The Portland Winterhawks’ Diego Buttazzoni netted his first career WHL hat trick in the team’s 6-2 victory on Saturday, Oct. 7 over the Vancouver Giants. Buttazzoni had a four-point night as he also dished out an assist on Luca Cagnoni’s third period goal.
“I think just linemates helped out a lot, and bounces were going my way that night, but Sotheran made two good plays and (Josh) Zakreski made a great pass,” Buttazzoni said about his hat trick. “Our team is really good this year, so it’s really fun to share ice with great players and the boys are buzzing, it’s good to contribute and a good win.”
This is Buttazzoni’s second season in the WHL and it’s clear that he’s primed to succeed on the ice and grow as a player. Buttazzoni credits his confidence and having more poise with the puck. He wants to shoot a lot more than he did last season.
“Just get lots of pucks on net and stuff, obviously playing a bit more now and stuff so I’d say a bigger role in the lineup and just try to contribute as most I can,” Buttazzoni said. “Obviously like I said, it’s a great group of guys, so good linemates, but I’d say just more good offensive plays and lots more chances, confidence I’d say is the biggest thing though, even coming into camp here, knowing what to do from the start, all that stuff helps, just playing a better game.”
It’s clear that his growth has come with his confidence increasing on the ice. But if one thing is clear with his increased confidence, it’s that a large part of it comes from his good teammates.
Buttazzoni currently lives with Kyle Chyzowski, and the two of them hold each other accountable every day.
“He’s a great leader, he’s assistant captain showing us why, we’re always stretching at home, flush making sure our body’s right for every game, eating well and stuff,” Buttazzoni said. “He makes sure I’m ready, I make sure he’s ready, but he helps me a lot.”
He’s also close with Cagnoni, who he spent some time with this past summer.
“I stayed at his house for a couple of weeks, my parents were out of town and stuff, just training with him throughout the summer, sharing ice with him during the summer and working out and stuff, all that was a blast, so it was great to share it with a teammate in the summer,” Buttazzoni said. “Up here there’s lots of good leaders, so mostly Chyzowski and Cagnoni, but there’s lots of great leaders on our team. All the old guys are really nice to me and stuff, it’s not like they treat anyone like young guys here, it’s like everyone’s the same, so we have a great group of leaders, everyone on our team is leaders and all the guys are nice.”
Buttazzoni is trying to take in all the information that he can this season. Coming in as a 16-year-old last season was an eye-opener for Buttazzoni with how guys treat their bodies and how they do stuff compared to midget and bantam hockey.
“Obviously it’s a big jump, so just taking in all the information I could last year and this year and now obviously contributing to the team and stuff like that,” Buttazzoni said. “Just taking young guys under my wing and just helping them best I can, making sure that they feel comfortable here. Even in camp talking to some young 08’s, I was talking to them and stuff, just seeing what they’re doing, where they’re from and all that stuff, because you don’t want to be in a place where you’re not comfortable, you want to make sure you know the guys and all that stuff.”
Buttazzoni said that those items are the biggest things and that he’s trying to be the best leader that he can. It’s clear that this season’s team has a lot of leadership and chemistry that makes this group special and that was evident from what Buttazzoni said.
“Obviously we’re at the rink every day, every other team is to, but I think our team is just really close, like there’s not even one guy that sticks out within this team,” Buttazzoni said. “We’re all best friends, we all get along, I go to high school with kids too, so I have classes with all of them. We’re all really tight and we hang out basically every day, obviously live with a guy on the team, our team gets along really good. Like I said, it doesn’t matter how old you are, how good you are, everyone’s good and all that stuff, we treat everyone the same here and it’s a great environment to be around. Everyone wants to push each other to get better every day, so it’s just a great place to be for sure.”
While the team clearly gels both on and off the ice with the ways that they bond and grow together, it’s clear that Buttazzoni is a player who can be a key contributor this season.
“I would say just keep shooting lots and playing with confidence and stuff,” Buttazzoni said. “Sharing ice with great players, so making good plays and they’re going to finish pucks obviously and stuff like that. But just doing the right little things, like doing the little details, which matter a lot, keep my body right, warming up, cooling down, doing everything proper and stuff like that, so just making sure I’m ready for every game, know and visualize it, just shooting lots and hopefully keep the production up.”
As the CHL Top 10 rankings have shown so far, Portland has played well and won most of their first few games this season and are a team with a lot of potential. In the most recent CHL Top 10 rankings, Portland sat at the top spot this week. It’s clear that the winning mentality is there in Portland and Buttazzoni has his sights set on winning the WHL and then the Memorial Cup.
“We have the talent to do it,” Buttazzoni said. “So, I think this is the year we are pushing for it, we could definitely go for a deep run. So, we have a great group of guys and obviously a little personal goal is just to get drafted to the NHL, that’s what everyone wants to do. But my main focus right now is to win. I want to win every single game, every shift I’m giving it all, I want to win, do what I can to help the team out, so most important thing is winning and then if I get drafted that’s unreal, obviously that’d be a great time.”
Buttazzoni had a little taste of what getting drafted is like this past summer when he attended the NHL Draft in Nashville with Cagnoni, who was selected in the fourth round by the San Jose Sharks.
“I got to share the experience a little bit with Cagnoni,” Buttazzoni said. “I was hanging out with him the day he got drafted, he was just going through it all with me, just telling me his experience and it seems unreal and surreal, so that’d be awesome to share the same thing with him.”
Buttazzoni is a native of Langley, BC so he grew up with the Vancouver Canucks in his province, so one might think that they’d be the logical choice if Buttazzoni were to have a preference. But when asked if he could choose one team to be drafted by, he said that it didn’t matter.
“Any team would be an amazing accomplishment in my life,” Buttazzoni said. “That’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was two years old, three years old, I stepped on the ice, I wanted to get drafted, obviously play in the NHL. So that’s the main goal, any team would be perfect for me, it would be surreal.”
When it comes to Buttazzoni’s style of play, he said that he tries to model it after Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators and Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins.
“I was a center last year, I’m playing on the wing right now, but I could play between left wing and center,” Buttazzoni said. “I love Ryan O’Reilly, a good two-way center, Brad Marchand also on the wing, his grittiness, I like how he’s rough and stuff, he’s unreal with the puck and how he makes plays, he’s nice and stuff like that. So, I try to model my game after those guys.”
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