With Gus driving the bus, Hawks have moved into playoff position
Center Kyle Chyzowski leads the WHL in scoring at the midpoint of the regular season (courtesy Winterhawks)
Saturday was anything but a red-letter day for the Winterhawks, who looked drained of energy in a 6-3 Western Hockey League loss to the Wenatchee Wild before a crowd of 6,323 at Memorial Coliseum.
The schedule caught up with Portland, playing its third game in three nights, including a 7-6 setback in a shoot-out Friday at Tri-City.
“That’s six games in nine nights with a younger team,” Hawks captain Kyle Chyzowski told me afterward. “We didn’t really know how to handle it.”
The Wild managed only 25 shots on goal and went scoreless while at even strength. But they scored their first goal shorthanded, converted four power-play goals (off eight Portland penalties), got one on a penalty shot and tallied a final one on an empty net. The score was 2-2 late in the second period before the Hawks ran out of gas.
“We were in tough right away,” sighed first-year Hawks coach Kyle Gustafson. “It’s just a reality. We had an emotional game last night and had to travel back to play this one.
“That’s junior hockey. It’s what these boys signed up for. There are little lessons to learn along the way. Tonight was an education for our players.”
And for the coach. It’s not that Gustafson doesn’t know the game or the WHL. He was an assistant with Portland for 20 of the previous 21 years — all but the 2021-22 season in which he served as an assistant with the NHL Vancouver Canucks.
But moving over one spot on the bench is a different beast altogether. When Mike Johnston gave up the coaching reins to concentrate on his duties as president and general manager, the game changed for Gustafson.
His maiden voyage has had results more good than bad. Just past the midway point of the regular season, Portland’s record is 21-14-2-1. The Hawks stand fifth in a tight Western Conference race, just four points behind second-place Prince George. Not bad considering the loss of talent from last season’s team that reached the WHL Finals before losing to Moose Jaw.
“If you had asked me at the beginning of the year, I thought at Christmas we would be a .500 team,” Johnston said. “I am happy with the way the players and the coaching staff have performed. We are ahead of schedule in a lot of areas.”
The Hawks started the season by winning six of their first seven games. Then they lost eight in a row.
“I had to learn how to manage that,” Gustafson said. “I had to grow up quick in that situation.”
After that, Portland won six of the next seven contests and later had a six-game win streak. Johnston credits the coaching staff — Gustafson and assistants Mike Fanelli and Sven Bartschi, the latter a former Hawk who went on to play parts of 10 seasons in the NHL.
“Kyle and his staff have done a great job,” Johnston told me from Ottawa, where he served as an assistant coach for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships the past three weeks. “It is challenging when you have a start that looks good and then have a losing streak. But Kyle handled that well and (the Hawks) put together a good run through the month of December. They are well-prepared every day, work hard and have good balance on their staff.”
“I love playing for Kyle,” Chyzowski said. “He is a nice new spark for us. A good young coach, really good with the players, and he handles feedback well.”
Gustafson pays homage to the team’s three overage players, too.
“I am fortunate to have the leadership from guys like Kyle and (defensemen) Tyson Jugnauth and Ryder Thompson — guys who have been Winterhawks for four or five years,” the Centennial High grad said. “They have been like an extension of my staff.
“For me personally, it has been a learning experience. Every day is a new day. I am around these kids more than I am around my family. It is my duty to bring energy and mentorship — you are on all the time. But I really enjoy it. We have a good group.”
In his fifth season as a Hawk, Chyzowski is putting up huge numbers. The undrafted 5-10, 170-pound center leads the league with 62 points (27 goals, 35 assists in 38 games) and has a chance to become the first player in the franchise’s 49-year history to be the solo WHL scoring champion.
“Kyle has had an amazing year,” Johnston said. “When we drafted him, we knew he was eventually going to be a quality player in the league. He has kept getting better and better. His leadership skills are among the top of all-time for me, and his game on the ice has gone at another level, too.”
“It’s not a surprise to me,” Gustafson said. “Kyle drove our team for the last three years. He is a natural leader. What he is doing on the ice is putting the team on his back.
