Trying To Get Home Chiefs’ Arena Nearly Booked For Following Two Weekends

The Spokane Chiefs were close to selling out the first two games of the Western Hockey League West Division finals Friday afternoon, but just where and when they’ll play has yet to be nailed down.

The Chiefs have the week off while the Kamloops Blazers and Tri-City Americans play a best-of-5 semifinal to determine the other division finalist.

The Kamloops/Tri-City survivor is scheduled to open in Spokane, but the Arena is booked next Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14, for an Amway convention.

That would leave open just Friday. Should the semifinals go full term, Kamloops and Tri-City would play on Thursday night in Kamloops.

It’s not likely that the winner would have to be in Spokane to open a series the next night.

The Chiefs have to hope the Kamloops-Tri-City series ends as quickly as possible. If it doesn’t, Spokane might have to open on the road.

The Chiefs have home-ice advantage, meaning that if the division finalists go to seven games, four will be played here.

“It’s a good news-bad news situation,” Arena general manager Kevin Twohig said. “The good news is that the Arena is booked. The bad news is that the weekend dates aren’t available for the hockey team.”

Twohig said the booking decisions have to be made a year in advance. “You do the best you can,” he said. “This weekend is wide open, but the team did so well (and received a bye), it’s not playing.”

Twohig said there are many weekday dates open, but confirmed the April 20-21 weekend is booked as well.

As of Friday afternoon, fewer than 800 tickets remained for Game 1 of the division finals in the Arena, all in the $7 upper-deck sections.

All but 1,100 tickets for Game 2 have been sold.

Although the Chiefs office is closed until Monday morning, tickets are available at all G&B outlets. Tickets can be charged by phone at 325-7328.

The Chiefs averaged 9,100 in four playoff games with the Portland Winter Hawks, up 2,000 from their regular-season average of 7,100.

More on the controversy

The Winter Hawks are sticking to their contention that their late third-period goal should have counted Wednesday night.

Richard Zednik put the puck across the goal line at 17 minutes, 59 seconds of the third. It would have given the Hawks a 4-3 lead late in a game the Chiefs eventually won in overtime.

Winter Hawks publicist and broadcaster Dean Vrooman said, “Video replays showed that the Hawks probably should have taken the lead with just over 2 minutes left in regulation.

“Zednik was pulled down by Spokane defenseman Adam Magarrell on a partial breakaway and the puck clearly crossed the goal line when Chiefs goalie David Lemanowicz lost his balance after Zednik collided with him in the crease.”

Vrooman cites Rule 72 (c) of the official rule book. “It says that if a player from the attacking side has been physically interfered with by the action of a defending player, so as to cause him to be in the goal crease - and the puck should enter the net while the player so interfered with is still in the goal crease - the goal shall be allowed.”

Referee Tom Kowal said he had blown the play dead prior to the puck crossing the line.

“Replays showed the puck was never controlled or covered by Lemanowicz,” Vrooman said.

Magarrell picked up a tripping penalty that put the Winter Hawks on the power play, but Zednik was called for checking from behind moments later, an ill-advised penalty that erased Portland’s man-advantage.

Winter Hawks beat writer Jim Beseda of the Oregonian takes a different view. He says Kowal’s call was legitimate.

“The puck crossed the goal line, but it’s up to the referee’s discretion as to how,” Beseda said Friday. “From the angle he had, Kowal saw Zednik sliding into Lemanowicz and the net coming off. He couldn’t see that the puck was loose, and couldn’t see it cross the line. He did see Zednik plow into Lemanowicz and he blew the whistle.

“I can understand the call. Almost any referee in the same position would have made it.”

Portland coach Brent Peterson said so long to his players with praise for both teams.

“I don’t think you can catch Spokane off-guard every night in a seven-game series,” Peterson said. “We played step-for-step with a great team, had a chance to bury them and didn’t.”

Around the WHL

Kamloops is mentioned as a possible host of the 1999 world junior tournament, the next year the event is in Canada. The world junior tourney next December is in Switzerland, the one after in Helsinki. … Zednik will join the Washington Caps’ farm club in Portland, Maine.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TRI-CITY WINS Brian Boucher stopped 38 shots to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 2-0 shutout over the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League playoff action Friday in Kamloops, British Columbia. The win gave Tri-City a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 West Division semifinal series.