SPOKANE, Wash. — The Chiefs started 2024 with their longest road trip of the season as they headed east to Saskatchewan and Alberta for a 6 game swing through the league's Central Division. Spokane ended 2023 on their longest winning streak of the year, taking their 4th straight in their most impressive performance of the season with an 11-3 victory at Tri City on New Year's Eve. Spokane put up a season high in goals as well as a season best 7 goals in a dominant third period. With the streak, the Chiefs had moved themselves within 2 points of 4th place Tri City in the U.S. Division and had gone 3 points up on Vancouver for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Forward Chase Bertholet had a big finish to 2023, scoring 6 goals and 4 assists in the final three games of the year to earn the WHL's player of the week. Berkly Catton extended his season best points scoring streak to 10 in a row to cap the year and fellow linemate Connor Roulette took the team goal scoring lead as he had scored goals in 5 straight contests. The news wasn't all good for Spokane though, as they lost forwards Rasmus Ekstrom and Cam Parr to injuries over the past week and were without those two to start the road swing.
Spokane would start the road trip Friday in Swift Current against a Broncos team that was third in the Central Division. The Broncos were coming off a disappointing loss at Lethbridge Wednesday after leading 2-1 entering the third, only to give up 5 goals in the final period to suffer a 6-3 defeat. Needless to say, they were anxious to wash that result out of their mouths as they took on a Chiefs squad that was playing their best hockey of the season. Spokane was without forwards Rasmus Ekstrom and Cam Parr, who were both out for the week with upper body injuries.
Getting off to a good start is the goal of every club, especially in a road game. The Chiefs couldn't have dialed up a better one as Berkly Catton scored his 23rd of the season just 25 seconds into the game to make it 1-0 Spokane. The goal extended his points scoring streak to 11 in a row, while linemates Connor Roulette and Chase Bertholet, who picked up the assists, extended their points streak to 6 games apiece. Spokane wasted little time extending the lead as Cole Wadsworth stole the puck and scored net front at the 44 second mark to go up 2-0. Swift Current cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:52 and then evened the game at 2-2 on a power play goal on their 3rd attempt of the period. Despite outshooting the Broncos 16-9 in the opening frame, the Chiefs were tied 2-2 after the first
In the second, Roulette scored a goal in his 6th straight game with his team leading 25th tally of the season at 7:22 to get the Chiefs back on top at 3-2. The lead was short lived as Swift scored just 12 seconds later to tie it back up at 3-3. Back would come the Chiefs as Will McIsaac scored a goal in his second straight game to put Spokane back in the lead at 4-3. The Chiefs then had a chance to add to the lead as they went on a power play late in the second, but the Broncos turned it around as they took a Spokane turnover at the blue line and scored on a shorthanded breakaway to even the game back up at 4-4 heading to the third period.
The third turned quickly in Swift's favor early in the stanza as the Broncos scored two goals just 1:11 apart to take their first lead of the game as they went up 6-4. The Chiefs never seriously threatened after that as the Broncos tacked on two more tallies in the final 2.5 minutes of the contest to cap a 4 goal third period in a 8-4 victory. For the first time in 3 weeks the Chiefs got totally off their game in that final period and the results showed. The loss brought an end to the team's 4 game win streak and dropped the Chiefs 4 points back of Tri City for 4th in the U.S. Division as the Americans opened their Central Division trip with a win in Lethbridge.
Spokane looked to rebound on Sunday as they headed to division leading Medicine Hat. The Tigers hosted Tri City the night before and overwhelmed the Americans in a 12-1 victory. Medicine Hat put up 6 goals in the second and 5 more in the third to enter Sunday's contest on a roll. The Tigers were the first place club in the Central, but it was the Chiefs that came out looking like a first place team in the first period. Berkly Catton extended his season best points streak to 12 straight as he scored on Spokane's first power play of the night 5.5 minutes into the period to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Ty Cheveldayoff would then tip in a Layton Feist pass at 16:07 to give Spokane a 2-0 advantage. Brayden Crampton then followed 2:20 later with his 4th of the year to put the Chiefs ahead 3-0. Just when it looked like Spokane would take a 3 goal lead to the second, a defensive breakdown led to a odd man rush for the Tigers and Medicine Hat scored with 41 seconds left in the period to cut the deficit to 3-1 heading to the second.
That goal would give the Tigers momentum heading to the second as Gavin McKenna scored two goals in the first 3:07 of the middle period to pull Medicine Hat even with the Chiefs at 3-3. Spokane came right back as Chase Bertholet took a Connor Roulette pass and scored his 14th goal of the season at 9:08 to put the Chiefs back ahead at 4-3. Bertholet and Roulette extended their points scoring streaks to 7 in a row with the goal. The Tigers would get a penalty shot 28 seconds later and would tie the contest back up at 4-4. Medicine Hat kept coming as they scored 2:02 later to take their first lead at 5-4.
The turning point of the game would come just over 30 seconds later when Cheveldayoff took a 5 minute major penalty to put Medicine Hat on the power play at 12:16 of the second. The Chiefs penalty kill would give up just one goal in the five minutes on an Andrew Basha tally at 14:26 that made it 6-4. Unfortunately for Spokane, they would take another penalty after the 5 minute kill and Basha would strike again at 18:59 to cap off a 6 goal second and give the Tigers a 7-4 lead heading to the third. Any chance of a Chiefs comeback in the third was squashed as the Tigers rang up 3 goals in the first 5 minutes of the final frame to wrap up a 10-4 victory. After trailing 4-3 midway through the game, Medicine Hat put up 7 unanswered goals to hand the Chiefs their second straight loss on the Central Division trip.
The Chiefs have now given up 18 goals in two games on the trip and have given up multi goal leads in both contests. Spokane begins the week 4 points back of Tri City for 4th in the division and a point back of Vancouver for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Chiefs are still up on Seattle by 5 points for 5th in the division and will have 4 games this upcoming week to improve their standing in both the division and conference. Spokane will start off the back end of the Central swing as they visit Lethbridge at 6:05 pm Pacific on Tuesday and Red Deer at 6:05 pm Wednesday. The Chiefs will then finish up their longest road trip of the season with a trip to Calgary on Friday at 11 am and then end in Edmonton on Sunday at 3:05 pm.
Four games in 6 days will be a demanding end to the road trip, but it's a key stretch of the season for Spokane as they can either make a move up in the standings...or down. The trade deadline is this week as well as teams have until Wednesday afternoon of the 10th to make a deal to upgrade their teams for now or in the future. We'll see what or if any trades the Chiefs make in the coming days. I'll have a wrap up on trade deadline day from Red Deer and will the call of all 4 games this week on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows a half hour prior to puck drop. Let's hope the Chiefs get back to their winning ways and we'll see you on the radio!
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