SPOKANE, Wash. — After jumping out to an 8-2 start and a first place standing in the U.S. Division and the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League, the Chiefs had fallen back to earth as the team had dropped 3 out of 4, including their first home loss in their last outing to rival Tri-City.
As a result, the Chiefs were now 6 points back of first-place Everett in the division and had just a one-point lead over third-place Tri-City.
Spokane remained on home ice for the first two games of the three they would play this past week as they would host Edmonton and division rival Portland before heading on the road for a rematch with Tri-City.
The Chiefs were without backup goalie Carter Esler and 6th leading scorer Mathis Preston, as both players were at the Under 17 Hockey Challenge in Canada all week. The team called up goalie Ryan Tamelin to back up Dawson Cowan while forward Sam Oremba was acquired from Regina to help with the forward depth with Preston being gone.
First up for the week was the first team from the Central Division to visit Spokane, the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Edmonton was coming off a disappointing 6-5 overtime loss at Tri-City the previous Monday, after blowing a 4-2 lead in the third period. The Oil Kings came out determined to reverse that outcome as they scored on a partial breakaway just over 6.5 minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
The Chiefs appeared poised to tie it up as they went on the power play midway through the period, but the Oil Kings would score on another breakaway while short-handed to go up 2-0.
Spokane was on their heels the rest of the period as Edmonton would score with just 1:06 remaining to go ahead 3-0 and then would put in a dagger with another tally with only 3 seconds left to take a 4-0 advantage into the second period.
Spokane would rally in the middle twenty as Chase Harrington would score on a rebound on the power play midway through the period to cut the deficit to 4-1. Defenseman Owen Schoettler would score his first goal since opening night off a 4 on 4 situation late in the frame and the Chiefs would cut the Edmonton lead to 4-2 after two periods.
Down by two midway through the third, the Chiefs would get another power play, one of 7 they would receive in the game.
Unfortunately, for the second time in the contest, Spokane would cough up a short-handed goal to the Oil Kings as Edmonton went back up by three at 5-2. The Chiefs would rally though and score on the ensuing power play as Hayden Paupanekis scored his 4th of the season at 9:19 to get the team back within 5-3.
Spokane would pull goalie Dawson Cowan in the final two minutes but would see the Oil Kings score an empty netter in the final minute and a half to wrap up a decisive 6-3 victory over the Chiefs.
The loss was Spokane's second straight on home ice and their 4th in their last 5 contests. The club remained 6 points back of Everett as they prepared to host Portland in the final game of their 4-game homestand.
The Winterhawks were having struggles of their own as they had dropped 7 in a row entering Friday's matchup. A win over the Hawks and the Chiefs would go 6 points up on Portland in the division. Conversely, a loss and the margin would be cut down to just 2 points.
Spokane lost 4 of 6 to Portland last year, including all 3 on the Chiefs home ice, so the team was determined to snap that trend in meeting #1 of the season between the two rivals. The Chiefs would come out and outshoot the Hawks 13-5 in the first period but neither team was able to score as the game was scoreless after 20 minutes.
In the second period, the Chiefs would break out on top as Shea Van Olm scored his team-leading 12th of the season off a rebound of a Berkly Catton shot just over 4.5 minutes into the period to give Spokane a 1-0 lead.
Portland would even the game midway through the second as the Chiefs surrendered their 3rd shorthanded goal in the last 2 games. Spokane has now given up 7 short-handed markers this season, three more than any other team in the league.
The Chiefs would outshoot the Winterhawks 24-12 in the second, but the Hawks would take the lead with a goal off an odd-man rush with just 1:02 remaining to take a 2-1 advantage into the third.
Much like the Tri-City game the week before, the Chiefs outplayed their opponent by a wide margin, yet gave up a pair of goals to trail the game going to the final period.
Spokane would draw even just over 7 minutes into the third when defenseman Nathan Mayes scored his second of the season on a shot from the blue line to make it a 2-2 game. The contest went back and forth from there as Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan made a number of huge saves to keep the game tied.
Spokane would get their only power play of the period late in the third and they would take advantage as Van Olm scored his second of the night at 17:33 to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead.
The Chiefs would wrap up the contest when Rasmus Ekstrom scored his 7th of the season into an empty net with 24 seconds left to help Spokane snap their modest 2-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory.
The loss extended Portland's losing streak to 8 straight as they fell 6 points back of the Chiefs for second in the division. Spokane kept pace with Everett in the division as the Silvertips also won Friday to keep their lead at 6 over the Chiefs.
The club then geared up their third meeting of the season and second in the last week with arch-rival Tri-City on Saturday night in Kennewick.
The Americans had been off since a win at home Monday over Edmonton in overtime. Tri City had won 7 straight, the longest win streak in the league and were 3 points back of the Chiefs for second in the U.S. Division.
The Chiefs had lost 3 of 5 in Tri last season and were hoping to reverse that trend in the last game of the week for the club on Saturday. Tri-City looked like a club on a roll as they came out and scored two goals 1:36 apart midway through the first to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. The Americans outshot the Chiefs 19-7 in the period and had Spokane on their heels the final half of the frame.
Spokane would reverse that in the second as the Chiefs out-chanced the Americans 16-8 in the middle period.
The Chiefs would cut the deficit to 2-1 as Shea Van Olm scored his team-leading 14th of the season on the power play 6.5 minutes in the second. Tri-City would go back up by two on an odd-man rush just over 6 minutes later to take a 3-1 advantage into the final period. The Americans would add to their margin just 23 seconds into the third as they would take what seemed to be a commanding 4-1 lead.
The Chiefs got themselves back in the game when Van Olm scored his second of the night and 4th in his last 2 games 5:33 into the period to cut the margin to 4-2.
Rookie Brody Gillespie then scored 1:22 later with his second goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game and put Spokane right back in the middle of things. Spokane would have 3 Grade A chances in the latter half of the period but would not be able to solve Americans' goalie Lukas Matecha as he turned away 33 Chiefs shots to hand Tri-City their 8th straight win with a 4-3 victory.
The loss was the second straight for Spokane against their arch-rivals and left the Chiefs just one point ahead of Tri-City for second in the division.
Spokane will now play three straight outside the division this week as they take on Kelowna and Kamloops from the B.C. Division.
The Chiefs will host the Rockets Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at the Spokane Arena before heading out on the road to face the Blazers Friday at 7:05 p.m. and the Rockets in Kelowna Saturday at 6:05 p.m.
I'll have the call for all three games on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Let's hope the Chiefs can find some consistent play in their game and they get back to their winning ways of early October. We hope to see you at the rink!
