Portland Winterhawks


The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon, playing in the Western Hockey League, one of three leagues making up the Canadian Hockey League. The Winterhawks split their home games between the Memorial Coliseum and the Moda Center, which they share with the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. They are one of the most successful teams in terms of producing National Hockey League alumni, a list that includes Sven Baertschi, Joe Morrow, Ryan Johansen, Braydon Coburn, Adam Deadmarsh, Rob Klinkhammer, Brandon Dubinsky, Tyler Wotherspoon, Andrew Ference, Paul Gaustad, Jannik Hansen, Seth Jones, Brenden Morrow, Nino Niederreiter, Mike Vernon, Glen Wesley and Hall of Famers Mark Messier, Marian Hossa and Cam Neely.
The Winterhawks have won the Ed Chynoweth Cup three times and the Memorial Cup twice in five appearances. The team has been in Portland since 1976–77.

History

Previous owner Brian Shaw was a pioneer in many aspects of junior hockey, moving a team to the United States and championing the host team format of the Memorial Cup.
The Winterhawks were also pioneers of promotion and are credited with the invention of the "Dash for Cash," in which contestants are picked to run onto the ice and try to scoop up as many silver dollars in two minutes as they can. This popular promotion has been running for many years. Moreover, in late November/early December, they hold their annual teddy bear toss, in which fans throw teddy bears on the ice at the first Portland goal, which are then donated to local children's charities. On December 6, 2008, fans threw out 22,392 teddy bears after Luke Walker scored Portland's first goal against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Winterhawks wear jerseys similar to those of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL, causing some to erroneously assume that the Winterhawks are a minor league farm team of the Blackhawks. In actuality, the jerseys originally worn by the first Winterhawks team were a used set of Chicago jerseys obtained through connections between the owners of the two teams. In early photos, the old Chicago jerseys are identifiable by the letter "C" with crossed tomahawks on the shoulder crest. The Winterhawks eventually changed the "C" to a "P".
The Portland-Chicago connection runs deeper, as the Blackhawks were founded in 1926 by Frederic McLaughlin, who simply bought the contracts of most of the members of the Portland Rosebuds and brought them to Chicago.
In the 2009–10 season, the Winterhawks introduced an alternate "Hawk Eyes" logo as part of a new advertising campaign that featured lightning flashes on a mottled black background and the SMS-style words, "LOC8, NTMD8, DVST8". In 2010–11, an alternate Hawk Head logo was added, with a similar design as the Blackhawks logo, but featuring only the three team colors: red, white and black. A new third jersey was also created with the Hawk Eyes on the front over stylized, mottled black fabric throughout; player names, numbers and accents are in gunmetal gray, and the new tri-color Hawk Head is featured as the shoulder patch.
On November 28, 2012, the WHL announced sanctions against the Winterhawks for a series of player benefits violations over the four previous seasons. As punishment for the violations WHL Commissioner Ron Robison suspended the team from participation in the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft and forfeiture of their first round picks from the 2014 to 2017 WHL Bantam Drafts and were fined $200,000. The WHL also suspended General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, including the 2013 WHL playoffs.
On May 12, 2013, the Winterhawks defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 5–1 in Game 6 to become the 2012–13 WHL champions. On April 25, 2014, the Winterhawks defeated the Kelowna Rockets 7–3 to win their fourth-consecutive Western Conference Championship.

Mascot

The team mascot of the Winterhawks is a white bird with multicolored tail and wing feathers, named Tom-A-Hawk. Tom-A-Hawk was introduced in 1999–2000. He wears jersey number 00. Tom-A-Hawk's main rival is Cool Bird of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Tom-A-Hawk announced in January 2019 that he would retire. A new mascot was introduced, Tommy.

Name change

The team was known as the Winter Hawks until May 2009, when it issued a press release that "the space...announced its retirement" and that the team was renaming itself the Winterhawks.

Current ownership

Bill Gallacher, a Calgary businessman, purchased the team in October 2008.

Announcers

The Portland Winterhawks have changed announcers 5 times since 1976. These include; Cliff Zauner, Dean "Scooter" Vrooman, Andy Kemper, Todd Vrooman, Evan Richardson, Nick Marek.

