SPOKANE, Wash. — With a playoff berth already secured, the Chiefs headed into the final week of the regular season hoping to finish the year on a winning note and possibly improve their playoff seeding. Spokane was in eighth in the Western Conference moving into their final two games of the 2023-24 campaign but had a challenging task ahead of them. The club was three points back of both Victoria and Kelowna and four behind fifth place Vancouver with a possibility of four points being gained by the Chiefs with wins in their final two contests.
The situation was simple for Spokane. To move upward in the seeding, they had to win both games at Seattle and Tri City and get help from Wenatchee beating Victoria in regulation in the Royals final game, and they had to have Vancouver beat Kelowna twice in regulation. It was a tall order, but everything had to start with Spokane winning both games. The one thing that was known was the Chiefs were going to be facing either Portland or Prince George in the first round of the playoffs.
Spokane headed out on the road to Seattle to begin their final weekend of the season. The Chiefs needed a win to even the season series at 3-3. The club had knocked off the Thunderbirds at the Spokane Arena in their last meeting two weeks earlier after dropping a decision in Seattle the night before. The Chiefs were also two games under .500 in regulation this season, so two wins over the weekend would pull the outfit to the .500 mark to end the year. Seattle had won 3 in a row coming in while the Chiefs were on a two-game winning streak, so one team would be continuing their roll after Friday's game. The Chiefs called up four of their bantam draft picks from this year as goalie Carter Esler, defenseman Kaden Allen and forwards Mathis Preston and Brody Gillespie joined the team for the final two regular season games and the upcoming playoffs.
Allen made his debut for the Chiefs in Friday's tilt in Seattle. The first period was back and forth with both teams getting good scoring chances but neither team got on the scoreboard. Neither team took a penalty in the frame either. That would change in the second. The Chiefs would take four of the five penalties in the period and give Seattle three straight power play chances. Included in that was a 5-on-3 opportunity for 1:54 late in the stanza. The Thunderbirds would capitalize as Sawyer Mynio scored on a one timer with 13 seconds left on the two-man advantage to give Seattle a 1-0 lead heading into the third.
The third period did not start well for Spokane, as Seattle scored a goal off a face off just 47 seconds into the frame to take a 2-0 edge. That lead would hold until the final two minutes when Chase Bertholet scored his 24th of the season at 18:14 to bring the Chiefs within 2-1. Spokane would get no closer however, as the Thunderbirds scored an empty net tally in the final minute to cap off a 3-1 victory. Seattle captured the season series 4-2 with the win and Spokane was assured the eighth spot in the upcoming Western Conference playoffs with the loss. The Chiefs also saw their hopes of reaching the .500 mark for the season dashed.
With Prince George's win at Kamloops and Portland's overtime loss at Tri City Friday, PG was now in the driver's seat to capture the top seed in the West as they took a three-point lead over the Winterhawks with just two games left for Portland. A Cougar win Saturday over Kamloops would mean the Chiefs were heading North to face Prince George in the first round of the playoffs. Before all that though, Spokane had to close out the regular season as they traveled to Tri City to face an Americans team that had upset Portland 4-3 in overtime the night before. Tri had snapped an eight-game losing streak with that victory and they were anxious to avenge a last second 7-6 loss in Spokane the week before.
The Chiefs wanted to finish the regular season on an up note and take some momentum into the post season the following weekend. A win would also give Spokane the season series over the Americans with 6 wins in 10 games. The club would suit up forward Mathis Preston for the regular season finale and the 15-year-old would make his presence known midway through the first period when he sent a rebound of a Chase Bertholet shot into the net to give Spokane a 1-0 lead. Berkly Catton then scored his team leading 53rd of the season on a perfect setup from linemate Shea Van Olm at 14:48 to put the Chiefs up 2-0. Tri City would counter with a power play goal late in the frame to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Preston would follow with his second of the night at 18:51 to lift the Chiefs to a 3-1 advantage after the first. It was Preston's first multi-goal game as a Chief and he is the first 15 year old to score more than 1 goal in his 15 year old season.
In the second period, Spokane started quickly as Van Olm set up Connor Roulette's 45th goal of the year just 1:08 into the stanza to put the Chiefs up 4-1. Tri City would make it a 4-2 contest with a goal midway through the second as the game headed to the third. The Americans would cut the margin to one on a power play goal 5:01 into the final period as the game was now 4-3. The Chiefs didn't panic as Van Olm scored on a one timer from Layton Feist at 8:16 to put Spokane back up by two at 5-3. Spokane would put the game away when Catton scored his 54th of the year with his 13th power play goal of the year at 12:14 to give the Chiefs a 6-3 victory to end the regular season.
The victory was Spokane's 30th of the season, doubling the team's win total from the season before. The Chiefs finished 4th in the U.S. Division and 8th in the Western Conference as they now head back to the playoffs for the frist time since the 2021-22 season. The team will face the top team in the West and the #1 team in the Canadian Hockey League in the Prince George Cougars. Prince George has won 10 of their last 11 and 17 of 19 to end the year. Spokane handed them their only loss in the month of March with an overtime win March 1st in Prince George. Both games the two teams played in PG that first weekend of March went to overtime with the two teams splitting. Spokane coughed up a 4-1 lead in the third in their OT win March 1st and then lost a 4-2 lead with 1.5 minutes left in the third the following night in their overtime loss to the Cougars.
Spokane was able to play Prince George toe to toe on their home ice less than a month ago and the Chiefs will draw on that experience as they will head to PG to open the first round of the playoffs Friday and Saturday in games one and two. It's the first time the two clubs have played in the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season as Spokane won that series. Prince George will be the prohibitive favorite as the Chiefs hope to pull off the major upset. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game with the pre-game show at 6:30 pm Friday for game one and the puck drop at 7:05 pm. Saturday's game two from Prince George will start with the pre-game at 5:30 pm and the puck drop at 6:05 pm. It's the best time of the year and we hope to see you on the radio!
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