For the Reporter

The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 7-0 in Western Hockey League play Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

Seattle (40-25-2-40) will open the Western Conference against the Everett Silvertips, with home ice advantage to be determined today. The T-Birds travel to Kennewick to take on the Tri-City Americans while the Silvertips are in Portland to complete the regular season. Face-off is 5 p.m. for both games.

Everett (39-23-7-2) is one point ahead of the T-Birds after beating the Victoria Royals 3-2 Saturday night.

If one team wins and the other loses in regulation today, the winning team will have home ice advantage in the first round. If the teams end up tied in points after today’s game, due to games going to overtime or a shootout, then the T-Birds will have home ice advantage in the first round due to the first tie-breaker, which is overall number of wins.

The T-Birds will announce the dates and times of their first round playoff series games with Everett after today’s game.

This will be the first time the T-Birds and Silvertips have met in a playoff series since Everett joined the WHL as an expansion team in the 2003-04 season.

Playoff tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday at tickets.seattlethunderbirds.com and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

Long night in Portland

Oliver Bjorkstrand had a hat trick for the Winterhawks on Saturday night. Paul Bittner, Adam Rossignol, Taylor Leier and Mathew Dumba also had goal for the Winterhawks.

Portland outshot Seattle 44-28 in the game.

Seattle goalie Danny Mumaugh made 37 saves on 44 shots and his record is now 15-10-2-3.

Portland goalie Brendan Burke improved to 34-10-2-2 after stopping all 28 shots he faced.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – No scoring. Penalties – Eansor, Sea (roughing), 12:02. Bittner, Por (roughing), 12:02. Bear, Sea (tripping), 12:37. Kolesar, Sea (tripping), 17:27.

Second period – 1, Portland, Bjorkstrand 48 (De Leo, Leier), 4:23. 2, Portland, Rossignol 4 (Viveiros, Dumba), 7:02. 3, Portland, Leier 35 (Dumba, De Leo), 10:02. 4, Portland, Dumba 6(Petan), 18:18 (pp).Penalties – Hickman, Sea (double minor-roughing), 7:44. Texeira, Por (double minor-roughing), 7:44. Henry, Sea (major-fighting), 8:57. Schoenborn, Por (major-fighting), 8:57. Petan, Por (tripping), 12:26. McKechnie, Sea (roughing), 16:26. Eansor, Sea (hooking), 16:26. Leipsic, Por (roughing), 16:26. Pouliot, Por (roughing, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 16:51. Maxwell, Sea (slashing, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 16:51. Yakubowski, Sea (boarding), 17:29. Wardley, Sea (roughing), 17:29. Bjorkstrand, Por (interference), 17:47.

Third period – 5, Portland, Bittner 22 (Iverson, Dumba), 4:17 (pp). 6, Portland, Bjorkstrand 49, 6:16. 7, Portland, Bjorkstrand 50 (Leipsic, Pouliot), 15:24 (pp). Penalties – Cederholm, Por (roughing), 1:27. Hauf, Sea (roughing), 3:50. Eansor, Sea (roughing), 14:25. Texeira, Por (elbowing),18:38.

Shots on goal – Seattle 4-9-15 28, Portland 15-20-9 44. Goalies – Seattle, Mumaugh 44 shots-37 saves (15-10-2-3); Portland, Burke 28-28 (34-10-2-2). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Portland 3-7. A – 8,019. Referees – Tyler Adair, Pat Smith. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Nathan Van Oosten.