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
SeasonGPWLTOTLGFGAPointsFinishPlayoffs
1976–777236297-359294793rd WestLost semi-final
1977–7872412011-361296931st WestEliminated in West Division round robin
1978–7972491013-4322651111st WestLost final
1979–807253181-3982931071st WestEliminated in West Division round robin
1980–817256151-4432661132nd WestLost West Division final
1981–827246242-380323941st WestWon championship
1982–837250220-4953871001st WestLost final; Won Memorial Cup
1983–847233390-430449663rd WestLost West Division final
1984–857227441-365442554th WestLost West Division semi-final
1985–867247241-438348952nd WestLost West Division final; Memorial Cup host
1986–877247232-439355962nd WestLost final
1987–887224453-328449516th WestOut of playoffs
1988–897240284-408395841st WestLost final
1989–907224453-322426515th WestOut of playoffs
1990–917217532-298450365th WestOut of playoffs
1991–927231374-314342665th WestLost West Division quarter-final
1992–937245243-343275931st WestLost final
1993–947249221-392260992nd WestLost West Division final
1994–957223436-240308526th WestLost West Division semi-final
1995–967230393-283301636th WestLost West Division quarter-final
1996–977246215-300196971st WestLost West Division quarter-final
1997–987253145-3422031111st WestWon championship and Memorial Cup
1998–9972233613-215278595th WestLost West Division quarter-final
1999–0072164970173296397th WestOut of playoffs
2000–0172372753254237822nd WestLost final
2001–0272362556269243831st U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2002–0372194085192243513rd U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2003–0472342963199206772nd U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2004–0572352755204198802nd U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2005–0672323235204258723rd U.S.Lost Western Conference semi-final
2006–0772175212146316375th U.S.Out of playoffs
2007–0872115821132318255th U.S.Out of playoffs
2008–0972194832176288435th U.S.Out of playoffs
SeasonGPWLTOTLGFGAPointsFinishPlayoffs
2009–1072442521266241914th U.S.Lost Western Conference semi-final
2010–11725019033032271031st U.S.Lost final
2011–12724919313282291022nd U.S.Lost final
2012–13725712123341691171st U.S.Won championship; Lost Memorial Cup final
2013–14725413233382071131st U.S.Lost final
2014–1572432324287237922nd U.S.Lost Western Conference final
2015–1672343161228227753rd U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2016–1772402813278256844th U.S.Lost Western Conference semi-final
2017–1872442215274214942nd U.S.Lost Western Conference semi-final
2018–1968402233258210863rd U.S.Lost Western Conference quarter-final
2019–2063451134270164971st U.S.No playoffs due to COVID-19 pandemic

Current roster

Updated June 8, 2020.

Championships

  • Memorial Cup : 1982–83, 1997–98
  • President's Cup : 1981–82, 1997–98, 2012-13
  • Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy : 1979–80, 1997–98, 2012–13, 2019–20
  • Conference Champions : 1997–98, 2000–01, 2010–11, 2011-12, 2012–13, 2013-14
  • Division Playoff Champions : 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1986-87, 1988–89, 1992–93
  • Regular Season Division Champions : 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013-14

    WHL Championship history

  • 1978–79: Loss, 2-4 vs Brandon
  • 1981–82: Win, 4-1 vs Regina
  • 1982-83: Loss, 1-4 vs Lethbridge
  • 1986-87: Loss, 3-4 vs Medicine Hat
  • 1988–89: Loss, 0-4 vs Swift Current
  • 1992–93: Loss, 3-4 vs Swift Current
  • 1997–98: Win, 4-0 vs Brandon
  • 2000–01: Loss, 1-4 vs Red Deer
  • 2010–11: Loss, 1-4 vs Kootenay
  • 2011–12: Loss, 3-4 vs Edmonton
  • 2012–13: Win, 4-2 vs Edmonton
  • 2013–14: Loss, 3-4 vs Edmonton

    Memorial Cup finals history

  • 1983: Win, 8-3 vs Oshawa
  • 1998: Win, 4-3 OT vs Guelph
  • 2013: loss, 4-6 vs Halifax

    Team records

During the 2012–13 season, Winterhawks captain Troy Rutkowski established the new team record for most regular games played as a Winterhawk. His career total of 351 games surpassed the previous mark of 328 games set by Kevin Haupt in the 1998–99 season.

NHL alumni

List of Portland Winterhawks alumni who have graduated to play in the National Hockey League.
bold = member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

First round draft picks

Players chosen in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft: