The Portland Winter Hawks (2-13-0-0) got off the bus in Medicine Hat, Alberta this morning, and got right on the ice for practice after a 940 mile overnight bus trip from Portland. They’ve got a brutal three-in-three against Medicine Hat (12-3-2-0) tomorrow night, Lethbridge (9-7-1-1) Saturday and Kootenay (7-10-2-0) Sunday.

Hopefully the Hawks can overcome bus legs, gain some confidence, and pick up a few points on this 1,772 mile central swing.

The Jaguars are off this weekend, and back in action November 10 and 11 against Seattle at Valley.

The Portland State University Vikings are on the road to the Tri Cities for three-in-three this weekend. One game against Columbia Basin and two games against Walla Walla.

I’ve saved the ugly news for last: The Fort Vancouver Pioneers have ended their season early, due to a conflict with their league over transportation. I kind of wondered how they were going to manage the travel, given most (all?) of the other teams were in B.C. And I had doubts about how well organized the WHA was. Now we know. I’m not sure what the future holds for the Pios, since I believe some of their front office guys earned lifetime bans from USA Hockey. The WHA, an independent league, may have been their last best hope for continuing as a hockey club.

So it goes.

Let’s start off with the newest game in town: the Portland State University Vikings have their inaugural home game tonight and another game tomorrow night, both against the University of Puget Sound at Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver Wash. I’m not sure if Portland has ever had college club hockey before, so this is kind of cool. I know a few of these guys from stick time at Valley, so here’s a big shout out to them. Go James! Go Steve! Go Head Butt! Go Vikings! Admission is just $5, so “Get off yer butts and cheer,” as my high school principal once yelled at the nerd squad at a pep rally. But I digress.

The River City Jaguars take their show on the road to Medford this weekend for three games against the Rogue Valley Wranglers. The Jags are the winningest team in Portland, with a 10-4 record. You’ve gotta hope things don’t get too out of hand against the NPHL expansion Wranglers, who have yet to manage a win. The Jags are back in town November 10.

The Jaguars are on a roll this year, led by five skaters with at least one point a game: Rudy Pino (15-7-22), Spencer Murphy (10-8-18), Nick Guzman (6-10-16), Kevin Nighbert (6-7-13), and Everett Mayers (4-9-13).

The WHA league-leading Fort Vancouver Pioneers (7-1-0) are on the road in B.C., for a pair of games against an evidently non-league team in Lillooet. (The WHA site is woefully lacking in information.) The Pios are back in town the weekend of November 2.

Last but not least, the Winter Hawks (2-10-0-0) have a tough three-in-three schedule this weekend, starting with a game in Kennewick, Wash. tonight against the first-place Tri-City Americans (11-3-0-0). They’re back home Saturday, taking on Eastern Conference Brandon (7-5-0-1), and Sunday against a very strong looking second-place Spokane (9-2-1-1). The Hawks got their first home win of the season last Sunday against Saskatoon (3-9-1-0).