All year long, the Portland WinterHawks have had trouble with Adam Morrison. The Vancouver Giants goaltender had won his previous three meeting with the Hawks this season, and Sunday he made it four, snapping the WinterHawks’ 19-game home winning streak with a 3-2 win.
Left wing Marek Tvrdon kicked off the scoring with a breakaway goal for the Giants seven minutes in. The WinterHawks would have a five-on-three late in the period and failed to capitalize, but would take advantage of a four-on-four early in the second after defenseman Derrick Pouliot and Giants center Austin Vetterl got sent to the box for fighting. Defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon put home a pass from Brendan Leipsic, and the WinterHawks tied the game at one.
The defenses for both teams clamped down throughout the period, with both Morrison and Mac Carruth making tremendous saves. Tvrdon broke the stalemate seven minutes into third, beating Carruth for his 20th goal of the season. Hawks center Taylor Peters evened the score less than a minute later, putting back a shot from Sven Bartschi.
The game remained tied into the final minute, when the Giants pulled Morrison during a final offensive push, and the gamble paid off when Giants leading scorer Jordan Martinook beat Carruth with just six seconds remaining. Both Wotherspoon and Pouliot were out of position on the goal, a perfect inside feed from Vetterl.
The WinterHawks struggled on the power-play, finishing 0-for-5, partially due to the absence of winger Ty Rattie and center Brad Ross because of non-specified injuries.
On Monday, the WinterHawks opened with pure aggression to try and get an early edge. The hits got ugly from the start, and the two teams combined for 54 penalty minutes, including the ejection of WinterHawks’ Brendan Leipsic and Giants defenseman Blake Orban. The Giants would tally with thirteen seconds left in the period for a 1-0 lead.
The Hawks finally got through on Morrison with Troy Rutkowski scoring two minutes into the second to even the score. With Rattie missing the game, Sven Bartschi needed to pick up the slack. He did that, and then some, scoring off a feed from Joseph Morrow to give the Hawks their first advantage of the weekend. He was not finished.
With Giants defenseman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen in the box for holding Chase De Leo, Bartschi took a tipped pass from winger Marcel Noebels and beat Morrison with a backhand to forehand shake for his second goal of the night. The Giants fought back scoring late in the period, and found themselves on the power-play when Noebels held the stick of winger Taylor Markin. When things looked their darkest for the Hawks, Bartschi came through, with a lot of help from winger Oliver Gabriel. Gabriel stole the puck from Giants star Brendan Gallagher at center ice, and managed to pass it to Bartschi while falling down, setting up a breakaway goal to give the Hawks a 4-2 advantage, and Bartschi his first career hat trick. The goal was also the 21st short-handed goal of the year for the Hawks, good enough for first in the league.
Tvrdon would score for the Giants nine seconds into the third period on a five-on-three advantage to close the gap, but Bartschi came through again, hitting center Cam Reid during a line change for another breakaway goal, and Carruth would hold off a late Giants rally for a 5-4 win.
For all of the WinterHawks news, so little of it gets directed at Sven Bartschi, the 21-year old from Sweden. Between Rattie’s scoring, Ross’s behavior, or the arrival of Noebels, Bartschi is overshadowed in the locker room. If he keeps playing like this, everyone will know who Sven Bartschi is.
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