Sotheran’s First WHL Goal Gives Hawks Late Lift over Rockets

October 30, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Portland Winterhawks News Release

Winterhawks Game Recap

by

Peter Dewar

Kyle Smutzki / Portland Winterhawks

Carter Sotheran struck late with his first WHL goal to help the Hawks top the Rockets 5-3 in a see-saw affair.

Game #10: Portland (5) vs Kelowna (3)

SOG: POR (48) – KEL (15)

PP: POR (0/1) – KEL (1/4)

Saves: Špunar (12/15) – Kykkanen (43/47)

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

SCORING:

KEL – 8:57 – First Period – John Babcock (1) from Andrew Cristall and Gabriel Szturc

POR – 17:32 – First Period – James Stefan (4) from Dawson Pasternak and Carter Sotheran

KEL – 13:38 – Second Period – Gabriel Szturc (6) from Andrew Cristall and Caden Price

POR – 17:59 – Second Period – Aidan Litke (2) from Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Rhett Ravndahl

POR – 3:00 – Third Period – Gabe Klassen (9) from James Stefan

KEL – 12:17 – Third Period – Rilen Kovacevic (4)

POR – 17:13 – Third Period – Carter Sotheran (1)

POR – 19:08 – Third Period – Kyle Chyzowski (4) from Robbie Fromm-Delorme

The Story:

James Stefan notched his 100th WHL point and Carter Sotheran ripped home his first WHL goal 17:13 into the third period to help push the Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday.

Portland’s Jan Špunar remained unbeaten (3-0-0-0) with 12 saves on 15 shots.

The teams traded a goal apiece during each of the first two periods. John Babcock got Kelowna on the board first at 8:57 of the first, but Stefan responded late in the frame with a bullet over the shoulder of Jari Kykkanen for his 100th point in his WHL career. And when Gabriel Szturc restored the Rockets’ lead midway through the second, Aidan Litke responded for the Hawks as he hammered home a rebound at 17:59 to set up a 2-2 game heading into the third. Rhett Ravndahl also recorded his first WHL point with a helper on Litke’s tally.

Portland began to take charge in the third, grabbing its first lead of the night when Gabe Klassen wrapped home a backhander three minutes into the last stanza. But as the Hawks did earlier, Kelowna soon responded with Rilen Kovacevic’s fourth of the year. As the tied game wound down, Sotheran picked up the puck in the neutral zone and backed up the Kelowna defense before rifling a shot through Kykkanen from the top of the right circle as the VMC exploded and Portland took a 4-3 lead. Minutes later, Kyle Chyzowski iced the game with an empty-netter.

The Hawks return to the VMC this Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 7:00 P.M to take on another B.C. Division foe in the Prince George Cougars.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT presented by BBF TECHNOLOGIES:

“That was a nice feeling. I didn’t know right away it was in, but once I did – I can’t even remember what happened in the moment, but it was great…I kind of shot through a d-man and he was kind of in the way. Then I saw some fans cheering, so I started cheering too.

Winterhawks defenseman Carter Sotheran

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