We, the undersigned, as fans and followers of the Portland Winter Hawks major junior hockey team, are dismayed by the insufficient coverage of our team in the local print and television media. For the last 27 years, the Winter Hawks have consistently provided a high level of entertainment to casual and dedicated fans alike in Portland, hanging two championship banners in the Memorial Coliseum and showcasing future professional stars before they sign million-dollar NHL contracts. 24 ex-Winter Hawks were playing in the NHL just last season. Since the 1970\'s and 80\'s, Winter Hawk fans have watched local media coverage decline from almost daily previews and features to a brief recap of each game. Many sports fans in Portland are not even aware that hockey is played in the area. Even with such an unfortunate lack of local awareness, the Winter Hawks hold most of the attendance records in the Western Hockey League, which belies the commonly touted theory that \"Portland is not a hockey town.\" Winter Hawk fans understand that the Trail Blazers, as well as the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers, draw large numbers of readers to the the sports sections of local newspapers and viewers to nightly news broadcasts, and thus elicit more extensive coverage. But we feel that the dearth of stories about the Hawks does not accurately reflect the popularity nor the quality of the product that our local hockey team regularly puts on the ice. As fans and followers of the Portland Winter Hawks, we simply ask that The Oregonian, The Portland Tribune, The Columbian, KATU, KOIN, and other local media outlets devote a more generous amount of time and space, on a more regular basis, to a team that certainly deserves it.

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