WinterHawks Extend Winning Streak To Four; Shutout Seattle

With a five game home stand on the ledger coming off the Christmas break, the Portland WinterHawks knew they needed to take advantage to keep pace in the Western Conference U.S. Division.  The offense willingly obliged, and Carruth finished the job.

The WinterHawks opened the post-Christmas schedule by winning both halves of the double-header against the Victoria Royals, taking the first 6-3, and the second game 7-6.  In game one, a rare poor game by Ty Rattie was negated by center Chase De Leo and winger Taylor Leier stepping up.  Both players had a goal and an assist, and defenseman Joseph Morrow had a goal and two assists to key the offense.  The WinterHawks made life difficult for Royals goaltender Keith Hamilton all night, blistering him with 54 shots.  Center Brandon Magee scored twice for the Royals, and Royals leading scorer Kevin Sundher had two assists, but Mac Carruth stopped 29 of the Royals 32 shots in the win.

Game two was a much more back and forth affair and a great deal more aggressive.  The Royals ended up with 11 penalties, adding up to 35 minutes worth of time in the box.    Just two minutes into the game, the WinterHawks Oliver Gabriel and the Royals Taylor Crunk got into it after a hard hit by Gabriel.  Both were given fighting majors, and Gabriel was given an extra two for roughing.  Fifteen penalties in all would be called in the first period alone.  Winger Jamie Crooks scored first for the Royals, and Rattie answered fifty-three seconds later.  Crooks scored on the power-play three minutes after that, and Rattie refused to be outdone, scoring near the end of the period.     Sundher finally tallied a goal for the Royals early in the second, giving the Royals a 4-2 lead, but Rattie finished his hat trick during a three goal flurry to take a 5-4 lead.  The rivalry between Crooks and Rattie heated up even further at the end of the second, when Crooks finished off his own hat trick, to give the Royals a 6-5 advantage after two periods.  In the third, the Hawks defense clamped down, center Brendan Leipsic had his best game as a WinterHawk, scoring his second goal to tie the game, and defenseman Derrick Pouliot scored the game winner two minutes later.  Leipsic would finish with two assists to go with his two goals.

Last night, the Hawks faced the Seattle Thunderbirds at the Rose Garden to try and extend the winning streak.  Tempers were hot for the Hawks first line, with Brad Ross and Rattie both finding themselves in the box early.  Ross would wind up with three penalties in all, a number far too high for someone so important to the Hawks scoring game, especially with Sven Bartschi absent from the team.  The Hawks laid down a barrage on Thunderbirds goaltender Calvin Pickard, but could not break through until near the end of the second period, when Rattie slapped a pass from Troy Rutkowski past Pickard for his league leading 37^th goal of the season.  Leipsic would score on the power play early in the third to increase the lead, and Mac Carruth stopped all eighteen shots fired at him.  This was Carruth’s third career shutout, though it did come at the expense of the worst offense in the Western Conference.

The Hawks play the Eastern Conference’s 2^nd place team, the Moose Jaw Warriors, at home Tuesday.