Because The Coach of the Winterhawks Is From Portland

Kyle Gustafson is like any other hockey kid from Portland. He put on his first pair of ice skates at Lloyd Center and grew up dreaming not of the Stanley Cup and the National Hockey League, but skating for the major junior Portland Winterhawks.

“The Winterhawks were my team,” the Gresham native and Centennial High School graduate says. “I remember seeing guys like [’80s Winterhawks] Dennis Holland and Troy Mick. And I wanted to be one of those guys.”

That dream didn’t happen, as Gustafson was not quite good enough for the Western Hockey League, where teenage players are developed into NHLers. Instead, Gustafson became head coach of a lower-level junior team in Eugene when he was barely 21. Now, at 44, he’s head coach of the Portland Winterhawks.

Gustafson took over prior to the current season for Mike Johnston, who remains with the team as president and general manager. He was first hired by the team in 2003 as an assistant to Mike Williamson, and worked under Johnston, adding such titles as associate head coach and assistant general manager along the way, for 13 of Johnston’s 14 seasons.

“It’s not very often you get to stay with one organization as long as I have,” Gustafson says. “Usually you have to bounce around a little bit to establish yourself. I feel very, very spoiled and fortunate that I can make Portland home.”