Bennett joins Portland Winterhawks

[johnnyluv]

Don't think this has been posted elsewhere - I found this on http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com -

LW Spencer Bennett, 19, was selected by the Flames in the fifth round, 141st overall, of last month’s NHL draft. The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder spent last season with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles, scoring 20 goals and setting up 21 others in 60 games. He turned down a scholarship offer from the U of Alaska/Anchorage in order to join the Winterhawks. . . .

At the very least, this will make judging his progress a lot easier.

[Parallex]

He turned down a scholarship? Doesn't seem like such a wise move for someone in his draft position, I'd have gone off to Anchorage. But who knows maybe he's this years Jamie Benn.

[Metro Gnome]

Nice find. Thanks for the update.

[Locke]

What the hell is a Winterhawk? I prefer my Hawks to exist during all 6 seasons or not at all!!

[Stumptown]

Yay! The way things have been going with the Winterhawks over the last few seasons, I've needed a good reason to go see the games, but having a Flames prospect to keep an eye on will probably get me to see more games.

[simmer2]

Well, he'll get lots of icetime, the Winterhawks are a very bad team.

[Sylvanfan]

Man, what happened, in the late 80's and early 90's the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks ruled the WHL's West Division. Now they're absolutely pathetic operations that would be luckey to beat Junior A teams. Hopefully this Bennet kid learns a few hard lessons during the season.

[Stumptown]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Man, what happened, in the late 80's and early 90's the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks ruled the WHL's West Division. Now they're absolutely pathetic operations that would be luckey to beat Junior A teams. Hopefully this Bennet kid learns a few hard lessons during the season.

A couple of New Yorkers with absolutely no clue about either hockey or running a business bought the team and proceeded to do whatever they could to destroy it. That's what happened. About half-way through last season the Winterhawks' new owner (Bill Gallacher, a Calgary oil&gas guy) took over and cleaned house. He fired pretty much the whole staff, and literally cleaned house - apparently the old owners had never thought to have the offices or dressing rooms cleaned. He needed to, players were starting to leave the team, stick suppliers weren't getting paid, the whole thing was just a mess. There was a noticeable improvement in the last half of the year, especially in the business operations and marketing, so I'm pretty hopeful for the next season.

I hope this signing means that the new GM is out there actively scouting outside the usual pool of WHL players. After three years of bad drafts and trades under the old operation they've got a lot of rebuilding to do.