Winterhawks notebook: Portland takes stock at midseason

This week: at Seattle, 7:05 p.m. Saturday; host Spokane, 5 p.m. Sunday (Memorial Coliseum); host Seattle, 8 p.m. Wednesday (Moda Center); host Tri-City, 7 p.m. Jan. 3 (Memorial Coliseum); host Seattle, 5 p.m. Jan. 4 (Moda Center).

Last week: Idle.

Where they stand: At 19-14-0-3, the Winterhawks have 41 points from 36 games and are second in the U.S. Division, three points behind first-place Everett. Portland is halfway through its 72-game schedule and has played three more games than each of the other four teams in the division.

Since starting the season with one win (in overtime) and nine losses, the Winterhawks are 18-5-0-1.

World Juniors update: Oliver Bjorkstrand (Denmark), Nic Petan (Canada) and Chase De Leo (United States) are at selection/training camps for the World Juniors tournament that runs Friday through Jan. 5 in Montreal and Toronto. Bjorkstrand and Petan figure to be prominent members of their teams, while De Leo made the cut for a forward spot on Team USA.

The NHL Network is scheduled to carry Team USA games and elimination-round games.

Midway statistics: De Leo leads the Winterhawks in scoring with 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists). He is ninth in points in the WHL. Oliver Bjorkstrand ranks sixth in goals with 21 in 28 games played. The Winterhawks rank ninth in the league on both the power-play (20.7 percent) and the penalty kill (82.5 percent).

Holiday promotions: The first 5,000 fans at Sunday’s home game against Spokane receive a free lift ticket to Mount Hood Skibowl. Wednesday’s game against Seattle is the popular New Year’s Eve game where fans can skate with the team after the game during the countdown to midnight.