No fans allowed, but Hawks will soon return to ice for shortened campaign
Mike Johnston (Courtesy of Mike Johnston)
Updated 1/15/2021 8:40 PM
Plenty is happening on the hockey scene this week — finally.
The NHL began its 56-game regular-season schedule Wednesday night, a welcome addition to the television sports calendar that features the NFL playoffs, the NBA and college basketball these days.
On the local front, the Winterhawks are revving up for an abbreviated schedule that general manager/coach Mike Johnston hopes will begin in four to six weeks.
The Hawks went dark last March 12 due to COVID-19, sending their players back to their hometowns throughout North America. They’re still there, but they’ll return to Portland as early as next week to begin training for a 24-game regular season.
“It’s been a unique year for sure,” says Johnston, beginning his 10th year at the Winterhawks helm. “We’re used to being in the trenches by now. It’s going to be almost a year by the time we get them back. We’re used to a three- to four-month break. We’re anxious to get back to playing some hockey.”
A new ownership group is in place, the WHL recently giving approval to a purchase from owner Bill Gallacher, the Calgary oil magnate who bought the team in 2008. New managing partners Mike Kramer and Kerry Preete were introduced Tuesday night in a webinar with the Hawks’ fans and sponsors.
Kramer, owner and CEO of New York-based investment banking firm Ducera Partners, built a rink outside his home in Connecticut so his kids could play youth hockey. Preete is a St. Louis businessman and Saskatchewan native who played junior and college hockey.
A minority owner is Peter Luukko, the former CEO of the Philadelphia Flyers and now executive chairman with the Florida Panthers who serves on the NHL Board of Governors. There is money along with plenty of passion and expertise in hockey behind what is being called the “Winterhawks Sports Group” (WSG).
“We’re here for the long term,” Kramer said. “We’re looking to get integrated into the Portland community. There is great opportunity for the future here in Portland. We’re working hard to make sure we put down even deeper roots in terms of extending our leases in the current facilities and driving the team forward from there.”
If Portland isn’t the premier franchise of the 60 teams in the Canadian Hockey League — which consists of the WHL as well as the Ontario and Quebec major junior leagues — it’s on a short list. Portland has had more regular-season and playoff wins and scored more goals in the 2010s decade than any other team in the CHL. The Hawks got to the WHL Finals four straight seasons (2010-14) and won the title in 2013, losing the Memorial Cup final.
Johnston had one of his most surprising seasons going last year after losing several key players from his 2018-19 club. The young Hawks were a WHL-best 45-11-3-4 when play was suspended two weeks before the playoffs were to begin.
In June, the Hawks were declared WHL champions, giving them their fourth league title in the franchise’s 44-year history. And they did it without mortgaging the future with a mid-season trade or two.
“It’s one of the few years we didn’t (make a deal before the trade deadline),” Johnston says. “We felt we had a good enough team that we didn’t need to trade for anybody. We were going to let it run its course. We knew we had a good team lined up for the following two years.
“Now we look back and say, ‘That was the best thing we didn’t do.’ It would have hurt if we’d traded away some young guys to load up for the playoffs, and there were not any playoffs to play.”
Best news is, there will be a 2021 WHL season.
“The WHL board of governors made it clear last week that they are driven to have a season,” Johnston says. “Teams in each of the divisions will be getting their players back as soon as they get the approval that the arenas are fully functional and we’re able to practice. Everybody is working with government health officials.
“We’re in a pretty good position to bring our players back, start training and begin our season. Our goal is a 24-game (regular-season) schedule.”
It has already been announced that the Memorial Cup will not be held this year. Johnston says the matter of league playoffs has yet to be determined.
“It remains a discussion point,” Johnston says. “Even if things go quite smoothly, I’d anticipate that each division declares a champion. I just don’t know (about playoffs). The goal is to play hockey in June.”
Portland will lose two key members of its 2019-20 team who signed NHL contracts — goaltender Joel Hofer (St. Louis) and defenseman John Ludvig (Florida). The 20-year-olds will be playing professionally this season.
Johnston also made the decision to send four of his young U.S.-born players to play in the USHL this season — defenseman Clay Hanus and forwards Cross Hanas, Jack O’Brien and James Stefan.
“They have an opportunity to play 40 games and get that experience and then come back to us at the end of this season or next year,” Johnston says. “It’s a good development opportunity. Our Canadian kids are better off with us this year.”
O’Brien, incidentally, scored 14 goals with 30 points for Portland as a 16-year-old last season. Another 16-year-old, Tyson Kozak, had 13 goals and 29 points.
“Not many 16-year-olds get those point totals in our league,” Johnston says. “Jack will be a first-round NHL draft pick this year. He’s a top-notch player. Tyson is one of those complete, all-around players. He’ll get drafted, probably pretty high. He can do everything. He’s a player statistically you might not regard as a star, but that any NHL coach would want in his lineup.”
Leading the way for the Hawks this season will be 5-10, 175-pound Seth Jarvis, who was second in the WHL in scoring last season with 42 goals and 98 points in 58 games. Jarvis, currently in Carolina’s training camp, was the Hurricanes’ first pick — No. 13 overall — in the 2020 NHL draft.
“Those top-end first-round picks are a treat to coach,” Johnston says. “Seth plays the game at full speed. With his hands, quickness, competitiveness and work ethic, he took it to another level.
“In the second half of last season, he may have performed better than any player we’ve ever had. He took it on his shoulders as a 17-year-old to ensure we were going to win every night. He scored almost every game. It was quite an incredible feat.”
Both of Portland’s imports from last season — forward Simon Knak (Switzerland) and defenseman Jonas Brendberg (Denmark) — return. Knak was captain of his country’s team in the recent World Junior Championships.
The goalie will be 18-year-old Dante Giannuzzi, the backup a year ago.
“We’ve been grooming him for a couple of years,” Johnston says. “He’s ready to take over.”
Over the summer, Johnston did what he could to keep his players connected. Over the summer, he held a weekly Zoom conference featuring a special guest representing the NHL — four general managers, three players, two coaches and Hall of Fame Scotty Bowman to wrap it up.
“They would do about 45 minutes on a topic of their choice,” Johnston says. “And we did some stuff on our own. We tried as hard as we could to keep the players engaged during that time.”
There will be no fans at games this season. And there will be no radio broadcasts as has been the case in recent years. The games will be streamed over the Internet, the only way for fans to follow the action on game night.
The new owners, incidentally, are moving toward securing Memorial Coliseum as the permanent site for home games. Most of the home contests will be staged there this year.
“We want to turn that into our home,” Kramer said Tuesday night. “We want to have our own barn, as they say.”
Fair enough. But I like Moda Center much more as a venue than the Coliseum, which despite recent upgrades is really like an old barn in some ways. And I like to listen to games on the radio. I believe it adds credibility to a sports franchise to have their games called over the air waves.
But at least the Hawks will be playing soon. And they’ll almost assuredly put a quality product on the ice.
“I can guarantee you we’ll have a very good team,” Johnston says. “We have depth, we have talent and a good balance of youth and mature players coming back to our group.”
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