Kelowna Scores Twice in Third Period to Beat Winter Hawks, 4-2

Kurtis Mucha, who finished with 20 saves, was brilliant in the second period, stopping all 11 shots he faced including several at point blank range.

Salem-News.com Sports

PORTLAND - Cody Almond and Clayton Barthel scored third period goals as the Kelowna Rockets defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 4-2 Wednesday in Prospera Place in Kelowna.

Rob Klinkhammer scored his fourth goal in 4 games for Portland since being acquired in a trade with Seattle and Michael Sauer scored on the power play in the second period for Portland. Klinkhammer was stopped twice on breakaways by Kelowna goalie Kristofer Westblom (WEST-bloom), who finished with 26 saves.

Kurtis Mucha, who finished with 20 saves, was brilliant in the second period, stopping all 11 shots he faced including several at point blank range.

Kelowna, (2-6-0-1), won for the first time at home this season and Portland, (2-4-0-0), lost its second straight game and fourth overall on the road this season.

The Hawks’ next home game is this Friday at 7:30 PM against the expansion Chilliwack Bruins in Memorial Coliseum.

(Audio Webcast at winterhawks.com and in the Arena at 96.5 FM….TV on Comcast CNW-14)…The Hawks are undefeated in Memorial Coliseum.

Portland is at Everett Saturday at 7:05 (Audio Webcast at winterhawks.com 10 minutes before face off).

Kelowna and Portland both lost a lot of veteran scoring from last year’s teams. The Hawks graduated 120 goals of the 204 they scored in 2004-05 and the Rockets graduated 144 goals and 386 points from last year’s team that went (46-22-1-3). Kelowna lost in the second round of playoffs last year to Everett after winning the WHL title in 2005 and the Memorial Cup as host team in 2004 and the WHL title in 2003 to qualify to play in three straight Memorial Cups.

Kelowna came into Wednesday’s game scoring just 11 goals in its first 8 games. Kelowna’s only win of the season coming into Wednesday was a 5-4 overtime victory in Kamloops on October 3, Myles MacRae scoring the winner for the Rockets at 4:31 of the extra period.

Portland carried its share of the play against Spokane in a 6-4 loss on Tuesday, getting an extra attacker goal by Michael Sauer with 52 seconds left to make it 5-4, but Spokane sealed the win with an empty net goal. Nick Hotson had (1-1-2) for Portland. The loss broke a two-game winning streak for the Hawks as Portland beat Kelowna 5-2 in its home opener in Veterans Memorial Coliseum on September 20th and beat Kamloops 3-2 in a shootout the next night, also in the Coliseum. Max Gordichuk, (2-4-6), Rob Klinkhammer (3-1-4), and Viktor Sjodin (1-3-4) all came into Wednesday’s game on 3-game point streaks.

The Hawks’ win on September 30th was the only start of the season for 17-year-old Kelowna rookie goalie Torrie Jung (YUNG). Hawks’ 20-year-old defenseman Max Gordichuk, who is from Kelowna, paced the Hawks with a three-point night, (1-2-3). Portland won 3 of 4 meetings against Kelowna last season, including a 6-3 win in Prospera Place on opening night of the 2005-06 season.

On Wednesday, the goalie matchup was Kurtis Mucha for the Hawks going against veteran Kristofer Westblom, a 3rd round NHL draft pick of the Minnesota Wild.

The Hawks scratched Lucas Alexiuk (numbers), Cameron Cepek (shaken up in Spokane Tuesday), Tristan King (numbers), Tayler Jordan (numbers) and Brayden Nargang (numbers). Kelowna scratched four rookies, all due to numbers.

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