Hattie With an Encore!

I suppose it was only a matter of time that two Spokane Chiefs would get a hattie in the same game. With the way they've been scoring I'm a little surprised it didn't happen sooner. But it did happen: The Chiefs beat Seattle 7-3 and we get to see two hatties!

One of the hatties came from Drayson Bowman, his second hattie of the season. What made his unique was that two of the three goals came off of penalty shots. The first penalty shot was the result of a Seattle defensemen covering up the puck. Bowman made such a great move as if to say 'You can't stop me even if I drag the puck across the crease'. The other occurred when Bowman was pulled down on a shorthanded breakaway. The other goal was a power play goal. What's the lesson here? You can't stop Drayson Bowman even if you cheat!

The other hattie came from Tyler Johnson who recorded his first hattie as a Spokane Chief. Nothing unique here, just Tyler being Tyler. Johnson has noticeably stepped up his game over the past couple of weeks. The other goal came from Ondrej Roman (here's hoping he gets a hattie before the end of the season). Mitch Wahl still isn't scoring goals much, but he is passing the puck around better, getting three assists on the night (an assist hattie!). This team is really putting it together. When they bring their 'A' game I'll put them up against anyone else in the WHL. I also think I used the word 'hattie' more in this post than any other. But just in case here's a few more: Hattie! Hattie! Hattie!

With the win Spokane stays two points back of Tri-City. They also clinch home ice in the first round of the WHL playoffs. They play Seattle again on Friday in Seattle and then travel to Tri-City on Saturday for a showdown with the Ams.

Go Chiefs!

Five Goal Magic

I know what you're thinking: Five goals? How can you consider that magical? I mean, how many times have the Chiefs scored five goals in a game this season anyway? After all, the Chiefs had some nine goal magic in Everett a few weeks back, plus the eleven goal magic against Edmonton on Saturday. It should be hard to consider a five goal night magical.

But it was. It really was.

Would it help if I said that Prince George led 3-0 after two periods? Kevin Armstrong was impressive in net for Prince George (yes, the same Kevin Armstrong that used to play for the Chiefs). However the Chiefs tried they just couldn't find their way past him. He was on his game. Things had to change. Everyone started pulling out the rally caps (I didn't have a hat so I opted for the rally jersey). It seemed to work because Spokane came out in the third and pressured the defense big time. They were rewarded quickly with a goal by Justin McCrae just a couple of minutes in the third. Drayson Bowman scored soon after to cut the lead to 3-2.

At this point you could see it: Armstrong was rattled. Even underneath his goalie mask you could see it. Even though Prince George was ahead they were in trouble.

The breakthrough came on the power play with just over two minutes left when Bowman scored again to tie the game at 3. And just when you think the game is headed to overtime HERE COMES ONDREJ ROMAN who takes a feed from Brady Calla and puts it past Armstrong with just 38 seconds left to give Spokane a 4-3 lead. Add an empty netter from Levko Koper and you have five goal magic: Spokane 5, Prince George 3. Hopefully we won't make a habit of this, though. As cool as it was to witness it was just Prince George. If that was Calgary, Vancouver, or even Tri-City we don't likely come back from that. So let's not make a habit of that.

Spokane has now won four straight and is close enough to Tri-City to tap them on the shoulder and say "excuse us, but we're going to move past you now'. Spokane hosts Seattle on Wednesday before traveling to Seattle on Friday. Then it's showdown time at Tri-City in a big one on Saturday.

Go Chiefs!

Pond Hockey....Chiefs Style!

There are beatdowns, and then there are BEATDOWNS! This was the latter.

The Spokane Chiefs started the scoring early and never let off the throttle as they blasted the Edmonton Oil Kings 11-2. The Chiefs pressured Edmonton with such consistency that was downright impressive. Four goals in the first, four in the second, and three in the third. Eight players scored for the Chiefs. Drayson Bowman, Tyler Johnson, and Dustin Donaghy each had two goals. One of Tyler Johnson's came shorthanded with the assist from Levko Koper who had the attention of basically the entire Edmonton team. The single goal scorers were Bret Bartman, Levko Koper, Blake Gal, Jared Sgurgeon, and Ondrej Roman. Roman scored in the first with a guy on his back so tight it looked like he was giving piggy back rides. Note to the Oil Kings: Ondrej Roman doesn't give piggy pack rides! He just scores on you.

This was a fun game! It's not often you see a team score this many goals. I had never seen the Chiefs ever get past nine goals in a game before. They also continue to be unselfish with the puck. Normally in a game like this someone gets a hattie. Not in this case, however.

Spokane plays Prince George tonight. If the Chiefs can win this one they will pull within two points of idle Tri-City and this will get very interesting down the stretch run. Spokane still plays Tri four more times so anything is possible.

Go Chiefs!

What Everett is good for.

Now I know why I'm glad the Everett Silvertips are in the same division that we are. It helps the Chiefs to end slumps and bad games.

