Here's an oddity from the Spokane Chiefs' weekend - they beat two of the better teams in the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League on the road but they lose at home.

Still, it would have to be considered an outstanding weekend since the Chiefs played well at the Arena on Saturday night but lost to a red-hot goalie. That would add up to three solid performances, coming off two disappointing one-goal losses at home against TC and Brandon.

Maybe the Chiefs really did need more games to find a rhythm. If that's the case they should be ready to roll. This week it's W-F-S games, the road game in Seattle sandwiched between home games against Chilliwack and Vancouver. Next week it's Everett here on Tuesday with Kamloops and Kelowna visiting on the weekend.

The best advice is sit back and enjoy the five home games over the next two weeks. Then there will be a better idea of they're contenders or pretenders.

News out of Portland is hard to come by. From Saturday's game, which the Chiefs lost 2-0, there was the Oregonian story about Winterhawks goalie Kurtis Mucha tying the franchise record with his eighth shutout. All I discovered so far about Sunday's win in the Rose City was this video from the Winterhawks' blog. It took me a while, but I figured out why - Monday's stories aren't on-line as of 8 a.m. on Monday.

---

---