| Portland Comes Up Empty in Home Opener Just over 9,000 fans packed the Rose Garden for the Portland Winter Hawks home opener against the rival Seattle Thunderbirds. Portland had 2 wins and 1 loss thus far on the year, and were looking to add another point to the win column in their first home game. Both teams came out strong and played a very defensive first period, not allowing many chances to score. As a result, the period ended scoreless. Portland came out much harder in the second period, and were carrying the play much of the time. However, a defensive breakdown allowed Seattle to flood the net and score on a rebound to take a 1-0 lead. Portland did rebound from that goal, and played very hard the last part of the second period, putting a lot of pressure on Seattle goaltender Bryan Bridges, but were unable to get the puck past him. Down 1-0 after the second period, Portland did not give up. They came out in the third period and completely dominated Seattle, making several very nice plays, but just falling short of the much needed goal. Perhaps their best chance to score was with less than 10 minutes left, when Portland�s Brandon Dubinsky got on a partial breakaway, but a cross check from behind caused him to miss the net. However, the referee called a penalty shot on that play, giving Dubinsky another shot at a breakaway. Dubinsky came in, and made a perfect forehand-backhand move, but shoveled the backhand shot right into the glove of the Seattle goaltender. That play should have taken the wind out of Portland�s sails, but it had the opposite effect. Portland pressured Seattle even more, setting up even better plays, and having even closer missed shots. Seattle goaltender Bryan Bridges was very busy in the final few minutes, being called on to make several very difficult saves. With less just over a minute left in the game, Portland coach Mike Williamson chose to pull goaltender Dustin Butler to get an extra foreword. The move helped Portland gain an even bigger advantage on Seattle, but were still unable to score. With just 45 seconds remaining in the game, Portland�s Darrel May took a roughing penalty. Although they were a man down, Portland continued to play with the extra attacker, and did get several good chances to score. However, Seattle sealed the deal scoring on the empty net with just 14 seconds to go in the game. When the final buzzer sounded, Portland skated off with an entertaining, but disappointing 2-0 loss. |