As playoffs loom, Winterhawks appear to be taking flight

Coach Kyle Gustafson praises Alex Weiermair — whose overtime goal lifted the Winterhawks to victory Saturday night — as a “tremendous leader” for the WHL club (courtesy Keith Dwiggins photography)

The Winterhawks and playoff hockey are synonymous, like peanut butter and jelly, or beer and bar rooms.

Portland hasn’t had a losing season since 2008-09, the last time the local major junior franchise failed to advance to the postseason (except for the two Covid years, when there wasn’t a postseason).

That streak is in danger of ending, though the Hawks have of late been doing their best to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Alex Weiermair’s wrist shot from close range 54 seconds into overtime gave Portland a 3-2 overtime victory over Seattle Saturday night before an enthusiastic Memorial Coliseum throng of 6,865, second-best crowd of the season behind only to the 8,558 who attended on Teddybear-Toss Night on Dec. 14 against Penticton.

It was the third straight victory for the Hawks (25-23-4), who are showing the mettle of a team that doesn’t want things to end with a March 21 regular-season finale against Seattle. On Saturday night, the Hawks gave up a goal 90 seconds into the game, trailed 2-1 entering the third period and never led until Weiermair tallied his team-high 27th goal of the season in the extra session.

“That third period was about guts and will,” said Portland’s second-year head coach, Kyle Gustafson. “And that is who we are as a team.”

Coach Kyle Gustafson said the 2025-26 season has been a “learning process” for the Hawks’ 13 new players (courtesy Portland Winterhawks)

“We were complicating things for ourselves for awhile,” said Weiermair, the 6-1, 205-pound right wing from Los Angeles. “But we stayed together as a team and found a way to win it in the end.”

Last season was a successful one for the Hawks, who won a pair of seven-game playoff series against Prince George and Everett before getting swept 4-0 by Spokane in the Western Conference finals.

Portland lost major talent from that team, including defenseman Tyson Jugnauth to Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL. Leading scorer Kyle Chyzowski is now playing at the University of Denver, with whom he has seven goals and 18 points in 30 games. Two high-scoring wingers who could have returned to the Hawks this year left for college hockey, too — Diego Buttazzoni to UMass-Lowell and Josh Zakreski to North Dakota. The 19-year-old Buttazzoni, who wanted to play with his brother in Lowell, has three goals and nine points in 21 games. Zakreski, who could have returned to Portland as an overage player, has missed most of the season for third-ranked North Dakota due to injury.

Goaltender Ondrej Stebetak registered 41 saves in Portland’s win over Seattle (courtesy Keith Dwiggins photography)

The Hawks were left with 18-year-old goaltender Ondrej Stebetak, a regular as a rookie in 2024-25, and only a few regulars to go with 13 new players to the WHL.

“It was a season where we weren’t sure what to expect because of all the changes and new players,” said Mike Johnston, the team’s president and general manager. “After the last two years, when we played 36 playoff games, we knew there might be a year where we would have a lot of young guys. That was this year.”

The results have been inconsistent at best. Prior to the three-game win streak, the Hawks had won only two of the previous 10 outings. Five of the losses came by one or two goals. Two of them were in overtime.

“Every game is not going be a complete game for us,” Gustafson said. “We want them to be complete, but there is a lot of learning along the way. This last stretch has been about learning how to win. There have been leads we have blown in the third period. There have been key moments in games where our power play doesn’t click, the momentum shifts and (the opponent) gets one on us.”

But there has been light at the end of the tunnel as the veterans and newcomers have begun to mesh.

“I am happy that we are competitive in terms of the makeup of our team,” Gustafson said. “The most important thing is that we build our game all the way to game 68 (the regular-season finale). We don’t have a game-breaker with this group, a player who can change the game on their stick. It has to be by committee. We need everyone. Now we have to catch up those 13 new guys in the learning process.”

The closest thing to a game-breaker is the 20-year-old Weiermair, who came up big in a power-play situation after Seattle (18-23-4-3) took a penalty with 15 seconds left in the third period, which carried over to overtime.

“It is a big win, especially at this time of the year, when points matter and the standings are so tight, going against your rival in front of a big crowd,” Gustafson said. “We thought it was going to be a battle of special teams, and ironically it came down to a four-on-three power play in the end.”

Seconds before the game-winner, Weiermair had launched a slap shot from the right slot that was knocked away by Thunderbirds goalie Grayson Malinoski. The winning goal, Weiermair said, came on “a play we drew up. Didn’t go in on the first one. Thankfully, we kept the play alive, and on the second one I got an open lane and found (the net).”

The Dean of Portland Sports is now on BlueSky.

Gustafson is thankful Weiermair, a sixth-round draft pick of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, chose to return to Portland for a second season after collecting 21 goals and 46 points in 41 games a year ago.

