SPOKANE, Wash. — Last season, the Chiefs began the year with the slowest start in team history, as they went winless in their first seven games. Spokane was hoping to change that projection this season as they began their 2022-23 campaign in the capital of British Columbia, Victoria. It's probably my favorite city to visit in the Western Hockey League, and it's also where the Chiefs ended their regular season in the 2021-22 slate. Spokane won the final game of the regular season vs. the Royals to complete an improbable run to a playoff berth. The Chiefs would lose to second seed Kamloops in four straight in the first round of the post season, but the young club gained invaluable experience to bring them forward into the new season.
In the off season, Spokane hired Matt Bardsley as their new general manager. Bardsley then took the interim title off head coach Ryan Smith's name and brought back assistant Dustin Donaghy as well. The coaching staff would be completed late in the summer with the addition of assistant Stephan Legien, who was hired from the Memorial Cup champion St. John's Sea Dogs. The Chiefs started a bit slow in pre-season with back to back losses in the Everett tournament to the host Silvertips and the defending Western Conference champion Seattle Thunderbirds. Spokane then dropped a tight shootout loss to Portland before rallying with back to back wins over the Winterhawks and Tri City down in the Tri tournament in Kennewick. The team ended the pre-season on a high note with those victories as they headed to Victoria for the season's first two games.
The club had to make some roster moves after the pre-season to get the team to a more manageable size and the Chiefs wasted little time doing so. That Monday of opening week, the team released twenty year olds Erik Atchison and Reed Jacobson to get down to the league minimum three 20's a team can carry. Spokane is going forward with forward Cade Hayes, and defensemen Raegan Wiles and Mac Gross their three this season. Spokane also reassigned 16 year old forwards Luka Shcherbyna and Will Jamieson and defenseman Nathan Mayes back to their clubs in Canada. That move left Spokane carrying the maximum four 16 year olds for this season as the team is keeping forwards Berkly Catton, Cam Parr, Cole Wadsworth and defenseman Will McIsaac going forward. Spokane is also carrying just one import player to start the season in 18 year old Italian Tommaso DeLuca. Czech defenseman David Jiricek remains on the Chiefs list with the hope the 6th overall pick in the NHL draft from Columbus will be assigned by the Blue Jackets to Spokane this season. The two other Chiefs drafted by the NHL, goalie Mason Beaupit and defenseman Graham Sward, missed the opening weekend with the Royals as they were attending their respective NHL camps with San Jose and Nashville.
Opening night is always a highly anticipated evening as I always look forward to how we show up to compete. Victoria was a team that missed the playoffs due to that season ending loss to the Chiefs and were looking for a little revenge as the two teams took the ice in Friday night's opener. Spokane started Cooper Michaluk in goal as he looked to make his case to serve as Mason Beaupit's back up this season. Cole Wadsworth made his Chiefs debut on the front line, while fellow 16 year olds Berkly Catton and defenseman Will McIsaac joined Wadsworth in the starting. A modest crowd of just over 3,800 was on hand hoping the hometown Royals would get some revenge on the Chiefs for knocking them out of the playoffs last year.
Spokane was looking to get out to a quick start and they would do just that as the Chiefs converted their first power play chance 4:41 into the game as Kooper Gizowski scored to give Spokane a 1-0 lead. Victoria would score on a Chiefs turnover in their own zone midway through the first to tie the game at one. Spokane came right back and scored off an odd man rush as Chase Bertholet found an open Ty Cheveldayoff at 10:07 to give the Chiefs a 2-1 lead. It was a lead the team wouldn't lose the rest of the night. Defenseman Raegan Wiles scored at 16:13 to put Spokane up 3-1 after the first period. The second period would see the Chiefs get out to another quick start as Bertholet broke in and scored just 57 seconds into the frame to put Spokane up 4-1. Victoria would cut the margin to 4-2 on a power play goal, but back came the Chiefs as Mac Gross scored at 11:49 to put the Chiefs up 5-2. Tommaso DeLuca then scored off a Gizowski feed at 16:25 for his first career goal to give Spokane a commanding 6-2 lead heading into the third.
Victoria would get a power play goal just over 7.5 minutes in to make it 6-3 and then scored off a 4 on 4 at 13:04 to cut the lead to 6-4. The Royals then got a power play chance and pulled their goalie in the final 3 minutes to get a 6 on 4 advantage. Spokane won a face off and Gross would get the loose puck and fire home a shorthanded empty net goal at 18:04 to give the Chiefs some breathing room at 7-4. Victoria would get their second power play goal of the period and third of the night in the final minute, but it was too little, too late as the Chiefs secured a 7-5 victory on opening night. Spokane was outshot 33-29, in large part due to Victoria going 3-7 on the power play while Spokane was 1-3. After a winless start for the first 7 games last year, it was a great beginning for the the Chiefs in this season's campaign.
Spokane was looking to make it 2 in a row as they took on the Royals again the next night. Michaluk once again got the start in net as 16 year old rookie Cam Parr made his debut up front for Spokane. On this night, it was the Royals that got out to a 1-0 lead as they scored on a breakaway on Michaluk just over 7.5 minutes into the game. The Chiefs would answer just under 3 minutes later as Berkly Catton netted his first of the season to even the game at 1-1. Mac Gross would match his season goal total from last year with his third goal in two nights just 35 seconds later to give the Chiefs their first lead at 2-1. Victoria took advantage of a 5 on 3 power play just over 4 minutes later to come back and send the game to the second period tied at two apiece.
The second period would see the Chiefs out shoot Victoria 13-3 in the frame, but neither team would find the scoresheet in the middle 20 minutes as the two clubs headed to the third at 2-2. Spokane would break through on their only power play of the final period as Saige Weinstein scored his first of the season at 3:17 to put the Chiefs up 3-2. Victoria scored 1:23 later to pull back even at 3-3, but the Chiefs came right back as Jake Gudelj scored his first of the year at 4:55 to give Spokane a lead they wouldn't lose at 4-3. Raegan Wiles then gave Spokane the only multi goal lead of the contest with his second goal in as many nights at 9:14 to put the Chiefs ahead 5-3 midway through the period. Victoria scored just 1:19 later to cut the margin to 5-4, but would get no closer as Spokane turned away a Royals power play and then held off Vic after they pulled their goalie in the last minute to preserve the 5-4 victory.
The 2-0 start is a far contrast to last year's winless 7 games to begin the season. Spokane struggled to score the beginning of last year, but that has certainly not been the case thus far, as the Chiefs have put up 12 goals in their first two games. Kooper Gizowski led the way with 5 points, while Mac Gross led the team in goal scoring with 3 over the weekend. Italian import Tomasso DeLuca has been impressive as well with a goal and 2 assists in his first two games of his career. The team now gets a chance to show how much they've improved from last season this week as they return home to the Spokane Arena for their home opener against the Kamloops Blazers in a rematch of last year's opening round playoff series. The Blazers swept the Chiefs easily in 4 straight games as Spokane was outscored 22-3 in the sweep. We'll see if the Chiefs can get off to a 3-0 start against a Kamloops club that won 6 of 7 overall from Spokane last season on Saturday night. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA starting with the pre-game show at 6:30pm and the puck drop at 7:05 pm. Let's hope the team continues to roll and we hope to see you at the rink!
