Portland Winterhawks at Kelowna Rockets: Preview, updates, chat, how to listen and watch

What: The Portland Winterhawks (1-0) take on the Kelowna Rockets (0-0) in Western Hockey League action.

When: Saturday, September 21, 6pm PDT.

Where: Prospera Place, Kelowna, British Columbia.

You can stream the game via the CHL TV pay per view (about US$7.50 for one game).

Listen: Winterhawks audio.

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The box score

Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.

Portland Winterhawks The Portland Winterhawks scored 5 goals on 8 shots in the 3rd period Friday night, coming back from 2-0 down to shock the Kamloops Blazers 5-2 on the road. Kyle Chyzowski scored twice to tie the game and then added an empty netter, Kyle McDonough got the winner, and 16-year-old Jordan Duguay scored his first WHL goal. An inexperienced defense stood up to hold Kamloops to 2 goals although they were outshot, and Czechian import Ondrej Štěbeták played well in his WHL debut.

They're still without star defensemen Tyson Jugnauth and Carter Sotheran, away at pro camps, and this is all really preseason-plus until they get back. But the Kelowna Rockets are probably missing more, so Portland can dream of an improbable 2-0 start.

Zakreski is the third Winterhawk away at camp.

Chyzowski with his hat trick extended his regular season point streak to 4 games. Buttazzoni's 3-game regular season streak was snapped.

Mikailhov, grandson of Hockey Hall of Famer Boris Mikhailov (spelling varying), was the only skater present not to get in the lineup. He might rotate in for this one.

Ryder Thompson, with 96% of the lineup's experience on defense, played a great game with massive minutes. And the rest of the group held up. Import player Chaloupka had a decent game in his debut, and Ruedig notched his first WHL point.

It was a very successful debut in goal for Štěbeták, with maybe just one iffy goal. We'll see if he's now entrenched as the starter enough to get back-to-back games, as well as how the Winterhawks will work out their three goalies.

Kelowna Rockets They won their first-round playoff series last season over the Wenatchee Wild as the 5th seed. That was their championship; they were never going to be in their second-round series against the Prince George Cougars, and they did well to take it to five games.

This season their sights are set much higher, with 6th overall pick Tij Iginla (Utah), 111-point scorer Andrew Cristall (2nd round Washington), and Kraken 3rd round pick Caden Price. But Kelowna will have to wait as they're all also gone (presumably) to pro camps, so it's very much preseason-plus for them, too.

They'll have to figure out their goaltending, and as they're bidding for the Memorial Cup they'll have to figure out what they'll do if they win that.

Hiroki Gojsic and Neutens are also gone to pro camps, subject to late returns. Graham, with 42 points in 67 games, and Cicek, with 39 in 64, are their likely leading returning forwards.

We see old friend Luke Schelter, who played 159 games for the Winterhawks. They have four 20-year-olds, three forwards and a goalie, so they might end up trimming one of the forwards.

Rocak is the pick of the remaining defensemen, with 37 points in 68 games last season.

Kowalyk and Cowper both look to be out with injuries. So this unit will also have some inexperience.

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