Soccer, baseball and football are all very popular sports in American culture; I’ve grown up constantly having the opportunity to go to these sporting events, but none of these games have felt like a community, nor do they interest me.
No sporting event I’ve been to has engaged me like hockey has. Recently, I went to my first-ever hockey game in years. The Winterhawks are a popular team based in Portland that plays at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
As I first sat in the stadium, I realized the fan energy was off the charts. Everyone was involved, and you could feel the excitement throughout the stadium. Now that I’ve had the opportunity to go to more and more games, I realized how awesome hockey truly is. The crowd is always very passionate, and these athletes give it their all.
When I truly became interested in the sport, I started to notice more players by name. The Winterhawks roster is insanely impressive. Most of their players are between the ages of 16 and 18, and their goalie Ondrej Štěbeták is 17 years old with an average save rate of 89% (meaning he saves about 89% of the goals shot) making him ranked eighth amongst other Western Hockey League(WHL) goalies. Max Pšenička is also just 17 years old but ranked as the 40th-best skater in the WHL. due to his extreme speed and skill. Pšenička is predicted to join the National Hockey League (NHL) next year.
The thing about the Winterhawks that makes them so engaging is that many of these players dream about playing for the NHL some day, so they are constantly trying their hardest. Most of the time when watching “professional” players in other sports, you tend to see a lot of big egos or cocky behavior.
In hockey, your competitors keep you humble by fighting you or getting all up in your face. It’s common to see fights in hockey, because it makes the sport overall safer by holding opponents accountable. In some hockey events, the crowd has gone wild and started chanting some not-so-nice things to the refs for making bad calls.
This season, the Winterhawks have been on top of it. Making it to the WHL finals is a hard thing to achieve, and after a grueling battle with the Everett Silvertips, the Winterhawks made the final. Between April 27 and May 1st, the Winterhawks will be playing some of their most important games against the toughest teams in the league.
This May, I got the opportunity to see the Winterhawks finals game at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. It was a make-it-or-break-it game against the Spokane Chiefs, who had already won three out of seven games in the WHL conference finals, giving the Chiefs a huge advantage as they only needed one more game to win. The game started at 7 p.m. and held over 4,500 fans in the stadium. This game was all or nothing.
Within the first seven minutes, the Chiefs scored the first point. You could hear the crowd go quiet as disappointment spread across everyone’s faces. Just a little later, Alex Weiermair of the Winterhawks scored, tying the Chiefs and Hawks in the first quarter at 1-1. The crowd exploded when Weiermair scored the first goal, giving WinterHawks hope of a comeback after being dominated by the Chiefs.
Around the last 13 minutes of the first period, one of the Winterhawks’ best players, Diego Butazzioni, got booted. Butazzioni got five minutes for checking, then 10 minutes for misconduct, meaning he wasn’t allowed to play for the rest of the game.
Winterhawks fans were outraged as the Chiefs scored another goal. The first period ended 2-1, with the Chiefs in the lead.
But when there’s darkness, there is always hope. Within five minutes of the second period, the Hawks scored and fans began to roar. The game was tied, and you could feel the excitement in the room as both teams proceeded to score again, leaving the Hawks and Chiefs tied for the second period. Fans from both teams were nervous, and the crowd still had hope for the team they were rooting for.
In the third period, the Winterhawks were able to score one goal, giving them a lead of 4-3, until the very last minute when the Chiefs scored to tie the game again. The Winterhawks coach, Kyle Gustafson, decided to take the goalie out, allowing them to put another defender in two man up and goalie down for the last two minutes.
The whole stadium was in shock when the Chiefs scored in the final two minutes, ultimately winning the final match. The Winterhawks lost and fans were devastated, but the Winterhawks still altogether had a great season. It was sad, but fans were super proud of all the players for giving it their all. Though it was a heartbreaking loss, many believe this will make the players stronger.
Overall, fans have seen a great improvement from the team, this year’s players gave it their all. The Winterhawks fanbase is beyond proud that they made it this far. The Winterhawks may be done, but the fans are not and hopefully next year the cup will be ours.
