With 21-game winning streak, Winterhawks restate claim as team to beat in the WHL

In early January, detractors of the Portland Winterhawks started shouting that the three-time defending WHL Western Conference champions were finally falling back to the pack, destined to take their place among a growing group of good, but not great, teams in the league’s U.S. Division.

After a 3-2 loss to Victoria on January 4, the Winterhawks were 25-12-2-2, and clinging to a slim lead in the U.S. over Everett, Seattle and Spokane.

Then, somewhat out of nowhere, came the best 23-game stretch in the 38-year history of the Portland franchise.

A win in Everett and a shootout loss in Victoria set up a 21-game winning streak, which was finally ended with a 4-1 road loss against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday.

Though Portland got 42 shots on Seattle’s Taran Kozun, who’s morphed into one of the league’s top goalies since coming over from Kamloops at the trade deadline, the T-Birds mostly kept the Hawks on the perimeter and limited quality scoring chances.

Seattle’s been a bit of a punching bag for Portland over the last five seasons, so raining on the parade is yet another exciting moment in the Thunderbirds’ best season since moving to Kent in 2009.

The night before, the Hawks hit 21 wins in a row with their 16th straight win against the Spokane Chiefs, a team that has been decidedly above average during that span.

Incidentally, this week marks six years since Spokane beat Portland to extend a Winterhawks losing streak to 21 games. It seems unfathomable now that a franchise capable of such ineptitude in 2008 could be so excellent now — and the subject of so much scorn.

While the “evil empire” storyline of last season’s WHL sanctions for player benefits has subsided to an extent this season (the OHL recently moved to legalize some of the actions for which the Hawks were punished), the Hawks are still the recipients of varying amounts of respect despite their on-ice record.

There’s no doubt they’ve scouted, drafted and developed players well. And while coach and GM Mike Johnston is still well-regarded in hockey circles, even after being suspended for what amounted to six months last season, opposing fans have not been so kind, waiting for the day the Hawks get their comeuppance for playing a bit loose with rules.

Portland came up a bit short of the all-time longest winning streak of 24 games, which was accomplished over two seasons by the Victoria Cougars in the early 1980s. The 1967-68 Estevan Bruins hold the single-season mark at 22 games.

Despite Portland’s recent run, the Cougars and Bruins may have popped champagne corks — ’72 Dolphins style — when the Hawks pushed the string to 20 via a shootout in Everett on Sunday, an option for victory that wasn’t available in the league’s earlier days.

Whether the streak deserved an asterisk or not, the Winterhawks are on a run that surpasses anything they’ve done over the last three regular seasons. A team that seemed not-quite-good-enough in the fall of 2013, especially defensively and in goal, suddenly draws comparisons to last year’s 57-win club that made it all the way to the championship game of the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

The team suffered its toughest stretch over the holidays while captain Taylor Leier, defending WHL scoring champ Nic Petan and star defenceman Derrick Pouliot played for Canada at the world junior championship. Fellow standout Brendan Leipsic got himself suspended for seven games at the same time, and second-leading scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand struggled to carry the load after returning from a stint at the lower-tier world junior tourney in Scotland.

A few ugly losses resulted, including 9-3 and 7-2 poundings at the hands of the Kelowna Rockets, who were mostly at full strength at the time.

Those scored raised eyebrows, as has Kelowna’s 4-0 record against the Hawks this season. Those wins have allowed the Rockets to maintain a seven-point advantage over Portland in the race for home ice advantage throughout the WHL playoffs.

Any consternation over the Winterhawks’ ability to contend for a championship went away, though, when the big guns returned the lineup, and the Minnesota Wild returned Mathew Dumba to the WHL after the WJC. In addition to trading for Dumba’s rights in December, the Hawks paid a relatively high price to land 20-year-old goalie Corbin Boes to back up starter Brendan Burke.

Dumba just got a taste of losing for the first time as a Winterhawk, and Boes has been forced into a heavv workload as Burke recovers from an illness that has kept him out for three weeks.

Before getting sick, Burke was enjoying his best run in three years in Portland, even garnering a nod as the CHL’s goaltender of the week.

Over the last 22 games, the Hawks have accomplished something they hadn’t done in the previous 43: looking like last year’s team.

While the Winterhawks have already allowed 25 more goals in 65 games than they did in all of last season, they have become much stingier in recent weeks. Improved defensive play and goaltending have helped.

But it’s the ability of the Hawks’ forwards to dominate possession of the puck, as well as efficient puckhandling and passing by their defencemen, that sets them apart from most teams in the league.

They’re still prone to risky maneuvering and loose passing in their own end, and teams have been scoring on them by forcing turnovers and capitalizing on the opportunities. Keeping up for a full game, though, has been tough.

Portland gave up 16 goals in a recent four-game road trip through B.C., but went 4-0 anyway by scoring 28 times. That, however, probably isn’t a good recipe for success when a tough team like Victoria, against whom Portland scored just eight goals in four games this season, looms as a likely second-round playoff opponent.

And then there’s the Rockets. Portland didn’t ice its best lineup in any of the four games against Kelowna, leading to uncertainty over what would happen if the teams met in the postseason. The Rockets have scoring depth, an outstanding defensive corps and an experienced goaltender in overager Jordon Cooke. They were derailed by injuries and fatigue in the playoffs last year, but have been building toward this year for some time. They’re poised to surpass last season’s total of 52 wins, and yet they face doubts over whether they can knock Portland off its perch.

A meeting in the Western Conference final seems inevitable, but there’s a lot of hockey to be played between now and mid-April.