The Portland Winterhawks are members of the Western Hockey League, the highest level of non-professional hockey in the world. The WHL is in turn part of the Canadian Hockey League which stretches from Western to Eastern Canada as well as Oregon, Washington, and a handful of teams in the U.S. Northeast. The team has been in Portland since 1977-78 when the team moved from Edmonton. Owner Brian Shaw was a pioneer in many aspects of Junior Hockey, not only moving the a team to the United States for the first time, but also is credited with designing the current CHL championship format of the champion from each of the three leagues (WHL, OHL, and QMJHL) as well as a host-city team competing for the Memorial Cup.

The Winterhawks were also pioneers of promotion and are credited with the invention of the "Dash for Cash" where contestants are picked to run onto the ice and try to scoop up as many silver dollars in 2 minutes as they could. This popular promotion has been running for many years.

Notable alumni

The team is one of the most successful in the history of the WHL, and dozens of Winterhawk players have gone on to long careers in the NHL. These include:

• Dave Babych
• Wayne Babych
• Jim Benning
• Keith Brown
• Byron Dafoe
• Adam Deadmarsh
• Andy Ference
• Marian Hossa
• Brad Isbister
• Clint Malarchuk
• Brenden Morrow
• Cam Neely
• Gary Nylund
• Larry Playfair
• Nolan Pratt
• Dave Scatchard
• Glen Wesley
• Richard Zednik

External links

• Portland Winterhawks official homepage