SPOKANE, Wash — It had been nearly five years since the Chiefs had been ranked in the top 10 of the Canadian Hockey League poll, but that changed with this season's pre-season rankings as Spokane entered this season as a highly regarded 6th of the 60 teams in Canadian Junior Hockey.
There were certainly several reasons for the optimism, as the team returned 7 of their top 10 scorers including their top sniper in Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Unfortunately for the club, Anderson-Dolan, along with Ty Smith, Jake McGrew, Luke Toporowski, and Filip Kral were all unavailable for the season opener at Tri City as NHL training camps, Team USA tournaments and injury left Spokane without 5 of their top players for Saturday's match-up with the Americans.
The Chiefs went 4-1-1 through the pre-season, including 2 straight wins over Tri City with 7-3 and 5-1 decisions over the previous two Saturdays in Kennewick. Saturday's meeting was hopefully more of the same for Spokane as the team hoped to match last season's opening night win at Prince George. Things started in that direction early as the Chiefs got a 5 on 3 power play opportunity in the opening minute and a half. Spokane took advantage as Riley Woods rifled home a goal at 2:20 of the first to give the Chiefs a quick 1-0 lead. That advantage didn't last long, as Tri City would even the game around 3 minutes later. A turnover by Spokane at their blue line led to a odd man rush late in the first for the Americans and Kyle Olson converted to lift Tri to a 2-1 lead after one.
Despite being down one heading to the second, the team just needed a big push back in the middle period to get right back in the game. Instead, it was Tri City that took over the game. The Ams Nolan Yaremko scored just over 3 minutes in to make it a 3-1 game. Then Yaremko tipped in a shot late in the period to give Tri City a commanding 4-1 lead into the third. Meantime, the Chiefs offense dried up, hardly threatening the Americans through the middle 20 minutes. Spokane would come out in the third with a major chance to cut into the lead, but Eli Zummack's net front chance alone was poked away by Tri goalie Beck Warm. Spokane then failed on a power play opportunity about 5 minutes in, and the comeback was dissolved when the Ams scored right after the man advantage to go up 5-1. Tri City then scored late to cap off a dominant 6-1 victory as the Chiefs were routed in Tri City for the second time in three seasons in the opener for Spokane.
The team now gets a few days to re-assess themselves as they get ready for a home and home series with the Kootenay Ice. The Chiefs may still be without all 5 players they missed in the opener, so the opportunities will be there for the younger players who may have been a bit wide eyed in the first game at Tri City to show what they're made of against the Ice. Friday, the teams will meet in Cranbrook, BC and then head to the Spokane Arena for the Chiefs home opener on Saturday. The club will then finish off its' first 3 games in 3 nights weekend when they travel to Vancouver to face the Giants Sunday afternoon. I'll have the call for all 3 games on 1510 KGA with the Friday game starting with the pre-game at 5:30pm and the puck drop at 6pm. Saturday's home opener will have the pre-game at 6:30pm and the puck drop approximately at 7:20pm. Sunday's game will be a 3:30pm pre-game and a 4:05pm start from Langley, B.C. Here's hoping to a bounce back weekend and we hope to see you at the rink!