SPOKANE, Wash. — Year in and year out, the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League proves to be one of, if not the toughest division in the entire WHL. This year is certainly no exception, as coming into the first weekend of November, every team in the U.S. is at .500 or over. It shows that one good weekend on the ice, or one bad one, can have you shoot up or down in the standings in a big hurry.
Spokane entered the weekend at 5-5-2 after a weekend split at home last week. The Chiefs picked up a nice win over Kelowna, but then fell to division rival Everett to leave the club with 12 points, 2 back of 5th place Seattle and 4 behind 4th place Tri City. Ironically enough, Spokane's road trip this week took them to these two teams that were directly in front of them in the standings.
First up were the defending champion Thunderbirds, who had knocked off the Chiefs in early October at the Spokane Arena. Spokane had not beaten Seattle since December 28th of 2021 and were hoping to break their losing skid to the T-Birds on Friday in Kent. The Chiefs were without rookie forward Chase Harrington, who was off playing in the U-17 tournament in Canada. Spokane did get some good news as 19-year-old forward Rasmus Ekstrom joined the team from his club in Sweden. Ekstrom, a second round pick in the import draft, is being counted upon to help the Chiefs get some added scoring punch up front.
The game would start late as the Thunderbirds retired just their second jersey in franchise history as Patrick Marleau, who went on to play more NHL games than any player in history, had his #12 raised to the rafters. It was a pretty cool experience to witness as I've always admired his skill level and demeanor on the ice over his career.
Cooper Michaluk got the start in net and was solid in the first period as he allowed just one goal on 17 Seattle shots in the period. The Thunderbirds used a late goal to take a 1-0 lead after one. Seattle outshot the Chiefs by an 11-2 margin over the last half of the frame, so it was important for Spokane to come out with some jump in the second.
The Chiefs would do exactly that as Berkly Catton got Spokane jump started with his 8th goal of the season just 24 seconds into the period to even the game at 1-1. Seattle came right back and scored just over 8 minutes later on a rebound after Michaluk had turned aside back to back shots. The goal gave Seattle the lead at 2-1 after two periods. Spokane outshot the Thunderbirds 12-9 in the period and started to assert some control of the puck towards the end of the stanza but still trailed by one entering the final 20 minutes.
Once again it was Catton that got Spokane going in the third. The second year center took the puck and maneuvered his way to score a slick goal net front just 2:04 into the third. The goal was his second of the night and pulled the Chiefs even at 2-2. It would turn out to be the only goal of the third as Spokane outshot Seattle 11-9 and would head to overtime for the 4th time this season.
Spokane's last two overtime games were defeats on the road at Victoria, and the Chiefs really wanted to avoid that same fate in Seattle. It turns out they would, as Ekstrom poked the puck free and sprang former Thunderbird Connor Roulette on a breakaway and Roulette would bury his former team as he capped a 3-point-night with the game winner 1:13 into overtime to lift the Chiefs to a 3-2 OT victory.
It was the Chiefs first win over the Thunderbirds since that December 2021 win in Kent and it brought Spokane within one point of Seattle in the standings for fifth place and just two back of idle Tri City for 4th in the division.
Meantime, Portland lost while Everett and Wenatchee both won Friday, forging a 3-way-tie for first at the top of the U.S. as the Winterhawks, Silvertips and Wild all sat with 19 points, 5 up on Spokane. The Chiefs now had a chance to make a move on 4th place Tri City if Spokane could get a win in regulation on Saturday in Kennewick.
Spokane went with the same lineup that had netted them a win in Seattle but the first period would see Tri City take control of the game. The Americans scored a pair of goals 4.5 minutes apart midway through the period to jump out to a 2-0 lead after one. The Chiefs got back in the game just over 6 minutes into the second when Lukas Kral scored his 4th of the year on a tip in of a Saige Weinstein shot to cut the lead in half at 2-1. The Americans came right back and netted two goals 1:57 apart at the mid point of the period to take control of the game at 4-1. Rookie Owen Martin gave the Chiefs life with his second career goal with 50 seconds left in the second to bring Spokane within 4-2 after 40 minutes.
The Chiefs needed a quick start to the third and they got it when Connor Roulette scored his team leading 12th of the season 36 seconds into the final period to bring Spokane within 4-3. Spokane would outshoot Tri City 12-7 in the third and had several chances to equalize, but the Tri City goalie Lukas Matecha would turn away 5 Chiefs breakaways in the contest to deny Spokane their second straight road win over the weekend. Tri City is now 4 points up on the Chiefs in the division and have won both meetings in the 10 game season series. The lost opportunities offensively were definitely big in this one, but falling behind by 2 in the first and by 3 in the second is no winning formula.
Spokane now has an opportunity to get themselves back in the race as they head home for their longest homestand of the season. The Chiefs open a 5 game stand at the Spokane Arena Friday with the Prince Albert Raiders and then host the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday. It's a huge chance for the team build some momentum heading to the Thanksgiving holidays in 3 weeks and in a tight division race, teams can play themselves to the top...or the bottom of the division with any kind of winning or losing streak.
Friday's game will be at 7:05 pm and I'll have the call with the pre-game at 6:30 pm on 94.1 the Bear due to Gonzaga basketball. Saturday's game is on our regular home of 103.5 the Game with the pre-game at 5:30 pm and the puck drop at 6:05 pm. We hope to see you at the rink!
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