This past week was the busiest of the season thus far for the Chiefs, as the team played four games in five nights, including three straight over the weekend. Spokane went 2-2 during the week, losing both games at home and winning two on the road. Who would have thunk thattt when the week began?
Despite Kyle Beach's first hat trick as a Chief, the boys fell to Brandon 5-4 on Wednesday. It was a disappointing loss in that the Chiefs jumped out to a 3-1 lead over the Wheat Kings after the first period. A couple of defensive lapses led to Brandon tying it up at 3 after two. In the third, the Chiefs fell behind 4-3 on a Brayden Schenn goal, but Beach brought Spokane back even with his third goal of the night on a great pass from Mitch Wahl in the slot.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs gave up a goal to Schenn just 22 seconds later and Brandon beat the Chiefs for the first time in the Spokane Arena since it opened in the 1995-96 season. It wasn't the best start to the week, and left me worried about how we would fare in our next game in Kelowna against the defending league champion Rockets.
The boys dominated the first period against Kelowna Friday night, but the game was scoreless after one. Wahl had a couple of point blank chances net front, but was robbed of giving the Chiefs the early lead. I was a bit anxious that we would let down after that, but Beach parked one in the net just 35 seconds into the second period to put Spokane up 1-0. Tyler Johnson took over from there, getting a Beach feed in the left circle and scoring a power play goal to make it 2-0. Then Johnson roared down the right wing to put one over the left shoulder of Kelowna goalie Adam Brown to put the Chiefs up 3-0. After the Rockets cut the lead to 3-1, Beach converted a Wahl feed net front to put Spokane up 4-1. The Chiefs then held off the Rockets to pick up their first win over the Rockets since the 2007-08 season.
It was a great win for the team and should have been a launch pad to a big weekend. Unfortunately, a similar effort on the ice fell short to Portland 2-0 the next night in the Arena. Michael Tadjdeh, who picked up the win in Kelowna, played very well again against the Winter Hawks, but a second period rebound goal on a defensive breakdown would give Portland all they needed for the win. An empty net goal closed out Portland's second straight win in the Arena this season, and had to leave the team down after outplaying Portland all night and still coming up short. I was realll happy with the effort of the team, especially after the long bus ride back from Kelowna that had the team arriving at 4am. Meantime, Portland had arrived the night before and was well rested after being off since Tuesday.
I knew if the team could muster a similar effort the next day in Portland, the Chiefs would finally get a win. I also knew it was going to be very difficult to do that for the third straight game. The boys came out Sunday in Portland after a short night and once again showed the same type of game they had showed the previous two nights. Great energy on the forecheck, good work on the walls and great goaltending from James Reid led the team to their first win over Portland, as the Chiefs blanked the Winter Hawks 3-0.
Stephan Ulmer broke through against Portland goalie Curtis Mucha with a power play goal in the first five minutes of the first period to make it 1-0 Spokane. The goal relaxed the team as they finally scored on the guy who shut them out over 35 shots in 60 minutes the night before. Beach would lift the Chiefs to a 2-0 lead with a goal in the second off a nice Wahl feed. Johnson would cap the scoring early in the third period with a rebound of his own net front shot. Reid was rock solid in net, turning away 34 Portland shots, many of them in third. It had to be a biggg boost in confidence for Reider, who has been shaky at times in net this year.
What I liked best was the hard work and effort on a consistent basis in all three games this past weekend. If the team plays with this kind of effort the rest of the year, this team can be playing into May. I just hope the boys believe that.
Now the team needs to build on last week's efforts as they play three games this week. The Chilliwack Bruins come to Spokane for the first time this season on Wednesday night at 7pm on Player Magnet Wednesday. The boys will then head to Seattle for a 7:30pm game on Friday night before returning home Saturday at 7pm on Buck Night against the Vancouver Giants. It is also Red Out night, so all fans should wear red to the Arena Saturday.
Chilliwack comes in playing well, having beaten Tri-City and Calgary last week. The Vancouver game is a rematch of last year's Western Semi-final, in which the Chiefs lost in seven games, the last two in overtime after leading the series 3-2.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the boys perform. I'll have the call on 1510 KGA beginning at 6:30pm on Wednesday and Saturday. Friday the pregame will be at 7pm. We hope to see you out at the rink!
