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The crowd at Veterans Memorial Coliseum roared as the Portland Winterhawks extended their lead to 3–2 over the Seattle Thunderbirds last month. Seemingly everyone was on their feet, heckling the referees or chanting, “Go ’Hawks!”
It’s an atmosphere familiar to professional hockey, but the Portland Winterhawks aren’t a National Hockey League team. Many of the players on the ice aren’t seasoned skaters but teenagers with a math test to study for after the game ends.
“All those eyes on you is always a good time,” Jake Gustafson, 18, says. “You can’t really view it as pressure. You view it as an opportunity to impress some people and get your name out there.”
For many, developmental teams like the Winterhawks are their best shot at someday playing in Madison Square Garden or Vancouver, B.C.’s Rogers Arena.
A lot of ink has been spilled in the first months of this year about the fate of Moda Center, the arena where the Portland Trail Blazers play, as well as the ice rink in Lloyd Center, which will soon be torn down. Flying under the radar is the other team in the Rose Quarter: a squad of young men, many still in high school, who will take to the ice for their season finale this weekend.
The Winterhawks play in the Western Hockey League, a subleague of the Canadian Hockey League and the most competitive of the junior hockey levels. Players are considered amateurs, protecting their eligibility for college but removing the opportunity to be paid.
Players are hosted by a billet family, which covers food and housing costs, and are also given a $120 weekly stipend for incidental expenses. The Winterhawks have previously fought to keep the players’ amateur status, arguing that salaries would threaten the financial stability of the organization.
The players do earn a year of college scholarship for each season on the roster, but their main aspiration is to get noticed and signed by either an NHL or a college team before they age out of the league at 20.
The Winterhawks’ 26-man roster includes a dozen players 18 or under, including Gustafson and 17-year-old Finn Spehar.
All high school players stay in school while training, attending Sunset High for two classes each morning before being driven by a “designated driver”—an older player with a driver’s license and car—to the rink for practice.
“It’s mostly harder on game days,” Spehar says of his schedule. “Just being asked to take a test or write a paper, studying the night before, takes a lot out of you.” Compartmentalizing is essential, Gustafson says: “Before the game, you have to zone everything else out and only be thinking about hockey.”
Most of these guys are far from home. A California native who has been skating since he could walk, Gustafson left home at 16, playing for the San Jose Sharks’ youth squad and spending a year in Minnesota before landing in Portland. Leaving his former team in Minnesota after only a year was tough, he concedes: “You’ve got to keep advancing and playing at better and better levels to advance your game.”
Gustafson lives with billet parents Ian and Margo Walsh, who have been housing Winterhawks players for seven years. Ian Walsh was an NHL referee and wanted his family to give back to the hockey community when they moved to Portland.
“Jake really handles things on his own,” Walsh says. “I try to just remind him that I’m not his dad, not his coach or agent or general manager, and just support him any way I can.”
Gustafson boards with another teammate, forward Ben Miller, and describes the entire team as a band of brothers who make living away from home much easier. Fortunately for Finn Spehar, he has the presence of his older brother, Sam, who joined him on the Winterhawks’ roster this season.
“It doesn’t really feel like we’re away from home because we’re living together,” Sam Spehar says. He will depart the Winterhawks at season’s end to play hockey for the University of Denver, and says Finn was a large part of his decision to play in Portland.
“Playing at this high level is pretty cool and definitely not a thing a lot of brothers get to say they do,” Sam says.
The brothers’ father, Dave, who played hockey for the University of Minnesota, built a rink in their backyard that both boys were skating on by age 4, about the time Finn was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Because he didn’t join a competitive team until he turned 14, Finn learned to skate and compete with Sam in the family’s backyard.
“He’s the guy that I model myself after and learn from,” Finn says, adding, “I won’t be too soft on him since he’s right next to me.” His admiration for his brother is clear and deep. “Having someone who’s just like you, only a couple of years older, to look up to and be like, ‘That could be my future,’ is super important. I’m really lucky to have him.”
It’s unusual, Sam says, for an athlete with diabetes to excel at a physical and cardio-intensive sport like hockey. Finn sometimes must sit out a shift or two when the pace exhausts him. Sam greatly admires his brother’s growth on the ice and his maturity in living far from home. Finn says if the opportunity to play with Sam arises someday, it would be hard to turn down.
Though Gustafson knows he will skate for Colorado College at the end of his two-year stint with the Winterhawks, he revels in the pressure he feels on the ice each night.
“You can’t really let your teammates down,” he says. “It’s an accountability thing.” Plus, every night with the ’Hawks is another opportunity to project his brand of dedication and dependability. “Got to be hardworking in anything to be successful,” he adds.
“Yeah, that’s his game,” Ian Walsh agrees. “I always try to remind him that nobody in hockey can score every shift. If you go out there and you don’t score, it’s not the end of the world. You just get ready for the next shift.”
The Winterhawks celebrate their 50th anniversary this season. The organization has sent 136 players to the NHL. Gustafson and the Spehar brothers understand that leaving home, uprooting their lives, and playing without pay are what’s required to make it in the sport they love.
“They realize that if they want to get to where they want to get to, this is a great opportunity for them,” Walsh says. “I think it’s something that they’re willing to make that sacrifice.”
GO: The Portland Winterhawks play their last game of the regular season against the Seattle Thunderbirds at 6 pm Saturday, March 21, at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 300 N Winning Way, 503-238-6366. Tickets start at $43.50.
Maddie Snyder is a senior at Catlin Gabel High School who covers youth sports in the Portland area from a student perspective. This story is part of a WW initiative to develop young voices in journalism.
