Winterhawks Make Triumphant Return Home, Finally, by Doubling Blades

For a second straight night and game to start their U-S Division road trip, the Saskatoon Blades fell behind 3-0 after one period on the way to a loss.

On Saturday, the deficit got worse before it got better as the Portland Winterhawks rolled to a 6-3 victory in their home opener. Warman product Carsyn Dyck scored the first two goals for the Hawks, now 7-5-0 for the season after playing their first 11 games on the road. Swift Current product Griffin Darby added an assist as Portland christened the $50 million upgrades and renovations to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum by building a 5-0 lead and chasing Evan Gardner from the Bridge City Bunch crease in front of 6,980 approving witnesses. In falling to 9-5-0 for the season, the Blue and Gold got goals from Hayden Harsanyi, Tristen Doyle and Kazden Mathies, the latter adding an assist, as the Blades were out-shot 33-32 by the Winterhawks. The two straight setbacks to open the U-S swing mirrors what Saskatoon did back in November, 2023, when they lost in Wenatchee and Everett to start, yet ended up with a 4-2-1 mark – including a trip-ending triumph in Lethbridge. The Bridge City Bunch will attempt to reverse their fortunes starting Tuesday against the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Washington. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interview with head coach Dan Da Silva and the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

SASKATOON Goals SASKATOON PLAYERS (plus) PORTLAND PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 2nd 17:58 PP  26-82-20 3rd 9:25  47-56-77 20 23 47 56 77 3 12 17 46 96 3rd 19:18 PP  77-37

PORTLAND Goals PORTLAND PLAYERS (plus) SASKATOON PLAYERS (minus) Per. Time  G-As1-As2 1st 9:44  17-46 3 17 24 46 96 3 4 9 17 82 1st 14:00  17 17 20 46 59 96 8 9 26 37 77 1st 18:53  24-22 15 18 22 24 28 3 8 16 20 23 2nd 13:02 PP  28-59-9 2nd 16:12  72-86-18 18 20 24 72 86 3 4 20 23 77 3rd 18:58 EN.SH  23-88 12 23 59 88 3 4 11 16 27 82