Streak Over!

Every team seems to arrive at this point sometime. The Spokane Chiefs arrived there on Wednesday night. They were coming off of a terrible weekend, losing back to back games and facing a Calgary Hitmen that had won eleven straight games and had the best record in the WHL. It was also apparent that if the Chiefs lost they would end up seven points behind first place Tri-City. Some games end up being more important than others. This was one of those games.

The Chiefs needed this one. They REALLY needed this one.

This turned out to be a great game. The teams battled back and forth for three periods. The Chiefs managed three goals against Calgary: The first goal came in the first period from Drayson Bowman who faked the goalie right out of his pads. The second came in the third from Tyler Johnson beating the goalie stick side, and the third goal came with less than three minutes in the third when our new captain Justin McCrae redirected a Jared Cowen blast to tie the score at three. After five minutes of scoreless overtime it's on to the shootout.

I love the fact that I am optimistic about shootouts now. After all, the Chiefs have won their last two shootouts. Tokarski continues to shine between the pipes and stopped all three shots in the shootout. It came down to Drayson Bowman coming down the ice with the Lone Ranger theme playing in my head. Bowman fakes, goes glove side, scores! Chiefs win!

This was a much needed win. Calgary was first in the WHL in about every category including the power play, penalty kill, goals scored, goals against, and bears thrown in a teddy bear toss (I heard it was over 12,000*). The Hitmen, along with the Vancouver Giants, are right now the best teams in the WHL. Spokane showed a lot of character in this game. They showed that they can maintain their composure and come back against a great team in Calgary. Good on you, Chiefs! I really hope that this win will go a long way in getting the Chiefs back on top. With the win the Chiefs keep pace with Tri-City, staying five points behind Tri in second place in the U.S. Division.

Next up for the Chiefs is the teddy bear toss game on Saturday against the Kootenay Ice. My predictions on who will get the teddy bear goal are coming. Bears on ice! Gotta love that!

*I didn't do the Calgary teddy bear toss game justice. I just got through checking the official total and they threw 22,722 stuffed animals! Damn. That's a lot of plush. The video is on youtube if you feel the need.