Spokane Spanked Chiefs Home In A 2-1 Hole

The rubber match of this three-game set was just that.

David Lemanowicz saw a lot of rubber, in the little time he saw.

One night after Lemanowicz pitched the first shutout at the Brandon Wheat Kings in more than two years, the Wheaties turned up the heat on the Spokane Chiefs goaltender, firing 25 shots at him in a period and a half.

When four shots found the back of the net in the Wheat Kings’ 9-5 win in Game 3 of the Western Hockey League championship finals, it was time for a change.

Aaron Miller replaced Lemanowicz - whose support bordered on the nonexistent - midway in the second period and mopped up one of the rare games when the Chiefs went from flat to listless in the first two periods.

Not even a five-goal barrage in third-period garbage time could put Chiefs coach Mike Babcock in a celebratory mood on his 33rd birthday.

“We didn’t play very well or work very hard and it got ugly quick,” Babcock said.

The clubs jumped the same charter out of Winnipeg after the game - their third in four nights here - to get ready for Wednesday night’s Game 4 in Spokane.

The Wheat Kings lead the series 2-1.

Facing the next three games of this best-of-seven in Spokane, the Wheaties had the desperation factor working for them from the drop of the puck in what could still be their last game of the season at home.

They had dropped one of the first two at home. Losing a second - the rubber match if you will - before 3,627 in the Keystone Centre would have been an open invitation for the Chiefs to wrap this up at home.

The Chiefs can still do that by running the table in the Arena - they play Wednesday and Thursday nights and Saturday night if necessary - but that won’t happen with another night like this. Brandon outshot the Chiefs 45-29 and led 7-0.

So the Wheat Kings moved two wins away from the WHL championship and a trip to the Memorial Cup May 11-19 in Peterborough, Ontario.

Bobby Brown’s two first-period goals set the tone. Brown’s first came as Spokane’s Jan Hrdina was coming off the ice with a broken nose, effectively creating a manadvantage situation that Brown jumped at just 3:22 into the game.

Hrdina took a shot from Mike Leclerc behind the Chiefs net.

“I thought it was a clean hit,” Brown said. “Lemanowicz was on the left side of the goal post. I called for the pass from (Cory) Cyrenne. I knew that if I could pull it out from behind the net and in front I’d get him coming across. That’s what happened. He came across and left a bit of the 5-hole open and I just snuck it through.”

After Brown made it 2-0, Wade Redden, Dorian Anneck, Peter Schaefer and Leclerc teed off to make it 6-0 after two periods.

Hrdina rallied to score his fifth playoff goal in the third period, after Jason Podollan ended the shutout with his 21st playoff goal, three short of the WHL single-season record. With an assist, Podollan raised his playoff scoring total to a club-record 32 points, one better than Ray Whitney in the Chiefs’ ‘91 Memorial Cup season.

Hugh Hamilton, Dmitri Leonov and Randy Favaro also beat Brandon goalie Jody Lehman.

Brown, who finished with five points on two goals and three assists, said the Chiefs didn’t fold.

“You could be 10 goals up on them and they’ll still work hard and finish the game strong,” said Brown, the 20-year-old right wing, in his 49th career playoff game.

“Maybe it was a bonus staying at home for Game 3,” Brown said. “They’ve been on the road four days now and that might have paid off for us. They dominated the third period. You can say the game was well in hand, but there’s no such thing as meaningless hockey in the playoffs. Every minute is important. They were looking at the third period as their building block heading” home.

Brown said forechecking is a key.

“Our forecheck is important,” Brown said. “The Chiefs do a good job of holding up guys on the forecheck, giving their defensemen time to make plays. We have to battle through that to be successful. “We’re a big enough club that if we keep putting pressure on their top defensemen on the forecheck, hopefully that will pay off.”

Wheat Kings 9, Chiefs 5

Spokane 0 0 5 - 5

Brandon 2 4 3 - 9

First period - 1, Brandon, Brown 12 (Cyrenne, Leclerc), 3:08. 2, Brandon, Brown 13 (Anneck, Cyrenne), 12:23 (pp). Key penalties - Brandon bench (too many men on), 5:17; Jonasson, Bran, 7:29; Leonov, Spo, 7:29; Boschman, Spo, 16:28; Cyrenne, Spo, 17:23.

Second period - 3, Brandon, Redden 3 (Anneck, Brown), 2:21 (pp). 4, Brandon, Anneck 6 (Butenschon), 9:53. 5, Brandon, Schaefer 9 (Brown, Lehman), 11:45. 6, Brandon, Leclerc 5 (Cyrenne), 17:38. Key penalties - Hrdina, Spo, 1:34; Smart, Bran, 3:35; Podollan, Spo, 18:41; Van Oene, Bran, 19:16.

Third period - 7, Brandon, Cherneski 3 (Robson, Jonasson), 2:22. 8, Spokane, Podollan 21 (Hrdina, Graf), 3:42. 9, Brandon, Robson 3 (Redden, Jonasson), 4:45. 10, Spokane, Hrdina 5 (Graf, Podollan), 6:24. 11, Brandon, Redden 4 (Brown, Anneck), 12:02 (pp). 12, Spokane, Hamilton 3 (Hrdina, Leonov), 15:28 (pp). 13, Spokane, Leonov 9 (Boschman), 17:42. 14, Spokane, Favaro 3 (Whitfield, Gillam), 19:07. Key penalties - Hamilton, Spo, 10:59; Bran, Bench minor (too many on) 13:31; Boschman, Spo, 19:19.

Power-play opp. - Spokane 1 of 6; Brandon 4 of 5.Saves - Spokane, Lemanowicz 12-9-0-21, Miller x-4-12-15. Brandon, Lehman 8-10-6-24.A - 3,627.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo