Chiefs, Babcock Plan To Alter Tactics Sinclair Should Have More Of An Impact With Spokane At Home
Matchups were a much discussed factor in the first three games of the Western Hockey League championship finals in Brandon, Manitoba.
Tactics change in tonight’s Spokane Chiefs-Brandon Wheat Kings Game 4 in the Arena before a sellout crowd and a regional TV audience.
As the home coach, Brandon’s Bob Lowes dictated matchups in the first three games. Perhaps to no one’s surprise Brandon won two of the first three games and leads the series 2-1.
But now, with the Chiefs at home tonight, Thursday night and possibly Saturday night, Mike Babcock as home coach has the last change.
The Chiefs coach will dictate matchups in the Arena.
That means Darren Sinclair - arguably the league’s top checking center - will be on the ice against the Wheat Kings’ effective threesome of Bobby Brown, Cory Cyrenne and Mike Leclerc.
“That’s off the start anyway,” Babcock said Tuesday. “I’m comfortable in our building, getting our matchups.”
Although the championship series has come off minus controversy, Lowes was talking Monday about clutching and grabbing - Spokane style - before Game 3 in Brandon.
Lowes said his club would just have to fight through it.
His concerns were put aside when the Wheat Kings jumped on the Chiefs from the first drop of the puck in a 9-5 win.
“We worked harder (in Game 3) than we did on Sunday (when Spokane won 1-0),” Lowes said. “When you work harder it makes it tougher to do that. But there didn’t seem to be as much of that (Monday night) both ways. When it happened, it was called.”
It’s hard to tell if Lowes was really concerned about obstructions or if he was just into a little pregame gamesmanship with the referees’ mind.
Calls by referee Mike Hasenfratz Monday were nearly even - 42 minutes in penalties against Brandon, 40 against the Chiefs. The referees weren’t perfect but they were fair.
But officiating style differs with personalities and Brown, the Wheat King’s veteran known as Bulldog Bobby Brown, who starred in Game 3, talked about it.
“We had a different forecheck Monday night,” Brown said. “We battled hard to get through the hold-ups. And maybe a different style of refereeing helped us.”
Babcock said too much can be made of who’s on the ice against whom.
“The team that wins the one-on-one battles wins,” he said. “That’s been the case in the first three games. Now we’re in our building for three of the next four. We feel positive about that.”
Notes
Chiefs sniper Jason Podollan is only three goals away from tying the WHL’s 20-year-old record for single-season playoff goals. The record (24) was set in 1976 by Saskatoon’s Blair Chapman. … Podollan already holds the record for the WHL’s greatest beard. … On the subject of facial hair, Cheifs captain Sean Gillam could pass for an outfielder with the 1889 Cincinnati Red Stockings with his serious sideburns. … When David Lemanowicz beat the Wheat Kings 1-0 Sunday in Brandon, it was the Chiefs goaltender’s sixth shutout of the season
Wade Redden and Bobby Brown tied a Wheat Kings club record on Monday night, playing in their 49th career playoff game. … Redden was runner-up to Nolan Baumgartner of the Kamloops Blazers and Washington Capitals in the vote for the league’s top defenseman. … Brown started the year in pro hockey, with Springfield of the American Hockey League. … Former Chiefs coach Mike Fedorko was in the stands over the weekend in Brandon, scouting the eventual WHL champ for the Guelph (Ontario) Storm. … The Wheat Kings’ power play - best in the league in the regular season - was a woeful 1 for 13 after two games of this series. Brandon’s PP came alive in Monday night’s Game 3, punching through on four of five opportunities … Although the Chiefs were blown out Monday 9-5 recent history suggests a return to a tight game on Wednesday night. Nine of Spokane 16 playoff games have been decided by a single goal
The Chiefs are 5-4 in one-goal postseason games. … Spokane is 6-3 on the road in the playoffs. The Wheat Kings are 5-2 in playoff games on the road … Brandon has won 30 of its last 34 games … Should Brandon win the WHL title, it’ll do it with more home-grown players than any club in league history. Seventeen of the Wheat Kings 25 rostered players were raised in Manitoba.
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