Portland Winterhawks at Everett Silvertips: Preview, Updates, Chat, How to Listen & Watch Stream

What: The Portland Winterhawks () face the Everett Silvertips () in Western Hockey League action.

When: Wednesday, November 23, 7 p.m.

Where: Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett, Washington.

Clock: You can stream the game via CHL TV pay-per-view (US$6.10 for a game).

Listen: Winterhawks and Silvertips audio.

To follow:

• The score box.
• Get updates and chat before, during and after the game.

The Winterhawks have been flying with 8 straight wins and a 7-point lead atop their conference. But now they have been attacked by the injury virus. Kyle Chyzowski and Luke Schelter joined Diego Buttazzoni this weekend with injuries of the week. That reduced the Winterhawks to 10 healthy forwards. To take over, they called in 16-year-old Cole Cairns and Hudson Darby. They will get involved with 3 road games in 5 days, in Everett, Seattle and Vancouver.

The good news is that goalie Dante Giannuzzi has been on quite a run, culminating in his being named WHL Goalie of the Week. They are also looking to continue their streak of beating the opposition; they have done it in all 19 games so far.

Both Cairns and Darby are listed as right wings. Cairns is 5-11, a fourth-round pick out of Winnipeg; Darby is 6-0, a fifth-round pick out of Swift Current.

On Saturday, O’Brien and Litke increased their point streak to 8, Fromm-Delorme to 6, Nguyen to 3. O’Brien set up the game-winner in Saturday’s overtime with a great play.

They will need more from Klassen and Stefan, who have not scored in their last 3 and 4 games, respectively.

Leading forward: Fromm-Delorme (30 points/19 games), Klassen (20/15), O’Brien (20/19), Stefan (19/17), Chyzowski (18/18).

Ryder Thompson, who scored his first goal of the season on Friday against Everett, is playing in his 100th game.

Main defenses: Cagnoni (19/19), McCleary (11/17), Sotheran (10/19).

For Giannuzzi, it’s 3 games in a row and 4 of his last 5 allowing only 1 goal. He will probably play on Wednesday and Friday against Everett and Seattle, and Špunar will have Sunday’s game against Vancouver.

Save percentages: Giannuzzi .898, Špunar .889.

The Silvertips don’t have much sympathy for the Winterhawks’ injury problems, as theirs is much worse. They’ve lost their best offensive player, Jackson Berezowski, two top-4 defensemen, one of their European forwards and four safety players. Fortunately, many of them are listed as daily, so they’ll be back soon if they’re not in this game.

After losing to Portland on Friday, they played a good game against Seattle, winning 1-0 after 2 periods, but ended up losing in overtime. They haven’t had an easy time keeping track. They have led 14 times and tied twice after 2 periods, but only have 12 wins.

Roest had a decent game against Portland but didn’t score; he then went scoreless against the Thunderbirds, the first time he hasn’t scored in back-to-back games.

Maze is two weeks away from her 15th birthday.

The other strikers who have been out besides Berezowski are Rymon, Shtrom and Petruk, on a day-to-day basis; and Courtney, week by week.

Leading forward: Roest (30/20), Berezowski (21/15), Hofer (19/19), Hemmerling (17/19), Heslop (14/18).

Carnage on defense: Sutter, Gibson and Whittle have all missed games. Zellweger, on a 3 game points streak, will be happy to regain some support.

Main defenses: Zellweger (21/17), Sutter (15/11), Gibson (18/6).

The Silvertips have the third worst save percentage in the league, trailing only the really bad teams Spokane and Victoria. But they were worse, so that’s getting better.

Save percentages: Holt .882, Metzger .833.

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