They came to play.

This was one of those games that had me nervous. Even with the return of Stefan Ulmer and Mike Reddington the Chiefs were five players down and facing a Tri-City team that has been playing well as of late.

My fears were laid to rest on Saturday.

The Spokane Chiefs came back from the Christmas break rested and ready to play and showed it in a 4-2 win over the Tri-City Americans in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. First off, let's talk about rookie goalie James Reid. Reid has been inconsistent at times backing up Tokarski but he had a pretty good game on Saturday. He stopped 26 shots, sixteen of those coming in the third period. Second, the Chiefs continued to spread the puck around and control the pace of the game most of the time. The four goals came from four different Chiefs. Jared Cowen started the scoring for the Chiefs in the second period with a wicked slapshot that made jaws rattle and NHL scouts salivate. Ryan Letts scored the second goal off of a rebound from rookie Anthony Bardaro, who was playing in his first game as a Chief. The third goal came from Trevor Glass off of a feed from Seth Compton in a beauty 2 on 1 breakaway. Captain Justin McCrae finished the scoring for Spokane. On top of it, the Chiefs played with an intensity that was missed during the last few weeks. They were determined not to let Tri-City push them around and played with a chip on their shoulder that earned them a hard fought and very entertaining victory.

Also, I have to brag about the rookies a bit. They continue to learn at a quick pace and are improving with every game. Brenden Kichton keeps impressing me with his defensive skills and fits well with the veteran defensemen. Center Kenton Miller has also been looking better with every shift he takes. He's going to be a star in the WHL someday. Mike Betz, Steve Kuhn, David Conrad, and T.C. Cratsenberg have also been playing well and show that Spokane has a good future ahead of it.

As it stands now the Chiefs have pulled within three points behind Tri-City for first place in the U.S. division with a date at Tri on New Year's Eve. This is getting interesting.

Go Chiefs!