Tri-City Preseason Tournament Notes

The Portland Winterhawks will play 2 games this weekend at the Toyota Center in Kennewick this weekend, starting with an 11 am meeting with the Everett Silvertips. Both teams will be missing players to NHL camps, which should allow the younger players from both teams to shine. The Hawks will be missing 11 players to NHL camps, with Troy Rutkowski and Luke Walker still available as the Colorado Avalanche haven't entered any prospect tournaments this weekend. The Everett Silvertips will be missing 7 players, including their two highest profile goaltenders in Thomas Heemskerk and Kent Simpson. Everett will be participating in their second game of the weekend, as they opened today by falling to the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-2. I'd expect many of the younger players for both teams to be looking to make a case for an early season roster spot, as the final preseason games next weekend will most likely have many of the veteran players back from NHL camps and the teams will be trying to solidify their strategies for the beginning of the season. As he did last weekend, my radio broadcast partner Andy Kemper will be running a live blog from the game. The link to his website is on this page. Just make sure to remember to have the fake spreadsheet ready if the boss walks by at work!