Hawks Top Everett on Teddy Bear Night
The Portland Winterhawks (16-13-0-3) earned a 5-3 win over the visiting Everett Silvertips (17-7-3-1) at Veterans Memorial Coliseum Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 10,095 for the annual Les Schwab Teddy Bear Toss.
The annual spectacle is one of the most popular games of the season, where fans throw stuffed animals onto the ice after the Hawks’ first goal of the game. The drama as to when the goal would be scored didn’t last long, as just 2:59 into the game Paul Bittner banked in a puck off an Everett defenseman, bringing 10,578 stuffed animals cascading down onto the ice. The animals will be donated to local charitable organizations and hospitals.
After the animals were cleaned off the ice, Everett tied the game at the 3:54 mark on a goal from Cole MacDonald. But it took just 35 seconds for the Hawks to go back up, as Bittner struck again for his second goal and gave Portland a 2-1 lead. After the second goal, Everett replaced starting netminder Carter Hart with Austin Lotz.
Late in the period, Hawks forward Miles Koules went hard to the net and beat Lotz to make it a 3-1 lead for the Hawks heading into the second.
The Silvertips reverted back to Hart in net to start the second, and the visitors got back within one at the 15:50 mark when Graham Millar scored to cut Portland’s lead to 3-2, which remained the score going into the third.
It stayed a one-goal game until late in the third, when a wild sequence saw three goals scored in a span of 31 seconds. It started at the 16:27 mark when Dominic Turgeon slid one past Hart to make it 4-2. On the ensuing shift the Silvertips just 14 seconds after Turgeon’s goal, as Remi Laurencelle brought them back within one at 4-3. But Oliver Bjorkstrand answered right back, potting one 17 seconds after Laurencelle to ice the game at 5-3.
Portland defenseman Layne Viveiros had three assists in the win.
The Hawks wrap up a busy weekend tomorrow when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 5 p.m.
