Ty Rattie’s 10 goals and three assists not only led his team to a first-round sweep, but also put him atop the WHL playoff scoring table and earned him the league’s player of the week award.
The Airdrie hockey star led his Portland Winterhawks to a sweep of the Kelowna Rockets in the opening round of the WHL post-season, scoring three goals in game one on March 26 and four goals in a 5-3 series-clinching road win on March 29.
“I’d like to think of myself as a big game kind of player, and come playoff time, I try to lift my game up even higher; I thought I did that,” Rattie said. “I was happy with my performance. I want to keep it going into this next series.”
Portland will open round two at home against the Kamloops Blazers on April 6. The teams split the season series 2-2, and Rattie anticipates the series could go the distance.
“I think it’s going to be a battle and won’t be a four-game sweep for either team,” he said. “It will be a six or seven game series. Kamloops is a really good team.”
Having linemate Sven Bartschi back on the Winterhawks’ roster, after a brief stint with the Calgary Flames, has also helped, Rattie said.
“It’s really nice to have him back. A lot of the team’s success, and my success, relies a lot on him. Our chemistry is at all-time high right now. We’ve got a lot of confidence going into round two,” he said.
“But we didn’t take the first round too lightly either. I just think our team came out with a lot of jump. We scored a lot of goals and our defence kept the puck out of the net. It was a good first series and we’re looking forward to the next one.
“We can’t be happy with just one series. We’re a team that is expected to go far, and we know we should go far. If we play the same way we did against Kelowna, we should be fine. We’re a confident group and looking forward to game one.”
