Home Opening Weekend

The Hawks had a very successful home opening weekend going 2-1 with the loss coming Friday on the road.

One trend that has stuck with the team into this 09-10 season is that for what ever reason the team is not playing well in the second period. In all four games the second has been the weak period, and it cost them Friday at Tri Cities. I really thought the team would be 4-0 at this point, but for about 10 minutes on Friday Night they were just not on their game. On the silver lining in the black cloud, this team has made adjustments along the way and has had very strong third periods.

So, is it one thing that can be easily fixed, yes, and if they continue to win at a 75% clip, then even better.

A couple of notes from the play...

Isn't nice to see Kurtis Mucha at the top of the leader board for goalies, and when was the last time Portland had two in the top 10?

The young defensemen are really coming around... In Portland's three wins this year, the number one star has been one of the 17 year old D-Men, Rutkowski in Kent, Johnson on Saturday and Morrow on Sunday. I really liked that Morrow stepped in against Seattle and protected his goalie. Did you all see Mucha skate over and give him a "thanks" pat with his paddle as Morrow was skating off the ice? Nice to see...

Luke Walker is becoming an all around player. Last year he was a scorer, this year he is total player, and is going to have a very good year.

I still think Portland is a 80 to 90 point team, and we as fans can enjoy watching hockey in Portland again this season.