Spokane rolled into Everett on Wednesday and took care of business 5-2. Mitch Wahl snapped out of his slump and scored just 28 seconds into the game. Drayson Bowman continues to freak out goalies, scoring two more goals. Justin McCrae and Mike Reddington got the other two goals. Reddington and Ondrej Roman each had two assists. Dustin Tokarski was solid in net again, stopping 35 shots. The Chiefs have flat out OWNED the Silvertips this season. They've won all but one of the games against Everett this season, including a 9-1 beatdown in Everett and a pair of shutouts. Good thing to note considering that Spokane may get Everett AGAIN in the first round of the playoffs this year.

I also saw in the box score that Stefan Ulmer actually fought against Everett's Dan Iwanski. I really wish that they showed this game on TV. Not only am I glad that Ulmer stood up for himself, but I also have someone from Everett to direct my hockey rage at in the absense of Kyle Beach. Someone please have a video of that!

With the win Spokane pulls within six points of Tri-City again. Not bad considering we still have to play Tri four more times. But for now it's at Portland on Friday before back to back homers this weekend against Edmonton and Prince George. I also noticed that it's cheer sticks night on Saturday. Wow. Cheer sticks on Valentine's Day. Not sure that was a good idea.

Don't Look Now....

This probably won't be the last time I say it this season but I miss Jared Cowen.

OK, first the good news is that the Chiefs shook off their sad loss to Vancouver by traveling to Kootenay and beating the Ice 3-2 in a shootout. Ondrej Roman came in with his white stallion and scored the shootout winner. Bowman and Calla were responsible for the goals and James Reid notched his tenth win. With the win Spokane clinched a spot in the playoffs.

Sunday the Chiefs evil twin came back and lost to the Kelowna Rockets at home 2-1. Jared Spurgeon scored the only Chiefs goal off of a sick pass from birthday boy Ondrej Roman. For the most part the Chiefs looked very average, and didn't play like they wanted it very bad. I really hope Spokane can step it up and quickly. Mitch Wahl is slumping, so is Levko Koper. Trevor Glass also played sub-par hockey. It doesn't help that Cowen is lost for the season and will have surgery in a few weeks. I really hope that the other defensemen can step up their game. We're going to need it.

Not only did we lose ground to Tri-City who beat Lethbridge on Sunday (further proof that Kyle Beach can't do anything right), but Kelowna has quietly crept within two points of Spokane for third place in the WHL. Time to step it up, Chiefs! You're certainly more than capable of it. Next stop is at Everett on Wednesday. Hopefully the Chiefs have some more of that nine goal magic they had the last time they were in Everett.

Go Chiefs!

They Might Be Giants

The game against the Vancouver Giants had the making of a bad soap opera. Everything seems to be going well until the evil twin no one knows about shows up and start to ruin everything.

Well, the Spokane Chiefs' evil twin showed up Friday night and just got run over by the Vancouver Giants 4-0. It was bad. Real Bad. I'd rather watch all three Mighty Ducks movies in German all in a row than see the replay of that game again. Vancouver has the best record in the WHL and they just showed us why.

Things I want to see Spokane do better: First, don't make bad passes in the neutral zone. Second, don't get beat to the puck, especially in our own zone. Third, when we're in the attacking zone PLEASE put someone in front of the net! Those things just killed us. Nobody played well in this game. And whoever is on the ice wearing number 14 and pretending to be Mitch Wahl please stop it? I miss the old Mitch Wahl, and that joke's just not funny. I can't even give props to anyone from Friday. Check that, I give Portland props (and major thanks) for beating Tri-City so we can keep pace. I better head to Hallmark and hit up their 'Thanks for beating Tri' section and send Portland a thank you note.

Next home game is Sunday against Kelowna. Hopefully the Chiefs show up for that one.

You'll Get Nothing and Like It!

I really wish I had a 'Count' sound byte from Sesame Street: "Eleven! Eleven straight wins! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Hurricane 'Chiefs' continue to obliterate everything put in it's path. This time it was the Kootenay Ice. The final: 6-0. Tyler Johnson scored twice, including another shortie. Drayson Bowman notched a goal, number 25 for the season. His goal came off of a ridiculously sick move past the defence to put the puck over the goalie's right shoulder. That's a nomination in the category of 'best goal'. The other golas went to Dustin Donaghy, Jared Spurgeon and Mitch Wahl. Tokarski stopped 29 shots in his second straight shutout. Spokane continued to look impressive in all facets of the game. This definitely looks like the best team in the WHL right now.

There were also more fights. Lots of them. Koper fought again. Mike Reddington fought and thankfully didn't injure himself again. And of course it's not a complete game unless Cory Baldwin fights. Jared Spurgeon gets points for an impressive amount of smack talk. Then there was the almost goalie fight. A lot of smacking between goalies during the scraps. Tokarski did earn a nomination in the category of 'best moment during a timeout' when he skated by Kootenay's bench and pointed at the scoreboard. We may see Tokarski fight yet.

Again, 11 wins in a row. The record is 12. Spokane will have to earn that one on Friday when Vancouver comes calling. The Giants have the best record in the WHL and are on an eight game winning streak of their own. Also, this will be the first meeting of the season between the team who won the Memorial Cup last season against the team who won it two seasons ago.

This one's going to be good. Go Chiefs!!

Seriously, though. 'Count' sound byte.