SPOKANE, Wash. — Fifteen games over the next six weeks. That is what the Chiefs were looking at entering this past week after the team had moved itself into the 8th and final playoff berth in the Western Conference after back to back road wins at Prince George the previous weekend. The wins over the Cougars were Spokane's first road victories in 2022 and pushed the Chiefs 3 points up on 9th place Victoria and 4 ahead of 10th place Tri City. While the team was off for 3 days before beginning a 3 games in 4 nights stretch this week, Victoria upset Portland on Tuesday to move within a point of Spokane in the standings and up the heat a little bit on the Chiefs to maintain their position in the standings.
First up for the Chiefs during the week was the West's 6th place Vancouver Giants, who sat 3rd in the B.C. Division. The Giants were just 4 point up on Spokane in the standings, so a win in regulation for the Chiefs would bring them into a tie for 7th with idle Prince George and get Spokane within just 2 of Vancouver in the playoff race. Let's just say it was a huge late season game for the Chiefs. The last time the two clubs played back over Thanksgiving weekend, the Giants controlled Spokane in a comfortable 3-1 victory. Much had changed since that game for both clubs as Vancouver had dealt their top player, Justin Sourdif, to Edmonton; while Spokane had fired their head coach and dealt 3 of their top forwards, Jack Finley, Luke Toporowski and Cordel Larson. I was more than a little curious to see how much the changes had affected the two clubs as the met for the first of 3 meetings over the next 4 weeks.
It didn't look like the Chiefs were ready for their biggest game of the season to date, as Vancouver scored just 37 seconds into the game to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Spokane would bounce right back though as Reed Jacobson converted a Ty Cheveldayoff pass just 1:59 later to even the game at 1-1. The Chiefs would hold the Giants to just 2 shots in the period as Spokane went 2-2 on the penalty kill. Spokane would take their first lead as Blake Swetlikoff scored his 9th of the year just 1:39 into the second to make it 2-1. Vancouver answered back with a goal with just 1:45 remaining in the frame to leave it a 2-2 contest heading to the third.
In the final frame, Yannick Proske scored his first goal since December 30th when he fired home his 8th of the season off the rush at 5:14 of the period to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead. It was a lead they club would never lose. Rookie Jake Gudelj would score 6:11 later on a dynamic rush up the right wing to put Spokane up 4-2. Cheveldayoff then capped the scoring with an empty net tally at 16:23 as the Chiefs put up 3 in the third on their way to a huge 5-2 victory. Spokane won their season high 3rd game in a row as they pulled into a tie for 7th in the Western Conference with Prince George and were now just 2 points back of 6th place Vancouver. With Victoria's loss to Portland, the Chiefs were now 3 points ahead of the Royals and 6 up on Tri City. Goalie Mason Beaupit had 25 saves as he secured his 5th straight win in goal.
Spokane had now won 3 straight through the B.C. Division, but now returned to the U.S. Division as they finished the week with back to back games with Everett and Tri City. First up were the division leading Silvertips, who had lost 2 straight and 6 of their last 10 as their lead over Portland was down to 1 point in the U.S. Division. The Chiefs had struggled mightily against the Tips going into Friday's meeting in Everett, going 0-6-2 in the first 8 matchups, including an 0-3 mark in Everett. Spokane had been outscored 20-5 in those 3 games and were hoping to turn things around and pick up their first win vs. Everett this season.
The Chiefs got out to a quick start as Carter Streek scored on the team's first shot of the night just 1:06 into the game to give Spokane a 1-0 lead. Everett would even the contest at 1-1 on a rebound net front on goalie Manny Panghli with less than 2 minutes left in the period. The Silvertips appeared to take lead in the final minute but Spokane appealed that the play was offsides on Everett, and after a review, it was found that the Tips were indeed offside and the game headed to the second tied at one. Spokane would re-take the lead on a Ty Cheveldayoff power play goal 4:13 into the second period to make it 2-1 Spokane. Everett would score midway through the period on a power play goal of their own to even it 2-2. The Silvertips then scored two goals in a 22 second span late in the frame to go up 4-2 after 40 minutes.
Spokane would get 4 straight power play chances in the third, but Everett would extend their lead to 5-2 with a goal at 4:05 of the period. The Chiefs would convert their 4th and final power play of the period when Raegan Wiles scored his 8th of the season midway through to bring the team within 5-3. Everett would wrap up the victory though as an empty net tally in the final 2 minutes secured the Tips 9th straight win over Spokane with a 6-3 final. The final goal would see Everett rub it in a bit with some showmanship and leave the Chiefs in a bit of a foul mood as the team headed home to the Spokane Arena for a meeting with arch rival Tri City Saturday night.
While the Chiefs were 0-7-2 vs. Everett this year, the team was 7-3 against Tri City heading into the beginning of a 3 game home stand for Spokane. Spokane was still tied with Prince George for 7th in the West but were now 4 points back of 6th place Vancouver after the Giants won 3-2 in Tri Friday night. Victoria was also just a point back of the Chiefs and Prince George after their win in PG Friday. With just 13 games left in the season, Saturday's game with the Americans was another huge contest for the Chiefs. Spokane was still without Atchison and Cicek up front, but Grady Lane was back in the lineup. The Chiefs were still without Sward on the back end, and Logan Cunningham joined him on the injured list after getting hurt in Everett the night before.
Spokane was down to five defensemen for Saturday's tilt with Tri City, but they did have Mason Beaupit in goal, who had won 5 straight entering the 11th meeting with Tri City this season. The Chiefs had won 7 of the first 10 meetings with the Americans, but had split the last 4 encounters. The two teams traded chances in the first through the first 3/4 of the period but it was the Chiefs that broke through late as Carter Streek went on a breakaway and scored at 17:47 to put Spokane up 1-0 after one. Captain Bear Hughes would then score in the first minute of the second to extend the Chiefs lead to 2-0. Tri City would score just over 6 minutes into the frame to cut the deficit to 2-1 but Spokane would counter with a Blake Swetlikoff power play goal with less than 4 minutes left in the second to take a 3-1 lead after two periods.
The Chiefs would come out and seal the game with another quick start in the third as Yannick Proske scored off a Streek feed 31 seconds into the period to go up 4-1. Hughes then took over from there scoring at 7:29 and again at 10:18 to secure his first career hat trick and a career high 6 point night to wrap up a 6-1 victory. Streek finished with a career high 4 points on a goal and 3 assists and Proske, his linemate, had a goal and 2 assists. Thirteen points registered from just one line was a huge reason the Chiefs put up their 8th win in 11 meetings with the Americans this season. Beaupit registered 26 saves in getting his 6th straight win in goal.
The victory kept Spokane tied with Prince George for 7th in the Western Conference standings with 43 points and pushed the team 3 points ahead of Victoria and 8 up on Tri City in the race for the final playoff spot. The Chiefs have just a dozen games left in the season and 3 remaining at home. Spokane will play 2 of those home contests this week as they host division leading Everett Tuesday before Tri City comes back for their final visit to the Arena on Saturday. The Chiefs will close the week with another trip to Everett on Sunday. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA starting with the pre-game shows on Tuesday and Saturday from the Arena at 6:30 pm and the puck drops at 7:05 pm. Sunday's game from Everett will be a 3:30 pm pre-game and a 4:05 pm puck drop. Let's hope the Chiefs finish off the home stand strong and the team continues it's push up the playoff ladder. We hope to see you at the rink!