For the Portland Winterhawks, it was
business as usual in the 1982-83 Western Hockey League. The franchise
had been dominant in the WHL since relocating from Edmonton, Alberta
for the 1976-77 season. The Winterhawks are descendants of the
original Edmonton Oil Kings team.
In 1982-83, Portland finished first in
the West Division and second overall in the WHL with 50 wins and 100
points over the 72 game regular season schedule. The only team with a
better record was the East Division leading Saskatoon Blades with 105
points. The Winterhawks led the WHL with 495 goals.
In the playoffs, Portland plowed
through the Seattle Thunderbirds and Victoria Cougars before meeting
up with the Lethbridge Broncos in the finals. Despite finishing the
regular season with 21 points less than Portland, the Broncos took
the series in five games. However, because Portland was hosting the
Memorial Cup, both teams advanced. The Winterhawks got their revenge
by winning the national title with an 8-3 victory over the Oshawa
Generals in the final game.
On that 1982-83 Portland Winterhawks
team were six players with 100 points or more. Just short of 100 was
rookie Ray
Ferraro. The following season, Ferraro would set the as yet
unbroken record of 108 goals in a single WHL season while playing for
the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Ken Yaremchuk – 160
It was third full season and final full
season with Portland over a WHL career where Yaremchuk produced 424
points in just 210 games. In the high offense WHL, Ken’s 160 points
placed him just sixth in the league.
Yaremchuk was the seventh overall pick
by the Chicago Blackhawks at the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. He went on to
play 235 regular season games in the National Hockey League between
1983-84 and 1988-89 with Chicago and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ken
rounded out his professional hockey career playing in Switzerland
from 1990-91 to 1998-99.
Randy Heath – 151
Heath was in his second of three years
with Portland in 1982-83. His 82 goals placed him second in the WHL,
behind Dale Derkatch of the Regina Pats with 84. Randy was a second
round pick of the New York Rangers in 1983 and went on to play a
total of 13 games with the club in 1984-85 and 1985-86. Like Ken
Yaremchuk, Heath finished his pro career in Europe, playing in
Sweden’s Elitserien.
Cam Neely – 120
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
in 2005, Cam Neely was in his rookie WHL season in 1982-83 and his
only full season in the league. The following year, Neely played just
19 games with the Winterhawks before being called up to the Vancouver
Canucks to finish the season. The Canucks had chosen him ninth
overall at the 1983 NHL Entry Draft.
Cam played 726 regular season games in
an injury shortened NHL career. He played for the Canucks and the
Boston Bruins but, of course, the bulk of success came while wearing
a Bruins jersey. He scored 395 goals over his career with two seasons
with 50 or more. In 1989-90, he scored 55 for Boston. In 1993-94, in
perhaps one of the most underrated performances in hockey history, he
scored 50 goals while playing just 49 games for the Bruins.
Grant Sasser – 119
1982-83 was Grant’s second of three
seasons with the Winterhawks. He was a fifth round pick of the
Pittsburgh Penguins after just his first year of WHL hockey. His only
three NHL games came in 1983-84 with the Penguins before being sent
back down to Portland. Sasser played one year of pro hockey after
junior. In 1984-85, he split the year between the Baltimore Skipjacks
of the American Hockey League and the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the
IHL.
Richard Kromm – 103
Kromm was in his second of three
seasons with Portland but would play just ten games in 1983-84 before
being called up to the Calgary Flames. Richard was a second round
pick of the mighty New York Islanders in 1982. He would get his
chance to play for the Islanders but started his NHL career in
Calgary with the Flames. He played 372 regular season NHL games
between 1983-84 and 1992-93 with the Flames and Islanders.
Richard immediately moved on to a life
of coaching after the 1992-93 season. He has since coached in the
IHL, AHL, UHL, WHL, CHL and ECHL. Kromm was head coach of the
Winterhawks for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 season. The past three years,
he has coached the Evansville Icemen. For the first two years, the
team was in the Central Hockey League. This past season, 2012-13, the
Icemen were members of the ECHL.
Brad Duggan – 100
Between 1980-81 and 1983-84, Duggan
roamed the Western Hockey League, playing for the Billings Longhorns,
Saskatoon Blades, Portland and the Brandon Wheat Kings. Of his 100
points in 1982-83, just 16 were goals. The soft handed defenseman
recorded 84 assists. Brad did not continue on to play professional
hockey.
