The Portland Winterhawks are a junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1950 as the Edmonton Oil Kings, the team relocated to Portland in 1976 and was known as the Winter Hawks until 2009. The team plays in the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League (WHL), one of three constituent leagues of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The Winterhawks have made a record thirteen appearances in the WHL championship series—including a record-tying four straight from 2011 to 2014—winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup three times and capturing two Memorial Cup titles. They were the first American-based team to participate in and win either championship. The team plays its home games at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The franchise was founded in 1950 as the Edmonton Oil Kings. Under Bill Hunter's leadership, the Oil Kings were a founding franchise of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League in 1966.^[1] Despite winning two league titles in the early 1970s, the arrival of Hunter's Edmonton Oilers in the World Hockey Association precipitated the relocation of the franchise. In the spring of 1976, it was announced that the franchise, owned by Brian C. Shaw, would move to Portland, making it the league's first American team and leading the league to simplify its name to the Western Hockey League.^[2]

In their first season in Portland, the club would lose 7–2 to a travelling Russian club in an exhibition match watched by more than 5,000 fans.^[3] Overall, the team carried over its success from its early days in Edmonton—in their first eleven seasons in Portland, the Winterhawks failed to make the playoffs only once, and advanced to the league final five times, winning their first Ed Chynoweth Cup in 1982 and the Memorial Cup in 1983.^[4] In 1982, the Winterhawks became the first American team to win the WHL championship and also the first to compete for the Memorial Cup. In 1983, despite losing the WHL championship series, the Winterhawks participated in the Memorial Cup by virtue of hosting the tournament—the first American team to do so. Brian Shaw advocated for the participation of the host team, and after the Winterhawks—led by star rookie Cam Neely and goaltender Mike Vernon—won the tournament, the CHL opted to continue with the new format going forward.^[4]

The Winterhawks hosted the tournament again in 1986, awarded the tournament when it became clear that the original host of New Westminster would be unable to host due to also hosting the 1986 World Expo.^[4] In 1998, the Winterhawks, led by Brenden Morrow and Marián Hossa, earned their way back to the Memorial Cup—hosted by the rival Spokane Chiefs—with an Ed Chynoweth Cup championship; they won their second Memorial Cup title with a 4–3 overtime win in the final over the Guelph Storm.^[4]

The Winterhawks advanced to four consecutive WHL championship series from 2011 to 2014, just the second team to do so after the New Westminster Bruins won four consecutive titles from 1975 to 1978. From 2012 to 2014, the Winterhawks met the revived Edmonton Oil Kings in each league final.^[5] The Winterhawks won one of the finals, in 2013, to advance to the team's fifth Memorial Cup tournament, where it lost the final to the Halifax Mooseheads.^[6]

On November 28, 2012, the WHL announced sanctions against the Winterhawks for a series of player benefits violations over the four previous seasons.^[7] As punishment for the violations, WHL Commissioner Ron Robison suspended the team from participation in the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft, and the team forfeited their first round picks from the 2014 to 2017 drafts and was fined $200,000. The WHL also suspended General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, including the 2013 WHL playoffs.^[7]

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, the franchise filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy. Although the Winterhawks were financially stable, owner Bill Gallacher used the team as security against an unpaid loan; Gallacher ultimately had to sell the franchise in order to repay debts.^[8] The WHL Board of Governors approved Winterhawks Sports Group (WSG) as the new owners of the franchise, effective January 1, 2021. Along with the Winterhawks franchise, WSG also acquired the operations of the Winterhawks Skating Center in Beaverton, Oregon, and the Winterhawks Junior Hockey programs.^[9] Prior to the start of the 2021–22 WHL season, the team announced that it would be returning to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum full-time after previously dividing games between the Coliseum and the Moda Center since 1995.^[10]

The 2023–24 season saw the Winterhawks advance to their first championship final in ten seasons, where they were defeated by the Moose Jaw Warriors in four consecutive games.^[11]

The team was known as the Winter Hawks until May 2009, when it issued a press release stating that, "the space...has announced its retirement", and that the team was renaming itself the Winterhawks.^[12][13]

Upon moving to Portland in 1976, the Winter Hawks accepted a donation of old jerseys from the National Hockey League's Chicago Black Hawks, and they kept the design for nearly half of a century.^[14] Amid pressure for sports teams to abandon Native American caricatures, new ownership opted to rebrand the Winterhawks in 2021. The team unveiled its new look on July 14, 2021, featuring new colors and a new hawk logo.^[15]

The Winterhawks' also retired their Tom-A-Hawk bird mascot in 2019.^[16]

• Memorial Cup (2): 1982–83, 1997–98
• Ed Chynoweth Cup (3): 1981–82, 1997–98, 2012–13
• Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy (4): 1979–80, 1997–98, 2012–13, 2019–20
• Conference Champions (5): 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2023–24
• Division Playoff Champions (8): 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2000–01
• Regular Season Division Champions (15): 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2019–20, 2023–24

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

During the 2012–13 season, Winterhawks captain Troy Rutkowski established the new team record for most regular games played for the Winterhawks. His career total of 351 games surpassed the previous mark of 328 games set by Kevin Haupt in the 1998–99 season.^[22]