Chiefs gaining ground

The last week of Spokane Chiefs Hockey can be interpreted a few ways. Well, at least the beginning of that week can be. But no matter how you look at it, the bottom line is that the Chiefs managed to earn five of a possible six points during their last three games.

Looking to exact revenge from a previous blowout, the Chiefs visited the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday night. While a win would have helped them gain ground in the U.S. Division standings, a late surge by the ‘Tips helped Everett rally for a 4-3 overtime win. Stefan Ulmer’s fourth goal of the season staked Spokane to a 3-1 lead with just under 16 minutes left in the contest, but two Everett goals in a 46-second span sent the game to OT before the Silvertips’ Tyler Maxwell netted the game-winner two minutes into overtime.

Fortunately, Spokane didn’t dwell on the loss very long as two nights later, Spokane completed their five-game road trip in determined fashion with a 4-1 victory over their bitter rivals, the Tri-City Americans.

Three first period goals, one a man down, one a man up and one even-strength, staked the Chiefs to an early 3-0 lead from which they never looked back. Tyler Johnson, Jared Cowen, Brendan Kichton and Mitch Wahl tallied for Spokane, who kept the pressure on the Ams and Portland Winter Hawks in their chase to move up the standings. Netminder James Reid killed eight of nine Tri-City power plays, while yielding just one goal on 42 shots, as Spokane’s well-balanced attack helped them defeat the U.S. Division leaders.

To wrap up the week, the Chiefs came home to face the Eastern Conference’s Regina Pats. Again, the Chiefs used a complete effort in a convincing win, this time 4-0 over the visiting Pats. Like versus Tri-City, Spokane got scoring from four different skaters in the victory, while Reid’s 22-save shutout earned him first-star honors. Johnson, Kenton Miller, Steve Kuhn and Ryan Letts, with his first marker of the season, scored for Spokane, who improved to 16-8-2-0 on the season.

The five-point week enabled the Chiefs to jump Everett for third place in the division, though the ‘Tips have one game in hand on Spokane. The Chiefs still find themselves two points behind the Winter Hawks and four behind the Ams in the division, though they have four games in hand on Portland and one on Tri-City.

The Chiefs have just two games on the schedule during the upcoming week: a home date with the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night and a road matchup with the Winter Hawks on Sunday. Four points in those two games could mean a first-place standing as the season nears the halfway mark of the season. Game time on Friday is 7 p.m.