SPOKANE, Wash — The Chiefs entered the final 2 weeks of the regular season still alive in their quest for making the playoffs, but trailing the 8th place Kelowna Rockets by 14 points with just 9 games remaining. Spokane could only attain 18 points and would have to hope Kelowna would lose their remaining 8 games. That would require a bigger miracle than the U.S hockey team beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics. I always like using baseball standings in form of a simplification. The Chiefs were down 7 games with 9 to play. I've never seen a team in the history of the sport come back from that kind of deficit. Spokane was going to have a difficult schedule to look forward to as well, as the team was facing 4 games in 5 nights, including a 3 in 3 over the weekend.
The club would start with back to back games at home against Portland and the team they were chasing for the final playoff spot, Kelowna. Spokane would then head out on a two game road trip at Everett and Portland to complete the gauntlet. The Chiefs were coming off a split of a two game series at Prince George the previous weekend, gaining a victory in the final game of their road trip with their first overtime win of the year on Saturday 5-4. Spokane had won their last two home games in a row, including a 4-1 victory over Portland the last weekend of February. That loss was part of a 9 game losing streak for the Winterhawks, which had eliminated them from contending for the U.S. Division title. The Hawks had ended their losing skein in their last contest though, as they shut down Everett in a 3-1 victory Sunday.
Spokane had won the last two meetings between the two clubs after losing the initial 4 matchups in the season series. The Chiefs were going to be without defenseman Saige Weinstein, who was injured in the team's previous road trip to Kelowna, as well as forward Grady Lane, who was handed a 2 game suspension after taking a major penalty in the Chiefs final game at Prince George and forward Ty Cheveldayoff, who had taken a puck to the face in Prince George. The club called up 15 year old forward Will Jamieson, the club's 5th round pick, to help with the shortened roster. Spokane gave up a goal just over 4 minutes into the game and would trail 1-0 after the opening period.
The Chiefs picked up their game in the second as Raegan Wiles scored his 9th of the year at 4:23 to even the game at one. Cade Hayes then drove the net and scored his 21st of the season midway through the period to give Spokane the lead at 2-1. Portland would counter with a re-direct from Robbie Fromm-Delorme at 16:08 to send the game to the third tied at 2-2. In the third, the Winterhawks took control of the contest, scoring 3 goals over 4:24 late in the game to pull away to a 5-2 victory. Spokane outshot Portland 32-22 in the game, but would go 0-4 on the power play while going 2-3 on the penalty kill. The win by the Winterhawks clinched the season series for Portland as they have now won 5 of the 8 game series, while the two clubs went 2-2 in Spokane.
The loss moved the Chiefs one step closer to elimination from a playoff spot, as Kelowna rallied for an overtime win over Vancouver Friday. Spokane was now 16 points back with just 8 games left in the season. One more point from the Rockets over their final 7 games or any loss by Spokane over their last 8 games, and both the Chiefs and Victoria Royals would be officially eliminated from a shot at the playoffs. Kelowna would have a shot at officially clinching a playoff spot with a win the next night in Spokane against the Chiefs in the final meeting between the two clubs this season. Spokane had dropped a 7-4 decision in Kelowna the week before, which had effectively ended the Chiefs hopes of catching the Rockets this year. Now Kelowna had the chance to make it official by just taking the Chiefs to overtime on Saturday.
The Rockets came out in the first period looking like a team ready to close out Spokane's season. A power play goal from Gabriel Szturc on the Rockets first man advantage was quickly followed by another goal 1:33 later midway through the period to give Kelowna a 2-0 lead after one. The Rockets scored just 1:03 into the second and put up their 4th goal of the game at 6:37 to take command at 4-0 and look like they were going to blow Spokane out of the building. The Chiefs got on the scoreboard at 13:17 when Cade Hayes scored off the face-off to make it a 4-1 game and get the crowd of over 7,500 back in the game. Carter Streek then scored his 16th of the year with a power play goal that had to be reviewed as it appeared the referee lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle as the puck went in the net. The review proved positive for a Spokane goal and the Chiefs were right back in the game at 4-2.
The Chiefs then served notice they were not going away quietly when Jaren Brinson scored at 18:05 of the period to cut the deficit to 4-3 after two. Spokane would storm the gates offensively in the third as they would outshoot Kelowna 20-4 in the period, but the Chiefs were unable to score until Berkly Catton fired home his 20th of the season with just 2:02 remaining to tie the score at 4-4. Spokane knew they couldn't go to overtime and had to win in regulation to keep their post season hopes alive, so the Chiefs pulled goalie Cooper Michaluk in the final minute and a half, but were unable to find the net as the Rockets officially clinched the last playoff berth in the West as the game headed to overtime. To make matters worse, the Chiefs Cade Hayes took a 5 minute major penalty at the end of regulation for a one man fight, and the Chiefs were going to have to kill off a Rockets power play for the entire 5 minute overtime period.
It was a first I had witnessed in my career. The Chiefs were also without their two leading forwards Chase Bertholet and Catton, who were both given two minute minor penalties for roughing the ruckus at the end of regulation. Spokane gave a game effort but Szturc scored his second of the game with a game winner off defenseman Ben Bonni 2:24 into the OT to give the Rockets their 3rd win in 4 tries with Spokane this season with a 5-4 overtime victory. The Chiefs outshot Kelowna 41-24 in the game but that early 4-0 deficit proved to be too much to overcome for Spokane in the end. It was the first time since the 2016-17 season the Chiefs had failed to make the playoffs, and was just the 6th time in franchise history the club had missed the playoffs. Spokane now had to find a way to pick themselves up as they headed out on the road for their last 2 game road trip of the season beginning in Everett the next afternoon.
Daylight Savings cost the Chiefs a valuable hour of sleep as they looked at a 4 pm start in Everett on Sunday. Spokane did welcome back forward Grady Lane after his two game suspension, but were without Ty Cheveldayoff and Saige Weinstein for the third straight game. The Chiefs had lost 6 of the previous 7 meetings with the Silvertips this season, but had won their last meeting in Everett back on February 17th with a 4-3 shootout victory. The Silvertips had given up 4 goals in the third the previous night in Seattle to lose to the rival Thunderbirds 5-1, which had dropped them to 6th in the Western Conference standings, two points back of Tri City, who had beaten Portland Saturday.
The goal now for Spokane was to try and avoid the worst record in season in franchise history, as the Chiefs came into Sunday's game with 36 points, 11 off the 47 set by the 1998-99 team for lowest points in a season. The Chiefs had 7 games left, leaving little margin for error as the team could only garner 14 more points this year. Sunday's game was the next to last of the season between Spokane and Everett and the last on the Silvertips home ice where Spokane was a dismal 1-3 this season and 1-9 in the last two seasons. Spokane's struggles on the Tips home ice became very apparent in the first period as Everett would jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first 11.5 minutes of the game. The Silvertips would take that commanding 3 goal advantage to the second as they outshot the Chiefs 12-5 in the opening period.
Spokane would start to get back in the game in the second, as Cade Hayes scored his 21st of the season just 1:17 into the period to make it a 3-1 game. Jake Gudelj then followed with his 7th of the season at 3:29 and suddenly the Chiefs were right back in the game at 2-1. Spokane would head to the third down by just one, but Everett would extend the margin to 4-2 on a wraparound goal 6.5 minutes into the period. Everett would hold that lead into the final minute of the game as they outshot the Chiefs 18-9 in the third. Like they had the night before though, Spokane wasn't done. They would pull goalie Dawson Cowan in the final two minutes and the move paid off as Chase Bertholet scored his team leading 26th of the year with 52 seconds left to bring the Chiefs within 4-3. Just 18 seconds later, Tomasso DeLuca tipped a Raegan Wiles shot in to bring Spokane even at 4-4.
