 359 294 79 3rd West Lost semi-final
1977–78 72 41 20 11 - 361 296 93 1st West Eliminated in West Division round robin
1978–79 72 49 10 13 - 432 265 111 1st West Lost final
1979–80 72 53 18 1 - 398 293 107 1st West Eliminated in West Division round robin
1980–81 72 56 15 1 - 443 266 113 2nd West Lost West Division final
1981–82 72 46 24 2 - 380 323 94 1st West Won championship
1982–83 72 50 22 0 - 495 387 100 1st West Lost final; Won Memorial Cup
1983–84 72 33 39 0 - 430 449 66 3rd West Lost West Division final
1984–85 72 27 44 1 - 365 442 55 4th West Lost West Division semi-final
1985–86 72 47 24 1 - 438 348 95 2nd West Lost West Division final; Memorial Cup host
1986–87 72 47 23 2 - 439 355 96 2nd West Lost final
1987–88 72 24 45 3 - 328 449 51 6th West Out of playoffs
1988–89 72 40 28 4 - 408 395 84 1st West Lost final
1989–90 72 24 45 3 - 322 426 51 5th West Out of playoffs
1990–91 72 17 53 2 - 298 450 36 5th West Out of playoffs
1991–92 72 31 37 4 - 314 342 66 5th West Lost West Division quarter-final
1992–93 72 45 24 3 - 343 275 93 1st West Lost final
1993–94 72 49 22 1 - 392 260 99 2nd West Lost West Division final
1994–95 72 23 43 6 - 240 308 52 6th West Lost West Division semi-final
1995–96 72 30 39 3 - 283 301 63 6th West Lost West Division quarter-final
1996–97 72 46 21 5 - 300 196 97 1st West Lost West Division quarter-final
1997–98 72 53 14 5 - 342 203 111 1st West Won championship and Memorial Cup
1998–99 72 23 36 13 - 215 278 59 5th West Lost West Division quarter-final
1999–00 72 16 49 7 0 173 296 39 7th West Out of playoffs
2000–01 72 37 27 5 3 254 237 82 2nd West Lost final
2001–02 72 36 25 5 6 269 243 83 1st U.S. Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2002–03 72 19 40 8 5 192 243 51 3rd U.S. Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2003–04 72 34 29 6 3 199 206 77 2nd U.S. Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2004–05 72 35 27 5 5 204 198 80 2nd U.S. Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2005–06 72 32 32 3 5 204 258 72 3rd U.S. Lost Western Conference semi-final
2006–07 72 17 52 1 2 146 316 37 5th U.S. Out of playoffs
2007–08 72 11 58 2 1 132 318 25 5th U.S. Out of playoffs
2008–09 72 19 48 3 2 176 288 43 5th U.S. Out of playoffs
Season GP W L T OTL GF GA Points Finish Playoffs
2009–10 72 44 25 2 1 266 241 91 4th U.S. Lost Western Conference semi-final
2010–11 72 50 19 0 3 303 227 103 1st U.S. Lost final
2011–12 72 49 19 3 1 328 229 102 2nd U.S. Lost final
2012–13 72 57 12 1 2 334 169 117 1st U.S. Won championship; Lost Memorial Cup final
2013–14 72 54 13 2 3 338 207 113 1st U.S. Lost final
2014–15 72 43 23 2 4 287 237 92 2nd U.S. Lost Western Conference final
2015–16 72 34 31 6 1 228 227 75 3rd U.S. Lost Western Conference quarter-final

Current roster

Goaltenders
# Player Age Hometown NHL Draft
31 Canada Adin Hill 19 Calgary, Alberta Arizona 2015
35 United States Michael Bullion 18 Anchorage, Alaska Eligible 2016
Defensemen
# Player Age Hometown NHL Draft
3 United States Caleb Jones 18 Arlington, Texas Edmonton 2015
4 Canada Conor MacEachern 17 Prince George, British Columbia Eligible 2017
5 United States Jack Dougherty 19 St. Paul, Minnesota Nashville 2014
16 United States Blake Heinrich 21 Cambridge, Minnesota Washington 2013
21 Canada Brendan De Jong 18 Victoria, British Columbia Eligible 2016
28 Canada Carter Czaikowski 18 Calgary, Alberta Eligible 2016
44 United States Keoni Texeira 19 Fontana, California Undrafted
Forwards
# Player Age Hometown NHL Draft
7 United States Paul Bittner 19 Crookston, Minnesota Columbus 2015
8 Canada Cody Glass 17 Winnepeg, Manitoba Eligible 2017
9 Latvia Rihards Bukarts 20 Jurmala, Latvia Undrafted
12 United States Igor Larionov II 17 San Jose, California Eligible 2017
13 United States Keegan Iverson 20 St. Louis Park, Minnesota Undrafted
17 United States Alex Overhardt 19 Cherry Hills, Colorado Eligible 2016
18 Latvia Rodrigo Abols 20 Riga, Latvia Eligible 2016
19 Canada Ryan Hughes 16 Edmonton, Alberta Eligible 2018
22 United States Alex Schoenborn 20 Minot, North Dakota San Jose 2014
23 United States Dominic Turgeon 20 Cherry Hills, Colorado Detroit 2014
24 Canada Brett Clayton 17 Abbotsford, British Columbia Eligible 2017
25 United States Evan Weinger 19 El Segundo, California Undrafted
39 Canada Colton Veloso 18 Winnipeg, Manitoba Eligible 2016
43 Canada Skyler McKenzie 18 Sherwood Park, Alberta Eligible 2017

Updated Nov. 20, 2015

Championships

WHL Championship history

Memorial cup finals history

Team records

Team records for a single season
StatisticTotalSeason
Most points1172012–13
Most wins572012–13
Fewest 1st round draft picks 02015–16
Least goals for1462006–07
Most goals against4501990–91
Individual player records for a single season
StatisticPlayerTotalSeason
Most goalsRandy Heath; Dennis Holland821982–83; 1988–89
Most assistsJim Benning1111980–81
Most pointsDennis Holland1671988–89
Most points, rookieCam Neely1201982–83
Most points, defencemanJim Benning1391980–81
Best GAA (Goalie)Blake Grenier2.062004–05
Goalies = minimum 1500 minutes played
Individual player records for a career
StatisticPlayerTotalSeason
Most games played Troy Rutkowski3512012–13
Most goalsDennis Holland179
Most assistsTodd Robinson 325
Most points Todd Robinson 470
Most points, defenceman
Best GAA (Goalie)Mac Carruth2.85
Goalies = minimum 1500 minutes played

During the 2012–13 season, Winterhawks captain Troy Rutkowski established the new team record for most regular games played as a Winterhawk. His career total of 351 games surpassed the previous mark of 328 games set by Kevin Haupt in the 1998–99 season.[4]

NHL alumni

List of Portland Winterhawks alumni who have graduated to play in the National Hockey League.

bold = member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

First round draft picks

Players chosen in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.whl.ca/article/whl-sanctions-portland-winterhawks
  2. ↑ "Winterhawks' space announces retirement". Portland Winterhawks. 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  3. ↑ "Hockey team changes nickname ... cleverly". The Oregonian. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  4. ↑ http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/jan/24/junior-hockey-report-rutkowski-to-set-winterhawks/
  5. ↑ http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/cunnicr01.html

External links

Media related to Portland Winterhawks at Wikimedia Commons

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