“The guy is a really good player,” the Portland coach said. “What I appreciate with Alex, you always know what you are getting — a hard worker who is strong on the puck, plays the right way, goes to the net hard and can play in all situations. He is a team-first guy who is going to do everything he can to win.

“I can’t say enough about Alex. I think the world of him. He is a tremendous leader for our team. He has a lot of pro attributes in his game. He comes to work every day, spends time after practice wanting to get better at something.”

The Hawks also got an excellent performance from Stebetak, a 6-1, 165-pounder from Czechia who spent nearly a month with the Czech national team that finished second in the World Junior Championships in Ottawa over the winter break. Stebetak shook off Seattle’s early goal and made 41 saves, including 17 in the crucial third period.

“That has become a common occurrence,” Weiermair said of his teammate. “No words, really, to describe his play tonight. He made some incredible saves. He does it all the time. We are so happy to have him.”

Stebetak had also played well in Portland’s 7-3 win at Seattle on Friday, registering 33 saves. He has averaged 39 saves and given up just eight goals during the three-game win streak.

“Ondrej was great, with us having back-to-back games and not getting back to Portland until 1:30 (a.m. Saturday),” Gustafson said. “He has had a high work volume, and this is the best stretch of his career. He is tracking pucks and is super competitive on loose pucks, pucks in the crease and at his feet. He is staying with it. He has this ultra-focus about him. He is playing like a veteran player. We are seeing consistency. That is an important step in his development.”

Johnston and Gustafson would like nothing more than to have this Portland team reach the postseason. Johnston, however, also has an eye on the future.

“The goal is to make the playoffs,” he said. “But the most important thing is that we keep improving with our young guys. Every single game they play, they are going to get better. We are going to improve every single game, every single month. We have until late March to get ready for the playoffs. We want to make sure the guys are ready.”

At the trade deadline in early January, Johnston traded veteran defenseman Carter Sotheran to Edmonton for 20-year-old defenseman Niko Tsakumis and first- and fourth-round draft picks. Portland has all of its first-round picks, as well as four additional future picks, over the next four years.

“I like where we are at,” Johnston said. “I like the look of our future with the quality of players we have who will be returning over the next two years, the quality players we have signed and the number of draft picks we have in the inventory moving forward.”

After last season, the WHL lost perhaps a dozen of its top 19-year-olds to college programs, which can offer NIL money. Buttazzoni was one.

“Our league is still the best league in the world for 16-to-18-year-olds,” Johnston said. “Our challenge is going to be keeping 19-year-olds. Some 20-year-olds will choose to return. In theory, you can lengthen your runway for playing elite hockey by staying in our league until you are 20, then play three or four years of college. By that time, you are 23 or 24. If you haven’t made the pros by then, you should get on with your life.”

The top eight teams in each conference during the regular season qualify for the playoffs. Teams from the B.C. and U.S. divisions make up the Western Conference. Nine teams are in strong position to qualify in the West, including Portland, which stands in a tie for sixth with Tri-City with 54 points apiece, though the Americans have two games in hand. Portland and Tri-City meet three more times in the regular season.

The Hawks have 16 games — eight home, eight on the road — remaining, beginning with a Thursday home date with Victoria, at 21-21-5-2 with 50 points and in ninth place in the West standings. No. 8 Spokane (25-24-1) is at 51 points. No. 1 Everett (41-6-2-1, 85 points) and No. 2 Penticton (33-11-4-3, 73 points) are way out front. But by closing with a hot streak, Portland is in range of catching No. 3 Prince George (30-19-2, 62 points), No. 4 Kamloops (25-17-6-4, 61 points) and No. 5 Kelowna (26-17-6-2, 59 points).

Of course, with a string of losses, or with competitors getting hot, the Hawks could fall below Spokane and Victoria and miss the playoffs entirely.

“The important thing is to keep improving,” Weiermair said. “Every point matters; every game matters. We can’t take a night off. That is how we have to play.”

“I have been happy with the way our guys have improved,” Johnston said. “Any time you have new players, that is what it is all about. They have had an opportunity over the first 4 1/2 months to maximize their development. Hopefully, they become a factor in the playoffs.”

The format for the first round of the postseason has the No. 1 seed matched up against No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7 and so on. Everett has been the best team in the league during the regular season, but Portland is unbeaten in three matchups with the Silvertips. The teams play three more times, twice in Portland.

Johnston isn’t saying the Hawks hope to face the Silvertips, but “we feel comfortable with them.”

The Hawks will try to win as many games as possible through the remainder of the schedule to finish as high as they can in the standings. Then they will let the chips fall as they may.

“We don’t ever enter the playoffs saying we want to play this team, or we don’t want to play that team,” Johnston said. “But you certainly try to go into the playoffs with some momentum, which is what we will try to do. We are going to be a bit of an underdog team. I like that role heading into the playoffs.”

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