SPOKANE, Wash. — The start of the second month of the season saw the Chiefs struggle to find the win column consistently as the club dropped two of three ending October and heading into November.
After an 8-2 start, the team had gone just 2-5 to fall into third place in the U.S. Division, a point back of second place Tri City and 7 behind division leading Everett. The Chiefs hoped that November would see the team find its winning ways again as they would start the first full week of the month with three games outside the U.S. Division with 3 games against B.C. Division opponents.
The Chiefs were still without rookies Carter Esler and Mathis Preston, who were still playing in the Under 17 Hockey Challenge. Forwards Coco Armstrong and Dane Pyatt were still on the injured list as the team saw its depth up front cut to minimum levels.
Spokane would be tested as they would start the week against the high powered Kelowna Rockets. The two teams met in early October with Spokane winning 5-3 at the Spokane Arena. Kelowna was without forward Andrew Cristall, who was their leading scorer last year in that contest.
Spokane was coming off a 4-3 loss at Tri City Saturday in a game they fell behind 4-1. The Chiefs were looking for a better start Tuesday against the Rockets but would see Kelowna come out and test goalie Dawson Cowan with several point blank chances in the first period but Cowan would turn aside all 7 shots thrown at him to keep the game scoreless after one.
The second period would be an offensive showcase as the two teams combined for 6 goals on 21 shots. The Chiefs would get the scoring started when Brayden Crampton scored his first of the season 1:09 into the period to make it 1-0 Spokane.
Just 21 seconds later Smyth Rebman scored his 6th of the year to put the Chiefs up by two. Kelowna would answer with two goals of their own just 3:01 apart midway through the period to tie the game at 2-2.
The Chiefs would see their power play take over late in the second as Crampton would score his second of the game at 11:59 to give Spokane a 3-2 advantage. Berkly Catton would snap home his 6th of the year on another power play tally at 16:19 to give Spokane a 4-2 lead heading to the third as the Chiefs outshot the Rockets 13-8 in the middle twenty.
Kelowna came out and scored on a Cristall goal 5.5 minutes into the third to draw within 4-3. Spokane countered 1:14 later as Rasmus Ekstrom hit an open Will McIsaac, who fired home his first of the season to put the Chiefs ahead 5-3. The Rockets cut the margin back to one on a goal at 12:19 and would pull their goalie in the final minute and a half looking for the equalizing goal. Catton would steal the puck and find Shea Van Olm at center ice and Van Olm would score his team leading 16th of the year with a minute remaining to put the game away at 6-4.
Former Chief Michael Cicek scored for Kelowna with 10 seconds left to cap off the 6-5 Spokane victory as the Chiefs moved back into second place in the U.S. Division, overtaking idle Tri-City by a point.
Spokane looked to keep the momentum going as they headed North into Canada to play back to back road games in Kamloops and Kelowna. First up were the Blazers, as the two clubs met for the first time this season. Spokane was without center Owen Martin, who played in Tuesday's game with Kelowna but was bothered by a sore ankle and unable to go in Friday's game.
The Chiefs won 4 of 5 from Kamloops last season, winning all three in Spokane while splitting the two games in Kamloops. The Blazers were coming off a sweep of 2 games in Victoria and were sitting in 4th place in the B.C. Division.
After a series of slow starts in the first period in their last few games, the Chiefs came out with a perfect road first period as they would strike first on Berkly Catton's 7th goal of the season 3:23 into the contest to take a 1-0 lead after one. Spokane outshot Kamloops 12-6 in the first and would continue their good play on the first shift of the second when Hayden Paupanekis scored his 5th of the season 21 seconds into the frame to give the Chiefs a 2-0 advantage.
After a penalty free first period, the Chiefs got themselves in trouble in the second. Kamloops would get 4 power play chances in the middle twenty, including 3 in a row midway through the period. The Blazers would get on the board when former Chief defenseman Leyton Feist scored just over 7 minutes in to narrow the gap to 2-1.
Another power play goal followed four minutes later and the game was tied at 2-2 heading into the third. Kamloops got another power play early in the third, and even though they didn't score, they built up offensive momentum to outshoot Spokane 16-11 in the period. The Blazers would score at 14:11 of the period to take their first lead and then would seal their 3rd straight win with an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining to hand the Chiefs a 4-2 defeat.
What had started out well ended in disappointing fashion as the Chiefs fell under .500 on the road for the season at 5-6 and also fell one point back of Tri-City for 2nd in the U.S. Division after the Americans beat division leading Everett.
Spokane then headed down the road to Kelowna to try to hand the Rockets their second straight defeat to the Chiefs this week. Kelowna had rebounded from Tuesday's setback in Spokane with a 2-1 win over East Division leading Saskatoon Friday and were hoping to pick up the home sweep of the weekend with a revenge win over the Chiefs Saturday.
The Rockets would jump out to a 1-0 lead on a Caden Price goal midway through the first period, but the Chiefs would come right back just 1:08 later on Rasmus Ekstrom's 8th goal of the season to even the game 1-1 at the end of the first.
Spokane would get one power play chance in the entire game and would convert it with just 2 seconds remaining on it when Berkly Catton scored his 8th of the season to give the Chiefs a 2-1 lead. That goal would fuel a 3 goal explosion as Catton would score again at 7:59 of the period to give Spokane a 3-1 advantage. Shea Van Olm would score his team leading 17th of the season just 35 seconds later and the Chiefs seemed to be in control at 4-1 heading to the end of the second.
Kelowna would score on their only power play chance of the period with just 14 seconds left on Price's second of the night to cut the deficit to 4-2 after two. The Rockets used that momentum to carry over into the third as they would score their second straight power play goal 2.5 minutes into the final period to make it a 4-3 game.
Back came the Chiefs as rookie Cohen Harris scored his second of the season at 4:49 to put Spokane back up 5-3. The Rockets then scored their 3rd power goal of the game on Hideki Gojsic's tally midway through the period. Gojsic then scored his second of the game at 15:25 to tie the game at 5-5 and send the game to overtime.
Spokane had gone 2-0 in overtime with both wins coming over B.C. opponents Prince George and Vancouver. On this night, it would only take 51 seconds to settle things as Brayden Crampton would score his third goal of the week to give the Chiefs a 6-5 victory and their third straight win over the Rockets this season.
The team clinched a winning week and improved to 12-8 on the year and with 24 points were in third place in the U.S. division, a point back of Tri City, who won their 11tth straight Saturday. The Chiefs are 5 back of division leading Everett as the team now heads home for a two game homestand.
The Chiefs will host the second and third teams from the Central Division this week as Calgary and Red Deer come to Spokane Friday and Saturday nights to the Spokane Arena.
The Hitmen and Chiefs face off Friday at 7:05 pm and the Rebels and Chiefs square off Saturday at 6:05 p.m. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Let's hope the Chiefs keep the momentum going on home ice and we hope to see you at the rink!
