The first weekend of the playoffs are in the rear view mirror for the Spokane Chiefs and they find themselves all even with the Seattle Thunderbirds at a game apiece after the first two games at the Spokane Arena.

Game one last Friday night saw the Chiefs come away with a 2-1 win over the T-Birds to take the early advantage in the series. After falling behind 1-0 after the first period, the Chiefs got the equalizer in the second on Drayson Bowman's first goal of the post season. Brady Calla found Bows on a beautiful feed down the right wing, and Bowman beat T-Bird goalie Calvin Pickard stick side to make it 1-1 after two.

The goal seemed to really lift the Chiefs in the third period, as they outshot Seattle 18-6. Pickard was tough to get past, but Bowman found the game winner on a rebound of his own shot with just over 8 minutes left to give the Chiefs the win. The puck took a fortuitous bounce to Bowman's stick, who then backhanded past the out of position Pickard. It was a great start to the series for Spokane, the type of win the team had sooo many times on its' way to the Memorial Cup last season.

Game 2 shaped up much the same way as the two teams battled to a scoreless tie after one period. Seattle would take a 1-0 lead after two after the Chiefs knocked a goal into their own net. The goal seemed to pick up the T-Birds, who would extend the lead to 2-0 on a rebound goal early in the third period. The Chiefs struggled to get much going offensively, but Bowman got Spokane on the board late in the third period off a Stephan Ulmer feed. Bowman is the only Chief to score thus far, potting all 3 Spokane goals.
Scoring 3 goals in two games should be a concern for the team, especially when one guy has all 3 of them. It's imperative that Ondrej Roman, Mitch Wahl, Tyler Johnson, Levko Koper, Justin McCrae and Brady Calla get on the board. The more offensive options the team has, the tougher it will be for Seattle to defend.

Defensively, the team will get a boost from the return of Trevor Glass for Tuesday's game three. Forward Ryan Letts is also back in the lineup after serving his 10 game suspension. I look for both of them to make an impact when they return. Mike Reddington is still battling back from his illness, which turned out to be much more severe than originally thought. It may be another week for Redder to play.

The Chiefs will play back to back nights in Seattle Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm. Game five at the Spokane Arena has now been moved from Friday to Saturday night at 7pm to not conflict with Gonzaga's game on Friday night. The Chiefs will then turn around and play game 6 if it's needed on Sunday at 5pm. Back to back games twice...with 2 days off in between. It sounds like playoff time!

See you on the radio...

---