Sense of Optimism

You could say it was a rather odd weekend for the Chiefs. With the way they played you would think they came away with six points instead of only four. Regardless, playing Kelowna on the road and then a home and home set with Portland could have ended disastrous. But all things considered I'll take it.

First off, I haven't mentioned my Saginaw Spirit team for a while so here's a quick OHL post:

Saginaw beat Windsor over the weekend 4-3 in a shootout! Woo Hoo!!!

This concludes my OHL post.

Moving on, the Chiefs rolled into Kelowna on Friday. Kelowna was the only team the Chiefs played more than once last season and didn't beat. Plus, they are the defending WHL champs so I had my concerns. But the Chiefs went in and beat the Rockets 4-3. Kyle Beach and Tyler Johnson each had a pair of goals and Michael Tadjdeh stopped 31 of 34 shots. Who would have thought that Kyle Beach went from most hated hockey player in Spokane to the Chiefs leading scorer. Beach has become.....the wind beneath my wings. Strange that I'm not ashamed to say that.

The Chiefs then came home on Halloween night to face the Portland Winterhawks. Spokane outshot them, outplayed them, and lost 2-0. The Chiefs looked good. The passing was good, the movement was good, and they were getting looks at the net. Problem was Kurtis Mucha had one crazy good night in net for Portland, stopping all 35 shots the Chiefs threw at him. Tadjdeh was also good in net, stopping 24 of 25 shots. The officiating...not good at all. It was so bad that it wasn't even good enough to stink. Hopefully Wieler won't make a return here soon.

Sunday the Chiefs got it together and beat the Winterhawks in Portland 3-0. The goals came from Stefan Ulmer, Kyle Beach, and Tyler Johnson. But most impressive was the return of James Reid who stopped all 34 shots he faced. I started to have doubts of Reid and even started getting critical of him. This performance might have laid some of my fears to rest. I hope he can continue to perform well in net. He is certainly capable of it.

The Chiefs are back Wednesday when Chilliwack comes calling. Then off to Seattle on Friday and Vancouver back in Spokane on Saturday. By the way, the Saturday is red out night. Please wear something red. Anything red will do.

Go Chiefs!