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Spokane Chiefs Blog: Hitting the road

Mike Boyle recaps the first week of a six game, nine night stretch for the Chiefs.
Credit: Larry Brunt

After splitting two games at home with a shootout loss to Medicine Hat and a win over Edmonton, the Chiefs headed out on their longest road trip of the season as they embarked on a 6 games over 9 nights trek through the East Division of the Western Hockey League. Throw in 2 travel days to the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the Chiefs will go over 2,300 miles over the 11 days and spend almost 40 hours on the bus before heading back to Spokane. It's hard to believe the club used to do this trip East everyyy season, and sometimes headed back twice to complete playing against their Eastern opponents. I can't even imagine doing that.

The club was sitting in third in the U.S. Division as Portland and Seattle had used wins during the week to move past the Chiefs in the standings. This added some urgency to the trip for Spokane as they hoped to make up ground in the U.S. First up was the defending league champion Swift Current Broncos. Swift had started this season on a slow note.. OK, that's an understatement. The Broncos were the only team without a point, going 0-6 to begin the year. While it would be easy to look at the record and see a sure win, you alwaysss hate playing that team looking for their first victory. There's no pressure on them, but there's clearly pressure on being the team that doesn't want to be the first to lose to them. That's the scenario facing the Chiefs as they opened the road trip Friday in Swift.

Spokane came out well in the first period though, as they put up a season high 24 shots in the first 20 minutes. Swift goalie Isaac Poulter kept the Chiefs off the board until Eli Zummack scored in his second straight game with a tip with 1:50 left in the period to give Spokane a 1-0 lead after one. After killing off a 4 minute Broncos power play early in the second, Carter Chorney tipped in the Chiefs second goal at 8:01 to put Spokane ahead 2-0 after two. Jake McGrew scored his 5th of the year midway through the 3rd to expand the margin to 3-0, but Swift would break up the shut out of Chiefs goalie Bailey Brkin with a goal with just over 4 minutes left to make it 3-1. The Chiefs held off the Broncos from there though, as Riley Woods scored his team leading 6th of the season in the final seconds to cap off a 4-1 win.

Spokane put up a season high 48 shots and were a perfect 4 for 4 on the penalty kill as the Chiefs won their third straight over Swift Current. It was a good start to the road trip as the team headed East to take on Moose Jaw the following evening. Saturday's game would see Dawson Weatherill get the start in net for Spokane as the Chiefs looked to extend their 5 game win streak over the Warriors. The last time Spokane fell to Moose Jaw, the Warriors prevented the Chiefs from going 6-0 on the East trip for the first time in franchise history in the the 2012-13 season. Much like the previous night's game, the Chiefs grabbed the early lead as Ty Smith scored a power play goal in the final two minutes to give Spokane a 1-0 lead after one.

Moose Jaw would tie the game midway through the second period on a shot that snuck past Weatherill on the near post, but the Chiefs responded just under 4 minutes later as Carter Chorney scored a goal in his second straight game with a tip of a Ty Smith shot at 16:07 to give Spokane a 2-1 lead. The Warriors tied the game with just 12 seconds left in the period on a rebound to send the game to the third tied at two. Moose Jaw would take their first lead as a shot from the point missed Weatherill's glove with just 20 seconds left on a power play to make it 3-2 Warriors. Spokane then got a 5 minute major power play after a hit on the Chiefs Ethan McIndoe and would convert as Riley Woods scored his team high 7th goal of the year at 8:29 to tie the game at three. It appeared Spokane took the lead a couple minutes later on an Adam Beckman tip net front, but the goal was waved off as it was ruled Beckman hit the puck in with a high stick. One replay clearly showed Beckman hit the puck below the crossbar, but the no goal call stood.

It ended up costing the Chiefs as Moose Jaw would score off a face-off in the Spokane end midway through the period on a puck that slid through the pads of Weatherill to give the Warriors a 4-3 victory. It was a game Spokane controlled for the most part, out shooting Moose Jaw 30-20 while the power play was a perfect 2-2 on the night. Afterward it felt like the club had left 2 points out on the ice, something that will hurt down the road in a very tight U.S. Division race. The team now gets a couple of days off as they go into the home stretch of this 6 game East Division road trip by playing 4 games in 5 nights starting on Tuesday in Brandon. Wednesday the Chiefs are in Regina, and finish the swing with games in Saskatoon Friday and Saturday in Prince Albert. The points are going to be tougher to get for the team as Brandon and Saskatoon got votes in the latest CHL poll and P.A. is the highest rated club in the WHL, ranked 2nd in the entire CHL. I'll have the call for all 4 games this week on 1510 KGA. Tuesday's game will be at 5pm Pacific with the pre-game at 4:30pm, while the remaining 3 games will be 6pm PT puck drops and 5:30pm pre-games. Let's hope the boys finish off the trip strong and we hope to see you on the radio!

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