“He has more skill than people think. We were just deep in the past. He was a young guy playing down in the lineup, and now this is his opportunity to have more playmaking and power-play time to be the guy. What I am surprised about is he hasn’t let up. He just keeps going. It’s a credit to him.”
Chyzowski had 17 goals and 33 assists in 65 regular-season games a year ago. Now 20, the Surrey, B.C., native attributes the rise in production to “a little more maturity, a little more playing time and opportunity as well. I am starting to stamp my ground in this league.”
Jugnauth leads the WHL with 42 assists to go with seven goals in 36 games. The 5-11, 170-pound native of Kelowna, B.C., a fourth-round draft pick of the Seattle Kraken in 2022, is in his first full season with Portland after being acquired in a December 2023 trade with Kamloops.
“We have had a lot of great defensemen in the past, guys like Derrick Pouliot and Luca Cagnoni, and Tyson is of the same model,” Gustafson said. “He is one of the best I have seen put on a uniform here. What he does is special.”
In December, Johnston determined that Portland’s group of forwards “was not at the level we needed to make a playoff run.” So he added 19-year-olds Alex Weiermair and Joel Plante. The 6-1, 200-pound Weiermair was a member of the University of Denver team that won the NCAA championship last season. The 6-foot, 175-pound Plante was playing in the B.C. Hockey League. Weiermair has six goals and seven assists in a dozen games; Plante has scored goals in two of the past three games.
“They have good energy and they are older guys, so they have helped us out,” Chyzowski said. “It has been nice to have some new bodies in there to give us a boost.”
Johnston may have one more trick up his sleeve. Portland has veterans Jugnauth, Carter Sotheran and Ryder Thompson but little experience elsewhere on defense. Johnston is working to add Max Psenicka, a 6-4, 175-pound defenseman from the Czech Republic to whom the Hawks acquired the rights in October in a trade with Kelowna. Psenicka, 17, has been playing in the Czech Pro League and is rated to go in the third or fourth round of the 2025 NHL draft. Johnston must close the deal on him by Thursday’s WHL trade deadline.
“He moves really well,” Gustafson said. “If he comes, he will help us a ton.”
The biggest question mark is in goal, where rookies Ondrej Stebetak from the Czech Republic (17) and Marek Schlenker (18) have been splitting time.
“I don’t think we have ever had two first-year goaltenders before,” Johnston said. “They have had moments where they have played well and moments where they have been average. For first-year goaltenders, they have probably overachieved.”
This season has been an adjustment for Johnston, who had coached the Hawks from 2008-24 with the exception of two seasons as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“It was a challenge at first,” said Johnston, who turns 67 next month. “I was with the team the first four weeks (of the regular season), then let them be on their own for a little while on the road. In the second half, I will stay closer to the team to give them any support they need.
“(Dropping the coaching duties) has given me time to watch some of our prospects play this season. We have signed some really good players for the future. I am happy with where our team depth looks.”
Portland is in good position to extend streaks of 40-win regular seasons (seven) and playoff appearances (13).
“Making the playoffs is a goal,” Gustafson said. “With the turnover of players from last season, I am proud of where we are at right now. There are some teams that made a run for (a title) last year that are not in good shape at this point. (Moose Jaw, for instance, is at the bottom of the East standings at 10-22-3-2).
“More importantly, I want to make sure our game is in a good spot when we get there. We don’t look at it merely from wins and losses. We look at the arc — is our team playing well? What do we need to correct? We believe in the development arm.
“That’s the team side of it. The other part is to make sure as many players as possible have the opportunity to move on to the next level. My goal is to make sure Kyle gets a pro contract, to make sure Diego (Buttazzoni) gets drafted. Ryan Miller — go down the list. I don’t want to lose focus on what these guys are doing and what they are going through.”
The Hawks get some down time before embarking on a six-game, nine-day road trip through Manitoba and Saskatchewan that begins Friday at Brandon and includes matchups with Saskatoon (second place in the East) and Prince Albert (fifth).
“It will be good to get away from the rink for a few days, then get a re-set and head out and see what we can do on the road,” Chzyowski said.
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