Went to the game tonight in Portland, first WHL game in the US.
Third period was crazy after the Winterhawks scored their 2nd and third goals. Scraps all over the place, and just an endless stream of players to the penalty boxes.
Some observations:
-Sven looked great, his stickhandling is amazing
-Rattie enters the zone very quickly and has a lot of speed and buzz to his game but he did not look nearly as impressive as Bartshi tonight
-Bartschi seems to be well-known and respected by the Portland fans but is clearly considered the second fiddle to Rattie; Rattie is definitely the star player in the eyes of the collective fans
-The lady at the Winterhawks store had no idea what I was saying when I said "Bartschi" as I have been taught to pronounce it by Swiss-German people I know, so I had to say #27
-The raffle at the game today was a white #47 Flames jersey signed by Bartschi, loads of people were buying tickets too
-Bartschi's first goal was amazing hand-eye coordination
-Sven's second goal was a very nice move, but it looked like he almost lost the handle and found a way to still get it in
-Sven also set up several Winterhawks players very nicely and they faild to convert
-Wotherspoon looked good, skated very well, made some nice calm moves in his own end with the puck and was a lot less scary than a lot of the Portland defensemen (especially the way they played in the first)
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