Derrick Pouliot has been busy. On Friday he and his Portland Winterhawk teammates 12-game winning streak ended after losing to the WHL leading Kamloops Blazers 6-4 at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops.
Derrick Pouliot has been busy.
On Friday he and his Portland Winterhawk teammates 12-game winning streak ended after losing to the WHL leading Kamloops Blazers 6-4 at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops.
A night earlier Pouliot was in Victoria playing for Team WHL in the final game of the Subway Super-series versus Edmonton Oiler prospect Nail Yakupov and Team Russia. Team Russia won the game 5-2 and the series 3-2-1 with the victory.
Pouliot struggled in the contest, finishing at minus four. He turned the puck over to Alexander Khoklachev near the end of the second period, which Khoklachev capitalized on, putting Team Russia up 4-1. Team WHL wasn't able to mount a comeback.
It has been a dominant couple weeks for the Portland Winterhawks; the team continued their hot play on Nov. 6 when they hosted the Red Deer Rebels, roasting the road team 5-1, outshooting the Rebels 46-22.
Pouliot played great in the victory, leading the Hawks in scoring, potting a goal and adding two assists. The Hawks hit the road the weekend of Nov. 9-11 heading to Vancouver, Spokane and Kamloops. The Hawks went on to score an eye-popping 21 goals in the three games.
They started their offensive explosion in Vancouver, out-dueling the Giants in a sloppy 9-5 win.
Backup goaltender Brenden Burke got the start for the Hawks and allowed five goals on 19 shots. Thankfully for Burke, the Giants' goaltending struggled equally, as the Hawks put five goals past Payton Lee, chasing him out and giving way to Tyler Fuhr, who allowed four more.
Leading the way for the Hawks in the dominant offensive performance was Nicolas Petan, who potted two tallies and added two more assists.
The next evening in Spokane the Hawks had another huge night, defeating the Chiefs 9-1, despite being outshot 44-36.
The Hawks had goals from eight different players, including two from forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. Mac Carruth picked up the win, stopping 43 of 44 shots.
On Remembrance day the Hawks were in Kamloops to take on the league-leading Blazers and came away with a 3-1 win and were again led by Bjorkstrand, who potted a pair of tallies.
After a five-day break the Winterhawks returned to Kamloops looking to extend their longest winning streak since 1997 to 13 games, but lost a tight game to the Blazers 6-4.
Saturday night the Hawks bounced back beating the Medicine Hat Tigers 5-2 in front of the home crowd at the Rose Garden.
In light of Friday's loss to the Blazers the Winterhawks sit second in the WHL standings behind only the Blazers. Had they beaten the Blazers, the two teams would be tied for the league lead.
Pouliot currently leads the Winterhawks defencemen with 21 points in 22 games and is tied for fourth in the league with Moose Jaw Warriors' Morgan Reilly.
The Winterhawks host the Vancouver Giants tonight at 8 p.m., on Friday afternoon they host the Kootenay Ice at 4 p.m. and on Saturday they head to Seattle for a divisional game. Both start times are 8 p.m.
