Portland Winterhawks

The Winterhawks logo from 1976 to 2021

The Winterhawks were founded in 1950 as the Edmonton Oil Kings. The franchise moved to Portland on June 11, 1976. The team, owned by Brian C. Shaw, made the move citing a much cheaper stadium deal in Portland along with low attendance due to the presence of a professional team in Edmonton.[1] In their first season in Portland, the club would lose 7–2 to a travelling Russian club in an exhibition match watched by more than 5,000.[2] Following the relocation to Portland, the Winterhawks became the southernmost franchise in the Canadian Hockey League.

Sven Baertschi previously played for the Winterhawks.

On November 28, 2012, the WHL announced sanctions against the Winterhawks for a series of player benefits violations over the four previous seasons. As punishment for the violations WHL Commissioner Ron Robison suspended the team from participation in the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft and forfeiture of their first round picks from the 2014 to 2017 WHL Bantam Drafts and were fined $200,000. The WHL also suspended General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, including the 2013 WHL playoffs.[3]

On May 12, 2013, the Winterhawks defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 5–1 in Game 6 to become the 2012–13 WHL champions. On April 25, 2014, the Winterhawks defeated the Kelowna Rockets 7–3 to win their fourth-consecutive Western Conference Championship.

The franchise filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portland, Oregon. The Winterhawks were financially stable, but owner Bill Gallacher had to sell the franchise in order to repay other debts.[4]

The WHL Board of Governors has approved Winterhawks Sports Group (WSG) as the new owners of the Portland Winterhawks franchise effective January 1, 2021. WSG is led by Michael Kramer and Kerry Preete, who will also be the managing partners. Along with the Winterhawks franchise, WSG has also acquired the operations of the Winterhawks Skating Center in Beaverton, OR and all Winterhawks Junior Hockey programs.[5]

Prior to the start of the 2021-22 WHL season, the Winterhawks ownership announced the team would be returning to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum full-time.[6]

Uniforms, logos and mascot

The team was known as the Winter Hawks until May 2009, when it issued a press release that "the space...announced its retirement" and that the team was renaming itself the Winterhawks.[7][8]

Prior to their 2021 rebranding, the Winterhawks wore jerseys with a logo similar to those of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL, causing some to erroneously assume that the Winterhawks are a minor league farm team of the Blackhawks. In actuality, the jerseys originally worn by the first Winterhawks team were a used set of Chicago jerseys obtained through connections between the owners of the two teams. In early photos, the old Chicago jerseys are identifiable by the letter "C" with crossed tomahawks on the shoulder crest. The Winterhawks eventually changed the "C" to a "P".

Portland Winterhawks vs. Tri-City Americans, January 24, 2016

The team mascot of the Winterhawks is a white bird with multicolored tail and wing feathers, named Tom-A-Hawk. Tom-A-Hawk was introduced in 1999–2000. He wears jersey number 00. Tom-A-Hawk's main rival is Cool Bird of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Tom-A-Hawk announced in January 2019 that he would retire from injuries.[9] A new mascot was introduced, Tommy.

On July 14, 2021, the Winterhawks announced their new identity and that they would be moving from the similar looking Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL logo, to a "Winterhawk".[10] The Winterhawks organization partnered with local apparel company Portland Gear on the rebrand to help create the new primary logos, secondary logos, as well as the word marks.[11]

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

During the 2012–13 season, Winterhawks captain Troy Rutkowski established the new team record for most regular games played as a Winterhawk. His career total of 351 games surpassed the previous mark of 328 games set by Kevin Haupt in the 1998–99 season.[17]

Media related to Portland Winterhawks at Wikimedia Commons

• Portland Winterhawks official homepage