Seattle Thunderbirds at Portland Winterhawks: Preview, updates, chat, how to listen and watch

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What: In Western Hockey League play, the Portland Winterhawks (29-20-2-1) play the Seattle Thunderbirds (22-28-2-1).

When: 3 p.m. PST on Monday, February 17.

Memorial Coliseum is the location.

Watch: The game is available to stream on the CLH TV pay-per-view service, which costs roughly US$7.50 each game.

Listen to the audio of Winterhawks and Thunderbirds.

Do the following:

The box score.
Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.

Portland Winterhawks

The Portland Winterhawks are having a rough time right now. They have played the eighth- and tenth-placed teams in the conference, lost twice to the Seattle Thunderbirds, and defeated the Wenatchee Wild in an improbable overtime victory in their last three games. Games that would have been predicted victories a month ago. Going back a bit farther, they have not been performing as well as they had been and are now 4-4 since coming back from the trip to the east.

Now, if you don’t overdo it, travel is a valid excuse for the final three games. This is the ideal opportunity for them to get back on track because they have a significant travel advantage. Everyone can exhale deeply after a victory. If they lose, it might be time to think about lowering their level.

[This weekend’s statistics may be subject to last-minute changes to earlier games.]

Forwards	(Career games – season points/games)
20	19-Kyle Chyzowski (296 – 83/51)
19	15-Joel Plante (23 – 10/23) 28-Josh Zakreski (228 – 52/50) 39-Tyson Yaremko (112 – 30/35) 88-Alex Weiermair (26 – 28/26)
18	17-Carsyn Dyck (54 – 21/51) 29-Hudson Darby (117 – 17/44) 61-Brodie Hankel (28 – 0/28) 90-Diego Buttazzoni (199 – 61/49)
17	8-Lochlan Tetarenko (28 – 5/28) 18-Kyle McDonough (108 – 26/45) 23-Ryan Miller (98 – 23/34) 37-David Hoy (36 – 5/36)
16	9-Jordan Duguay (52 – 28/52) 72-Reed Brown (50 – 10/50)

Diego Buttazzoni participates in the 200th WHL game. He scores 142 points in 27 of the games, which are playoff games.This season is more likely than not to be his final one, and if it is, he will have had an incredible career. In Saturday’s defeat to Seattle, he scored a goal, extending his point streak to eight games.

Chyzowski has a three-game point streak, while Weiermair has a four-game run.

Defensemen
20	27-Tyson Jugnauth (109 – 71/50) 43-Ryder Thompson (286 – 18/52)
19	59-Carter Sotheran (207 – 27/50)
18	12-Cole Slobodian (56 – 4/51)
17	7-Kayd Ruedig (51 – 16/49) 77-Max P eni ka (8 – 2/8)
16	22-Griffin Darby (43 – 5/43)

Jugnauth has scored five points in a row.

Cole Slobodian, who has been playing better offensively lately, scored his first WHL goal.

Goalies	(Career games – season save%/games)
18	74-Marek Schlenker (25 – .892/25)
17	1-Ondrej t bet k (35 – .886/35)

On Saturday, he had a chance in a back-to-back scenario, but he was taken out after just 7:19. For the record, he has struggled in both of his games with Seattle. Schlenker performed admirably for the remainder of the game and is probably going to start.

Seattle Thunderbirds

The Seattle Thunderbirds ended a 0-0 game after two periods with a decisive 4-0 victory over the Wenatchee Wild. It was 2-0 after goals from Sawyer Mayes and Brayden Schuurman less than a minute apart. Scott Ratzlaff, who stopped all 28 for the shutout against Portland on Saturday, was excellent. Seattle’s victory puts them three points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers and four ahead of the Wild.

However, they are traveling in the opposite direction of what helped bring the Winterhawks to a halt. They arrived early in the morning for a 3 p.m. start, traveling from Seattle to Wenatchee and now from Wenatchee to Portland. Three games in three days is an extremely challenging task. Without their greatest player, Braeden Cootes, it would be an incredible weekend if they could win six of six games.

Forwards
20	23-Hayden Pakkala (253 – 22/48) 29-Nathan Pilling (200 – 42/49) 81-Brayden Schuurman (241 – 24/25)
19	9-Coster Dunn (161 – 42/53)
18	22-Simon Lovsin (106 – 23/50)
17	14-Sawyer Mayes (101 – 10/46) 24-Brayden Holberton (97 – 9/51) 86-Braeden Cootes (118 – 48/47) 88-Matej Pekar (49 – 28/49) 89-Antonio Martorana (102 – 22/34) 91-Sam Charko (106 – 13/48)
16	11-Finn Bagley (5 – 1/4) 17-Brendan Rudolph (43 – 4/38) 18-Colton Gerrior (43 – 8/40)

The backbreaking goal versus Wenatchee was scored by Pekar. The Czechian now has ten goals in his last ten games. He hasn’t had any assists during that time. On Saturday, he had two versus Portland, and the previous Saturday, he had another in Portland. Like Dunn, who was injured midway through Saturday but played the entire game on Sunday, he has a 4-game point streak.

We’ll see how Cootes does in this game. He did miss the one against the Wild. They could definitely use him, even though they won both games without him.

Defensemen
19	3-Ashton Cumby (192 – 8/53)
18	5-Hyde Davidson (134 – 7/27)
17	21-Radim Mrtka (29 – 29/29) 25-Tai Riley (48 – 9/48) 27-Kaleb Hartmann (105 – 14/51) 28-Jaxson Pawlenchuk (33 – 2/33)
16	6-Vanek Popil (41 – 4/40)
15	74-Grayson Tash (6 – 1/6)

Mrtka had one goal, six assists, and a 4-game point streak after he had an assist. He appears to be a true star.

Goalies
19	33-Scott Ratzlaff (148 – .900/37)
17	31-Grayson Malinoski (21 – .869/18)

In three days, will they award Ratzlaff a third game?

Tale of the tape

	Winterhawks	Thunderbirds	Average
Record	29-20-2-1 (.587)	22-28-2-1 (.443)	.548
Goals/game	4.0	3.0	3.6
Goals allowed/game	4.0	4.0	3.6
Team shooting %	.113	.096	.110
Team save %	.883	.885	.890
Power play	26.3%	19.6%	23.6%
Penalty kill	76.7%	74.7%	76.4%
Power plays for/game	4.2	3.5	3.7
Power plays against/game	3.7	4.2	3.7
Outshooting opponents	23-27-2	16-32-5	26-26-2
After 1 period	15-22-15	11-28-13	19-19-16
After 2 periods	20-25-7	13-31-8	22-22-10
Score, last 10 games	36-42 (-6)	37-29 (+8)	35-34
Score, last 20 games	83-84 (-1)	65-72 (-7)	71-70
Total WHL games	2275	2382	2807
WHL drafted top 60	6	6	10
NHL drafted	2	1	3
NHL drafted top 80	0	0	1
Players 6 2 or over	5	8	8
Players 5 10 or under	9	5	5