Chiefs Rise To Top In The West Leeb, Lemanowicz Stay Hot In 4-3 Victory Over Kamloops

Suddenly, the Spokane Chiefs have the best record in the West Division of the Western Hockey League.

Jason Podollan, in his first game back after just missing to stick with the NHL Florida Panthers, scored 2 minutes into the third period to ignite the Chiefs to a 4-3 victory over the Kamloops Blazers Monday afternoon in Riverside Coliseum.

Spokane’s fourth straight victory ran its record to 5-1 and moved it into a first-place tie in the West with Kamloops (5-2) and Kelowna (5-3). Kamloops has lost two in a row after winning its first five.

Greg Leeb’s fourth goal in three games 3:08 after Podollan struck proved the winner before 5,500 Canadian Thanksgiving Day fans.

It’s the sixth straight year the teams have met in the holiday feature and the second straight Spokane win.

Other Spokane goals came from Mike Haley and Joel Boschman, the first of the young season for each.

Jarome Iginla scored all three Kamloops goals.

Goalie David Lemanowicz, unbeaten in 10 starts for Spokane dating to last season, stopped 37 shots while Randy Petruk had 21 saves for Kamloops.

The teams were scoreless after one period and tied 2-2 after two.

Haley took a pass from Derek Schutz from behind the net and put a bouncer between Petruk’s pads.

Iginla, first-round pick of Dallas in the 1995 NHL draft, tied it for Kamloops 12 seconds after Trent Whitfield went off for tripping midway through the second period. Iginla took a rebound of an Aaron Keller shot off the backboards and put it past Lemanowicz at 9:16.

Boschman scored on a slap shot from the right point after Jay Bertsch intercepted a Kamloops clearing pass on the right boards.

Podollan took a pass from Chris Lane, who picked up his first WHL point, and put the puck into an empty net when Petruk strayed.

On Leeb’s winner, Randy Favaro shot the puck from center ice off the backboards. It ricocheted into the slot, where Leeb tipped it home.

Iginla capped the scoring at 18:49 as he got around Adam Magarrell and went in alone on Lemanowicz, beating him on the glove side.

The Chiefs played without defenseman Sean Gillam, who sat out with a groin injury. He availability is on a day-to-day basis.