Alex Schoenborn loved scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal this season for his Portland Winterhawks.
But the 20-year-old said he had more fun spoiling the Seattle Thunderbirds’ Teddy Bear Toss night last Saturday in Kent. Schoenborn scored three goals as Portland stormed from a 2-0 deficit to a 5-2 win.
The rally came after Seattle won 3-0 last Friday in Portland, so the T-Birds had outscored the Hawks 5-0 through the first 90 minutes of hockey last weekend.
Coach Jamie Kompon said that when Seattle led 2-0 midway through the second period on Saturday, he reminded his team that none of the goals on Friday or Saturday had come with the teams playing five-on-five hockey.
Kompon said the come-from-behind win was good validation, especially for the younger players on the team.
“Their buy-in to what they’re doing was excellent” in the game at Seattle, Kompon said. “I’m very happy we got rewarded for what we did and the way we stuck with it.”
Schoenborn followed his first WHL hat trick with the winning goal in Sunday’s 4-3 home win over Tri-City, capping what Kompon described as “a phenomenal weekend.”
Adding to the significance of Saturday’s win: It was Portland’s first win this season over a full-strength Seattle squad.
“I think that was huge for our team,” Schoenborn said. “It shows the kind of character we have on our team, and it shows guys that we need to play our game and stick with it and we can be successful.”
Schoenborn, who has matched a career high with 18 goals, scored his goals by going to the front of the net. Two of them came by establishing position in front of Seattle goalie Landon Bow, deflecting one over the goalie’s shoulder and putting another past the screened-out Bow after a shot hit Schoenborn and fell into the crease.
But it was his second goal, the one that gave Portland a 3-2 third-period lead, that was special. Schoenborn took a pass from Dominic Turgeon, stutter-stepped around a defender and took a shot that bounced off Bow. Schoenborn wound up on his belly as the puck fell to the goalie’s right. He swatted the puck out of the air and into the open net.
A right-handed hitter as a youth baseball player in North Dakota, Schoenborn said he did not know if those memories factored into his left-handed swing at the puck.
The San Jose Sharks prospect knows that getting to the front of the net is his route to a future in professional hockey.
“I’m just trying to work hard every shift. When I do that I’m successful and the team is successful,” Schoenborn said.
Winterhawks
This week: At Kelowna, 7:05 p.m. Friday; at Kamloops, 7 p.m. Saturday; at Everett, 7:05 p.m. Wednesday; host Seattle, 7 p.m. Feb. 5 (Moda).
Last week: Lost to Seattle 3-0; beat Seattle 5-2; beat Tri-City 4-3.
Where they stand: At 25-21-2-0 (52 points), the Winterhawks are in third place in the U.S. Division, three points back of second-place Seattle. The Hawks are three points ahead of Spokane and 10-points up on fifth-place Tri-City. Portland is sixth in the Western Conference.
Even-strength advantage: The Winterhawks gave up only one even-strength goal over the three nights. Five of the nine goals surrendered by Portland were on opponent’s power plays, two were short-handed, and one was into an empty net. Seattle’s power play is seventh best in the WHL and Tri-City’s ranks second.
Challenging week: The Winterhawks play the two division leaders in the West on this week’s road swing. Friday’s game at Kelowna is their last in the regular season against the team on top of the conference. On Wednesday they are at Everett to face the U.S. Division leaders. Saturday’s game at Kamloops is against a team one point behind Portland in the conference standings.
Vancouver Rangers
This week: At Whitefish (Mont.) 7:05 p.m. on Friday, 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Last week: Lost three games to the visiting Long Beach (Calif.) Bombers by scores of 8-5, 5-4 and 10-3.
Where they stand: At 23-12-0-3 (49 points), the Rangers are six points behind the Idaho Junior Steelheads and seven behind the Missoula Maulers in the Northwest Division of the Western States Hockey League. Idaho has four games in hand, Missoula has two games in hand.
