WinterHawks Defeat Tigers 5-2

Pre-Game Notes

Boston Leier gets to face off against his cousin Taylor Leier.
 Marek Langhamer gets the start in goal.
Portland Starting their backup goalie Brendan Burke
(Interesting stat with Langhamer in net the Tigers have a 66% Penalty Kill Rate)
Preston Kopeck of the Portland Winterhawks is from Medicine Hat.


Tiger Scratches
Ty Stanton
Jayden Hart
Chad Butcher
Steven Owre

First Period

Tigers get some bad news. 15 seconds in Hunter Shinkaruk attempted to side step Seth Jones and went down as Jones was able to lay into him. Shinkaruk has not returned to the game. The hit didn't look that bad but their was some twisting involved and I'm wondering if its a twisted knee/ankle.

 Cole Sanford is taking his spot on the top line, Koules stepped in at the 10 minute mark after Sanford scored a goal.

Marek Langhamer stopped a breakaway and then a Penalty Shot very early in the period.


Spenser Jensen took an accidental tripping penalty behind the net. On the powerplay Taylor Leier received a pass down low from Nicolas Petan. Taylor Leier did a little spinorama on Tyler Lewington and roofed it in tight on the far side over Langhamer's shoulder, who was closely guarding the near side post. 1-0 Portland.

The Tigers would strike a minute later. Off the rush Curtis Valk cut to the middle then rifled a back-hand shot on net. The shot would hit a charging Cole Sanford's midsection and bounce into the net. 1-1 TIE

Portland Severely outshot the Tigers 21-6 during that period, and got a whole lot more scoring chances.  Langhamer played very well but wasn't positioned right on the Winterhawks PP goal. Portland Won the Period but all 6 Tiger shots were very good chances. Portland hit 2 posts, Tigers hit 1 post.
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2nd Period

Langhamer with a huge cross ice save 1 minute in.

Portland  cracks Langhamer again. . Winterhawks Brendan leipsic was able to beat a flat footed Spenser Jensen and took a shot on net. Dylan Busenius failed to knock away the rebound, and Ty Rattie was able to shovel it under Langhamer. 2-1 Portland

Boston Leier was called with an accidental high stick
Just after the powerplay expired. Chase De Leo circled down low in the Tigers zone and was able to walk out right in front and Fired a shot over Langhamers Blocker. 3-1 Portland

Portland would score again with 1.1 seconds left on the clock. Portland's Oliver Bjorkstan beat 2 Tigers down low for the puck and put a pass out to Taylor Leier who was unwatched by Kyle Becker in front of the net. Langhamer had no chance. 4-1 Portland

Portland outshot the Tigers 19-7.   With a 2 Period Total 40-13.

Tigers are doing a lot of watching, and not very aggressive. Portland doesn't even look like they are trying that hard, yet are soundly beating the Tigers in all areas of the game. Hunter Shinkaruk has still not returned to the game.

3rd Period

Miles Koules!

Koules Undresses Derek Pouliet with a toe drag, and fires a perfectly placed shot shot past Brendan Burke 4-2 Portland.
Highlight Reel Goal!

Off the faceoff Brendan Leipsic gained control of the puck and skated to his blueline. For Some reason Trevor cox backed way off. Leipsic skated to the halfwall then was able to make a pass over to Ty Rattie as their was a huge gap in the Tigers zone and no one was covering Rattie. Rattie had all day to fire a shot into the open cage. 5-2 Portland 

Portland Outshot the Tigers 53-26.

Thoughts
Very disappointing. Tigers played a little better in the third period but there was a lot of watching, and players away from the puck were standing still.  I haven't seen Miles Koules on the ice for a long time.

Ridley mentioned on the radio that Shinkaruk was out with a skate cut. Tigers haven't played well on this road trip. Hopefully this means they have their legs for the last game against Everett Tomorrow.

Other Notes
Rhyse Dieno didn't take long to make an impact with the Rebels. Dieno scored 27 seconds into the 2nd period