Last week started as one that the Chiefs could put themselves in the thick of the U.S. Division race or out of it. As it turned out, the Chiefs find themselves pretty much out of title contention after a 2-2 week, while Tri-City went 4-0 to lead the division by 10 points going into this week's action.
Spokane started the week at Western Conference leader Vancouver. The boys were tied at 2 after the first period as rookie Brendan Kitchton scored his first career goal and fellow rookie Steve Kuhn notched his 8th of the year. The Giants pulled away with a 2 goal second period after a couple of Chiefs mistakes in their own zone, and Vancouver scored a 5-2 win. The loss was the boys third in a row, matching their longest losing streak of the year.
The next night in Kamloops, the team put an end to the streak...or should I say, Drayson Bowman did. Bowman scored a career high 4 goals to lead the Chiefs to a 5-2 win over the Blazers, who could possibly be a first round playoff opponent. Bows scored two in the first, then 2 more in the second to give Spokane a 4-1 lead. Captain Justin McCrae tacked on a big insurance goal after the Blazers cut the lead to 4-2 in the third. Goaltender James Reid was stellar in net, making a number of big saves to keep the Chiefs in the lead when it was a one goal game in the first and second periods.
The Chiefs then returned home on Friday, where they thumped the Portland Winter Hawks 8-0. Goalie Dustin Tokarski had 32 saves to notch his 7th shutout of the season, which leads the WHL and extended his team record in the process. Rookie Blake Gal had his first two goal game of his career to lead the victory, while linemate Steve Kuhn had a goal and 2 assist night. Those two along with Kenton Miller have really developed over the last month and will be a big key for Spokane to make a playoff run this season.
Saturday night the Tri City Americans came to town in a much anticipated division showdown. The Ams had a 6 point lead over the Chiefs coming in, and Spokane needed the win to stay in contention for the division title with just 9 games left in the regular season and two more head to head matchups with Tri.
Tri jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a Mitch Fadden power play goal. The Chiefs would counter with a great individual effort by Tyler Johnson, as he outskated 2 Ams to the puck and fired it past Tri goalie Chet Pickard to tie the game at 1. That unfortunately, was the highlight of the night for the boys, as Tri would score late in the first to take a 2-1 lead after one. In the second, Spokane would cough up 3 goals in just over 3 minutes, two of them power play goals against the Chiefs top rated penalty kill unit, as Tri led it 5-1 after two.
The third period would lead to fireworks on and off the ice. It all started with Chiefs forward Ryan Letts running over Pickard in the crease about 6.5 minutes into the period. That touched off a line brawl that lasted for about 15 minutes. Tempers were a bit heated between the two teams as you would imagine, but what I didn't count on was the tempers in the press box. While I was doing my broadcast, the General Manager of the Americans, Bob Tory, decided to vent a bit at yours truly from the doorway of my broadcast booth. I had my headsets on at the time, as I was coming out of a commercial break, so I missed what he was saying to me, but according to my intern, he was saying how he was listening to my broadcast and wasn't happy with what I was saying. I'll just tell you, all I was saying was what was going on the ice. Pickard ended up being hurt on the play, and I'm sure that's what had him so worked up. I just wish I'd had the opportunity to engage him on his concerns, but I had a broadcast to do, thank you very little.
Another line brawl would break out 10 minutes later, and the two teams ended up with more players in the showers than on the ice. It was a frustrating game all the way around and even Drayson Bowman's 40th goal of the year late in the third period couldn't save the day.
The WHL didn't take long to take action against the two teams either. Chiefs Head Coach Hardy Sauter and defenseman Corey Baldwin were each suspended a game, and Ryan Letts got an indefinite suspension pending league review. Ams assistant coach Terry Virtue got a game and defenseman Mitch McColm got an indefinite suspension as well.
The Chiefs also got bad news on Baldwin, as he broke his hand in one of the fights, and will be out of action 6 weeks. Spokane is already without Jared Cowen for the year on the blue line, and Trevor Glass will be out most of this week recovering from a hit in Kamloops. Stephan Ulmer, who missed all week with a concussion, is expected back in Kelowna Wednesday.
The Chiefs have had to move forward Dustin Donaghy to defense, and Mitch Wahl has been playing on the blue line on the power play and penalty kill situations. It's not exactly the best time to be short handed with just two weeks left in the regular season.
Spokane finishes the two weeks with four games in 5 nights each week. The Chiefs start the week Tuesday in Seattle at 7pm, and then head to Kelowna for a key game Wednesday at 7. The Rockets begin the week just one point back of Spokane for the third spot in the conference playoff race. The difference between third and fourth could be great. In third, Spokane could face Kamloops in the first round, then Tri in the second. As a fourth seed, Spokane could look at Seattle in the first, then Vancouver in the second. Draw your own conclusions as to who the better draw would be, but the third seed seems to be a better one to yours truly.
Chiefs will then finish off the four game road trip in Prince George Friday and Saturday nights. Needless to say, the boys will need to win at least 3 of 4 to stay in the third spot, but it will be a tough task. If Spokane hopes to defend their league crown though, they needddd to be up to the work ahead.
I'll have the call on 1510 KGA every game this week, so look forward to seeing you on the radio...as it were.
Thanks for saying it like it is. We listen to you even when we're in the arena - it helps us keep up on everything going on. And I always tune in for the away games. Keep on doing what you do!
Thanks for the blog mike.. some ams fans were kicked out of my section after the brawl as well so i guess the anger went from tory on down... what a nut..
I think what the WHL did to Ryan Letts was unfair and suspending him 10games for charging. He has never been suspened his whole career and now they do this to him??? Yet Tricities gets away with things all the time grrrrrrrrr!!! I hope the Chiefs kick more butt when we meet again on March 13th. GO CHIEFS GO!!!!!
Spokane is the biggest cow town this side of the Mississippi river. This isn't the days of Don Dirk patrolling the blue line. Somebody finally told ya Mike the way it is, considering you don't have a "contact" in the league. Anyone know what netfront means? Or my personal favorite, "left blue line." Is that his left or the other left? It is called the point!
Every ridiculous thing that happened at that game happened after, and was a result of, the blatant, cowardly hit by Letts on Pickard. You don't need to go around and around, over-analyze it, or see who can trash who better---the game turned into a spectacle because of Letts. Fans of both teams should be ticked off about it.
The Chiefs and the Ams have played some amazing hockey with some "almost to the boiling point" tension. They kept it in check, made their feelings known on the scoreboard, and gave us some unforgettable hockey to watch. Let it go, quit looking for someone or something else to blame, and be glad the league sent Letts and anyone else that wants to be an idiot instead of skate, a message.
I love going to Spokane to see a hockey game, I love the arena, and I even bought a Tokarski pin while I was there because Tokarski is an awesome goalie. The Chiefs fan treat us wonderful - give us some good natured barbs - and make us feel like guests.
The Spokane Chiefs on the evening in question played Gongshow Hockey plain and simple. It DISGUSTS me that you and the fans of this "orginization" try as hard as you can to blame the Americans for the melee that took place. Letts is a classless, Bush league player who ran an NHL caliber goalie because his team was losing on home ice and his suspension was not long enough in my opinion. The words that you, the coaching staff of the Chiefs and the fans use show what a classless team this is all the way around, even into the broadcast booth. I was at the game Section 222 row B seat 3 and had a birdseye view of Letts throwing his elbow into the side of Pickard's helmet and then falling on top of him in an obvious effort to injure. Bush league! Letts is a Bender and if he never skated in the WHL again I for one would be happy.