Our House

This was a game of the year candidate for sure.

The Spokane Chiefs won their eight game in a row beating Tri-City 5-2 in front of a large and pretty rowdy crowd which had a hint of a playoff atmosphere. The Chiefs didn't take long to score. Just a little over a minute into the first period Ondrej Roman scored off a rebound from Jared Cowen to make it 1-0. Later in the first Brady Calla scored on a shortie after Drayson Bowman stole the puck. Tri cut the lead to 2-1 in the second. It looked like that would be the score after two periods until Mitch Wahl scored with 27 seconds left in the period. As if that weren't enough Jared Spurgeon scored with three seconds left to give the Chiefs a 4-1 lead after the second period. After Tri-City switched goalies to start the third (that's right, they pulled Pickard in favor of the backup) and cut the lead to 4-2, Mitch Wahl scored his second of the game to ice it: Spokane 5, Tri 2. Tokarski stopped 22 shots in the win.

Then there were the fights. Lots of them. Not at the end of the game, but at the start of the second period. So many fights that I was actually a little surprised when they started playing hockey again. Levko Koper fought, Cowen fought, Bowman fought, Cory Baldwin fought, Bowman fought again. What was strange was that the guys on the Chiefs that normally fight didn't fight. Although I will say that known fighter Dustin Donaghy had a huge smile on his face after each fight.

So much for that 11 point lead Tri-City had over the Chiefs. In just three weeks that lead is now down to four points. The Chiefs also have two games in hand. Spokane travels to Everett on Wednesday before back to back homers against Chilliwack and Kootenay.

Well done Chiefs!