Exit Interviews: The Leadership Group
The Portland Winterhawks’ season may have ended sooner than the team would have hoped, but that doesn’t take away the success from this year’s group.
The Winterhawks competed with essentially the same personnel from the team’s Neely Cup Training Camp in August all the way through the Western Conference Semi Final. No other WHL team had a roster completely made from homegrown talent and the Winterhawks took pride in that. They won at least 40 games for a sixth consecutive season and were the third youngest team to compete in the WHL Playoffs. Now, the Hawks enter the 2023-24 campaign with the bulk of their players having four rounds of playoff experience.
“As I’ve always said, playoff games probably mean like eight regular season games. You just grow so much as a person and as a player having to go through that and we’ve never had an opportunity to play a team that’s going to be in the Memorial Cup,” Head Coach and General Manager Mike Johnston said. “We’ve played teams in Conference Finals that went to the Memorial Cup, but never the host. So hopefully we can take that forward next year, learn from it, and go much deeper.”
The team will be without WHL graduates Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Dante Giannuzzi next season, but the Winterhawks’ brass will have 24 players from this year’s playoff roster plus at least five signed prospects to help assemble next year’s team. One thing will remain true; this organization knows it can always count on its leadership.
“Just how proud I am and all of us are of each other,” first-year captain Gabe Klassen said about his first words in the locker room after last week’s Game 4 loss. “It was a lot of fun for us this year and we had a lot of ups and downs and I thought we carried ourselves well all the way. It’s never the way you want it to end, but I thought we did a really good job battling. I’m proud of everyone for not giving up and fighting to the end.”
Klassen fought for his second straight 30+ goal season in Portland and he was named a U.S. Division First Team All Star by WHL head coaches and general managers as an effective two-way centerman. Klassen led this team alongside alternate captains Fromm-Delorme, Jack O’Brien, and Kyle Chyzowski and the Hawks are ready to take another step this fall.
“Obviously it’s disappointing the way that it ended, but I thought we accomplished a lot of great things throughout the year, and I thought everyone on our team improved,” Jack O’Brien said during his exit interview with media. “We’re all learning as a group, and we’re not there yet, but I think if we can come back next year stronger and learn from our mistakes this year – because that’s what we’re all here to do, to learn – we can be as strong as we possibly can for next year.”
Power-play perfection 👌 @jaobrien19#WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/NIs4Nfyg28
— Portland Winterhawks (@pdxwinterhawks) April 2, 2023
From late season hardships come overwhelming promise. The Winterhawks can return 90% of their scoring production and they will undoubtedly boast a more veteran heavy lineup, meaning their story together is only beginning.
“I think everyone on our team is going to gain a lot from this, from this little run we had. You can learn so many things from playoff games because it is a step up from the regular season and you have to learn how to play in those types of games and I think it’s going to help us a lot moving forward,” Klassen said.
Even though Fromm-Delorme won’t be in the fold for the first time in five years, he helped lay the groundwork for next season and is confident in next year’s group.
“I’m really proud of our team and how far we’ve come and what we’ve done this year,” Fromm Delorme said. “I have to give a lot of credit to the younger guys who haven’t really had that playoff experience. I thought they all played really hard and it’s a good learning experience for them going into next year.”
“We’ve got a great group to watch next year,” Johnston echoed. “Really exciting group and we’re going to add to that group so that we can go deeper in the playoffs and be a team that makes a couple of additions as we go through the year to what we feel is a very strong group. So if you’re a fan of the Winterhawks, you have a team that’s going to be a contender for sure next year.”
When the team returns to the Glass Palace for Neely Cup Training camp in August, the players will be ready.
“Every season presents a new opportunity, and I think what excites me and excites everybody is just an opportunity to win,” O’Brien said. “Last two years, we haven’t been able to make it out of the second round. We’re not looking to go out in the second round next year, we’re looking to win it all. That’s what I’m excited about. I’m pretty sure that’s what everyone’s excited about and that’s what our end goal is going to be.”
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Thank you to our passionate fans and partners for another terrific season of Winterhawks hockey! We can’t wait to see you again this fall. Season tickets are now available for the 2023-24 season!
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