Cirjak, Chiefs Come Through Beat Rockets 3-2 In Ot

Once was not enough for John Cirjak.

Thursday night’s win was so sweet that Cirjak reprised his role as game-winner one more time Friday night, driving home the decisive goal 14:54 into overtime in the Spokane Chiefs’ 3-2 win over the Tacoma Rockets.

Cirjak’s second overtime game-winner in as many nights sent the Chiefs on to the Western Hockey League West Division semifinals, where they’ll meet the Tri-City Americans in Game One in Kennewick on Monday night.

Game Two is Tuesday night in Spokane.

As it was 24 hours earlier against TriCity, Cirjak’s goal Friday was assisted by his linemate and fellow Burnaby, British Columbia 17-year-old, Joe Cardarelli.

“It was kind of like the play last night,” Cirjak said. “It was kind of a dump-in and Joe and their defenseman went for the puck. I was wide open in front again. Joe fed me the pass. I put my head down and shot it and it went in.”

They don’t make it easy for themselves, their fans, their coach and especially not for the opposition, but the Chiefs - improbable as it seemed on Jan. 1, when they were in last place - are suddenly the best friend the Spokane Coliseum ever had.

They can’t knock down the Coliseum until somebody knocks off the Chiefs.

And they’re playing well enough to keep the old building upright well into the spring.

The loss was a bitter pill for the Rockets, the second-place finisher in the West. Tacoma is through, once again the victim of a first-round jinx.

Tacoma has never gone beyond the opening round in the four-year history of the Rockets franchise.

The Chiefs had to come from behind to win, defying some impressive odds in the process.

Tacoma, up 2-1 after two periods, lost for only the second time (against 30 wins and a tie) when it led after 40 minutes. Coming back in the final period defied the odds in another way. Spokane was 3-22-2 when trailing after two.

The Rockets jumped up 1-0 on Burt Henderson’s drive from the top of the left circle that hit the right pipe and went in with the Rockets on the power play.

The Chiefs’ Kevin Sawyer tied it 1-1, slipping the puck in from out of a flurry in front of Rockets goaltender Todd MacDonald, who was outstanding in defeat.

Vaclav Varada, who had four playoff goals, three against Spokane, made it 2-1 by scoring off his own miss - going to the net for the initial shot, sending it off the pads of Spokane netminder Jarrod Daniel and over to Varada’s backhand.

Daniel, likewise strong in goal, stoned Tacoma sniper John Varga - loose on a breakaway 5 minutes in the third period - to keep the Chiefs within one.

Daniel came up big again when, diving, he got a glove on Tavis Hansen’s 35-footer 7 minutes into the period.

It was another gem of a save that kept his team in the game.

The Chiefs’ penalty killers were pivotal, snuffing a 5-3 Tacoma advantage starting at 9:26 of the third.

That set up the tying goal, a testimony to the focus displayed by Spokane’s Dmitri Leonov, who scored at 13:52 while being hauled down in the slot.

“We’re on the outside looking in,

which is discouraging,” Tacoma coach Marcel Comeau said. “That’s twice in four years that we’ve been knocked out by teams that finished lower than us.”

MEMO: This is a sidebar that appeared with the story: On deck Chiefs advance to WHL semifinals against Tri-City