Monday, April 4, 2011

Hawks coach on second round series

You won't see Portland Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston throwing any stones in advance of their second round playoff series with the Kelowna Rockets.

I spoke to him this morning by phone. I contacted the Hawks office at 10:30 am and he called me 45 minutes later. Impressive to say the least.

Here are some quotes from the Hawks head coach.

On the Rockets playoff success track record:

"Kelowna as an organization is a strong organization that has a really good history of playing well in the playoffs and going to Memorial Cups. Looking at organizations, we are trying to get there with Portland that we get back on track where we are viewed as a threat every year in the playoffs".

On the Rockets best skater:

"When we talk about Tyson Barrie, we had to handle Murray (Tips d-man Ryan Murray) in the first round and he is a lot like Barrie. He (Murray) is dynamic and controls the play and jumps up. I was happy that we had a series where we had to handle a more dynamic defenceman."

On Rockets goaltender Adam Brown being a difference maker in the series:

"Brown is going to be a challenge. Their defense presents challenges and so do their top three forward lines. l think they have a very good team because a few players that are still there have had a taste of what it's like to go to a Memorial Cup."

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