SPOKANE, Wash. — The month of November was just a little less than kind to the Chiefs as Spokane managed just one win in ten attempts. The club dropped 5 in a row to end the month and as a result, the Chiefs are at the bottom of the U.S. Division and tied for 9th in the Western Conference with just 9 points in the standings after 21 games. Spokane was coming off a week in which they had gone 0-3 and had been outscored by an 18-9 margin. Defensively, the Chiefs had surrendered 119 goals, tied with Victoria for the second most in the league and only 3 less than the 122 given up by league leader Edmonton. Spokane has given up those goals in just 21 games though, while Victoria has done it in 24 and Edmonton in 26. Needless to say, the goals against per game has the Chiefs at the bottom of the WHL, and that has to improve markedly if Spokane wants to move up in the standings.
The Chiefs had 9 games left in the first half of the season until the Christmas break, with 6 of those contests on the road on a demanding Eastern Division swing. First up were back to back home games with Kelowna and Lethbridge visiting the Spokane Arena. Home ice has been less than advantageous for Spokane though, as the Chiefs were a woeful 2-11 at the Arena for the worst winning percentage at home in the league. The team was hoping to get things going at home as they welcomed the Kelowna Rockets to town Friday. The Chiefs had absorbed a 10-3 whuppin at Kelowna two weeks previously on November 18th and were certainly hoping to turn around that result. Spokane had lost big in their last game, 8-3 at home to Everett, in which they fell behind 7-0 after 2 periods. Kelowna meantime was coming off an overtime loss at home to Regina on Tuesday and had dropped two in a row to fall into a tie with Tri City for 7th in the West with 20 points.
Spokane was fully healthy injury wise, but had battled illness throughout the week. I was curious to see how that would affect the club early in their game with the Rockets. The Chiefs were without forwards Cade Hayes and Michael Cicek so defenseman Ben Bonni moved up front to play on the 4th line. Dawson Cowan, who made his Chiefs debut in the loss at Kelowna two weeks previously, got his second start in goal for Spokane against the Rockets. Cowan had turned aside 54 shots, a career high, in his first start and he looked sharp in his second in the first period. Cowan turned aside all 12 Rockets shots in the first and the two clubs battled to a scoreless period. It was just the second time this season in 22 games that the Chiefs played a 0-0 opening frame.
In the second, Spokane would take their first lead over the Rockets this season as Ty Cheveldayoff scored his team leading 12th goal of the season 6:23 into the period to put the Chiefs up 1-0. Just over 3.5 minutes later, Saige Weinstein would score his 3rd goal of the year to give Spokane a 2-0 advantage. Kelowna would answer with a score to cut the margin to 2-1 at the 12:37 mark, but Cowan would shut the door the rest of the period as the Chiefs would take a 2-1 lead into the third. Spokane outshot Kelowna 14-13 in the middle twenty, and it would be the only period the Chiefs would out chance the Rockets in the game.
The third period would see the Rockets come out and dominate the Chiefs offensively. Kelowna put up 19 shots in the stanza and their 5th rated power play would get two opportunities in the period. Cowan and Spokane's penalty kill would come up big in the frame as the Rockets would fail to score despite constantly pressuring the Chiefs in their own zone. Cowan would finish the night with 43 saves, giving him 97 saves in his first two starts in Spokane. The Chiefs penalty kill would go a perfect 3 for 3 in the game, far better than the 1 for 3 performance two weeks earlier in Kelowna. The victory moved Spokane past Victoria in the West standings for 9th and brought the Chiefs within 9 points of Kelowna for the 8th and final playoff spot in the conference.
Spokane tried to build on that win the next night as they hosted the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Chiefs annual Teddy Bear Toss game. It was Lethbridge first visit to the Arena since December of 2018. The Canes had started their brief U.S. Division trip the night before with a 4-2 loss at Tri City. Lethbridge was sitting second in the Central Division coming in and had won 7 of their last 10 contests. There's always a great deal of anticipation on a Teddy Bear Toss night and the fans would have to wait a while on this night. For the second straight game, neither team was able to score as the Chiefs outshot the Hurricanes 11-7 in the opening period. Spokane failed 3 power play chances and they would turn out to be the only opportunities the team would get on the man advantage.
Lethbridge started the second period on the power play and appeared to score in the opening minutes, but contact was made with Chiefs goalie Cooper Michaluk and the goal was waived off to keep the game scoreless. Spokane then got a partial breakaway from Chase Bertholet just under 4 minutes into the period. Bertholet's shot rang off the post and under the Lethbridge goalie. The net was then dislodged causing some fans to think the Chiefs had scored. Teddy bears started coming on the ice and there was no stopping them. It's the first time I've seen the bears thrown for a non-goal. I've seen them thrown for an opposing goal when the home team was being shut out, but never for a non goal. The Chiefs helped in the clean up of the bears but seemed to lose their offensive momentum for the rest of the game.
The Hurricanes would get on the board with the first goal of the game about 3 minutes after the resumption of play and would carry a 1-0 lead into the third. Spokane was outshot 13-8 in the second but would stay in the game as Michaluk was sharp throughout the game. The Chiefs would come out in the third and put up 17 shots, but would fail to put up any sustained pressure on the Hurricanes defense. Lethbridge got one power play in the third and would convert late in the period to get a 2-0 lead. Spokane would pull Michaluk in the final 2 minutes but would give up an empty net goal in the final seconds as Lethbridge shut out the Chiefs 3-0 to deny Spokane back to back wins to start December.
The loss was damaging to Spokane's chances of making the playoffs this season, as Tri City won over Kelowna to move 13 points ahead of the Chiefs for 4th in the U.S. Division. Spokane is still 11 back of Kelowna for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West as the season is now 1/3 over. The Chiefs only have 7 games left in the first half of the season before the Christmas break with only one home contest remaining. That might not be bad news for Spokane as they are just 3-12 on home ice. The Chiefs will start the next to last week of the first half by hosting Seattle Tuesday night at 7:05 pm at the Spokane Arena. Spokane then embarks on their longest road trip of the season as they play 7 straight on the road, with the first 6 going through the Eastern Division of the league over the final 2 weeks of the first half.
After hosting Seattle Tuesday, the Chiefs will head to Winnipeg to face the league's top team in the Ice on Friday before heading to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings on Saturday. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA on Tuesday and Saturday and 94.1 the Bear and 790 AM KJRB for Friday's game from Winnipeg. Tuesday's game will be at 7:05 pm with the pre-game at 6:30 pm. Friday and Saturday's games from Winnipeg and Brandon will be 5:05 pm starts with the pre-games at 4:30 pm. It will be a very challenging week as the Chiefs will be facing two of the top teams in the CHL in Seattle and Winnipeg. Here's to the Chiefs continuing to improve defensively and finding some more offense. We hope to see you at the rink!
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