Cranbrook, BC – Portland Winterhawk forward Luke Walker scored 2 goals in a 5-1 win over the Kootenay ICE in WHL action on Friday night.
Portland opened the scoring as an ICE clearing attempt took a bad bounce on the boards and found an open Luke Walker who fired a wrist shot high on the glove side.
20-seconds later Riley Boychuk made it 2-0 in a breakaway and scored with a wrist shot high on the stick side.
ICE got within a goal on a power-play as Brayden McNabb’s point shot was deflected in by Kevin King.
Portland added to their lead in the 2nd period as Brad Ross scored on a partial breakaway with a wrist shot high on the stick side.
In the 2nd period the Winterhawks had 3 breakaways and 3 2-on-1 breaks and were denied by ICE goalie Nathan Lieuwen.
In the 3rd period Walker scored on another breakaway to make the score 4-1 early in the 3rd period.
Winterhawks defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon scored his 1st career goal on a long shot from the blueline and beat the screen goalie.
Ice changed goalies and Todd Mathews replace Lieuwen.
This was the only meeting this year between the clubs.
Last year Portland won 4-1.
The last time they played in Cranbrook was November 4, 2007 and the ICE won 5-0.
The last Portland won in Cranbrook was on January 2, 2002.
This was game one of a 5-game homestand for the ICE.
The Winterhawks wrapped up a 6-game road trip through the Central Division with 3 straight wins and finished with a 4-2-0-0 record.
ICE Captain Dustin Sylvester played in his 250th career game and is the 9th player in Franchise history to reach that mark.
ICE injuries – Drew Czerwonka 11th game (leg, 1-2 weeks), Christian Magnus 12th game (finger, 1-2 weeks), Cason Machacek 1st game (concussion, week-to-week) and Matt Fraser 1st game (shoulder, day-to-day).
The ICE will host Moose Jaw on Saturday.
Game Summary
Portland 11-5-0-0 Kootenay 5-9-0-0
1st Period
1. Portland, Walker 9 (Rattie, Rutkowsky) 3:50
2. Portland, Boychuk 6 (Ponich) 4:10
3. Kootenay, King 4 (McNabb, Boomer) 6:19 pp
Penalties – Wothespoon Port (tripping) 6:10, Rutkowski Port (check from behind) 9:05, Rutkowski Port (goalie interference) 19:08.
2nd Period
4. Portland, Ross 8 (Niederreiter) 14:01
Penalties – Reddin Port (hooking) 5:19, Reinhart Ktn (cross checking) 9:48,
3rd Period
5. Portland, Walker 2 (10) (Francis) 4:21
6. Portland, Wotherspoon 1 (Francis, Rattie) 8:09
Penalties – Jordan Port Paulsen Ktn (fighting) 15:53, Rattie Port (kneeing) 19:02.
Shots on goal by
Portland - 10 – 14 – 9 = 33
Kootenay – 14 – 12 – 8 = 34
Goal (shots-saves) – Portland: Kurtis Mucha (W 5-3-0-0) Kootenay: Nathan Lieuwen (28-23) (L 4-7-0-0) Todd Mathews 8:09 third (5-5)
Power plays (goals-chances) - Portland: Kootenay:
Referee – Nathan Wieler
Linesmen – Matthew Barker, Jim Maniago
Attendance – 2,567