It was another improbable comeback for the Chiefs that led them to overtime for the second straight night. Spokane would dominate the OT period as they put up 6 of the 8 shots in the five minute period. For the second time this year, Spokane had a rush up ice with zero defenders as the Chiefs had a 2 on 0 opportunity midway through the period. Unfortunately, just like the 3 on 0 they had against Portland, Spokane would fail to score. The Chiefs and Silvertips went to a shootout for the third straight time this season. After a scoreless first round, the Tips Jackson Berezowski's shot was stopped by Cowan but the Chiefs goalie slid backwards and the puck came out from his leg pads and crossed the goal line to give Everett a 1-0 advantage.
The Chiefs had one last shot to tie the game but Cade Hayes attempt in the third round was denied by Everett goalie Tyler Palmer, and for the second straight night, Spokane had lost in extra time as they fell in a shootout 5-4. The losing streak was now 3 in a row as Spokane would head to Portland on Tuesday to finish off the demanding 4 games in 5 nights part of the schedule. Portland had Sunday off after dropping a 3-2 overtime contest at Tri City Saturday, so the Winterhawks were a bit better rested as the two clubs concluded their season series. The Chiefs had lost to Portland just 5 days earlier in Spokane, so they were anxious to avenge the loss that had started the team's 3 game losing streak.
Tuesday's tilt would see the Winterhawks score just 38 seconds into the game to jump out to a quick 1-0 lead. Spokane would answer back midway through the period as Berkly Catton scored his 21st of the season on a rebound of his own shot to tie the game at 1-1. Portland came right back and scored on a shot off a Chiefs defender 3:01 later to take the lead at 2-1. The goal started a 3 goal outburst for the Winterhawks over a 5:17 span as Portland took a 4-1 lead after one. In the second, the Hawks scored the only two goals as they went 2 for 3 on the power play to take control of the game at 6-1. The third period would see the Chiefs get 4 power play attempts, but the club would come up empty on all 4 as Spokane went 0-7 on the man advantage on the game. Spokane would score in the final 2 minutes as Cam Parr notched his first career goal on an assist from Will Jamieson, who picked up his first career assist.
The goal was the highlight of the night for the Chiefs in an otherwise dreary 6-2 loss. Spokane surrendered 48 shots as they were out chanced in every period. Portland dominated special teams going 2-4 on the power play while blanking the Chiefs on Spokane's power play. Portland won the season series 6-2 as the Chiefs went winless in 4 tries on the Winterhawks ice. Spokane now has just 5 games left in the regular season and sit with 37 points in the standings, tied with Victoria for 9th in the Western Conference. The Chiefs are trying to avoid history with the worst record in franchise history as the team is 10 points back of the 1998-99 club that finished with 47 points. This year's club has to win all 5 games to tie that record, as any loss will assure this year's group will finish short of that 47 point mark.
It's not exactly a record you want to be known for, so the incentive is still great for this club to finish strong. Unfortunately, the schedule is a grind this time of year as the Chiefs will come off their 4 games in 5 nights with a 3 games in 3 nights stretch over this next weekend. Spokane will only face two more clubs this season over the final 5 games, with 1 against Everett and the final 4 against the rival Tri City Americans. It's going to be an uphill battle for Spokane to finish the year with 5 straight wins, but the club is certainly looking to end the season by playing well and carrying that into next season. The Chiefs will play 2 of 3 at home during their 3 games in 3 nights this weekend, starting with a home and home with Tri City on Friday and Saturday before finishing at home on Sunday with Everett.
Friday's game is now set for a 7:30 pm face off as the puck drop was set back a half hour due to the Gonzaga game at 4:30 in the NCAA Tournament. Saturday's game in Tri Cities is a 6:05 puck drop while Sunday's game at the Arena with Everett is a 5:05 pm start. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows at 7 pm Friday, 5:30 pm Saturday and 4:30 pm Sunday. Let's hope the Chiefs play the role of spoiler this weekend and we hope to see you at the rink!
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