Winterhawks explode in 3rd to win opener

The Portland Winterhawks, looking like offense would be a struggle and going 12 minutes without a shot in the 2nd and 3rd periods, then explode for five goals in the 3rd, four in the last 8 minutes, to stun the Kamloops Blazers in both teams' Western Hockey League opener.

Portland's five goals in the 3rd came on just 8 shots, after going 0 for 21 in the first two periods.

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Scoring summaryPregame: Portland was missing three very important players away at pro camps, with 7 players making their WHL debuts, and with 5 of their defensemen totaling 9 games of experience. But Kamloops, the league's last place team, was missing their 2 NHL draft picks to pro camp, and had a bunch of players including some key ones missing due to injury. How it was going to go was anyone's guess.

Portland started nervy, as could be expected with so many playing their first game. But they really played well in the back half of the period, and pulled the play back to even in a scoreless period.

The game had ground down to a defensive (or offensive-less) period until the last 6 minutes, when the Blazers had a good stretch of play and cashed in with two goals. Portland went shotless for about the last 7.

And they were shotless in the first 5, until Chyzowski broke the string with the first goal coming out of nowhere. Kamloops was still the better team, and had the lead and gained a 4-minute power play. But the Winterhawks killed most of it, drew a penalty to end it, and then Chyzowski tied it on the 4 on 4. From then on they went bang-bang to take the lead, and then Chyzowski's empty netter finished it.

Best vs. best: In a game without a lot of standouts, it was Chyzowski, just returning from training camp, who made the difference.

Depth vs. depth: Even, overall, but Portland's depth made the plays in the 3rd.

Special teams winner: Kamloops had a huge chance with the double-minor in the 3rd; Portland blitzed them right after the Blazers failed to capitalized.

Best team won?: A pretty even game for a lot of it, you have to say the Winterhawks performed a smash-and-grab.

Injuries/suspensions: Both teams missed players away at pro camps; Kamloops has had injury issues on top of that.

The playersPortland Winterhawks

While acknowledging they were playing against last year's worst team who were missing a ton of players, it was still a nice result, and encouraging for how the younger players played.

Kamloops Blazers

They're missing players, but it still looks like it's going to be a long rebuild.

Next games Saturday at Kelowna, 6pm PDT

next Saturday at Everett, 6pm PDT

Next home game: Friday 10/4 vs. Victoria, 7pm PDT

Looking ahead: Saturday 10/5 vs. Prince George, 6pm PDT