Chiefs Rough Up Cougars Spokane Wins 4-1, Thanks In Part To Graf’s Ko Punch
The Inland Northwest is still recovering from Tuesday’s rare ice storm that brought down power lines and toppled trees.
Ice Storm II - the Spokane Chiefs’ 4-1 win over Prince George on Wednesday night - had its own variation of a fallen tree.
That would be the Cougars’ 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara, who hit the ice in the Arena after being cut down by a Kris Graf punch 9 minutes into the Western Hockey League game.
The Chara-Graf fight was an emotional jolt for the Chiefs, who scored the game-winner short-handed, with Chara in the penalty box.
Spokane went on to out-shoot the Cougars 18-3 in the first 20 minutes on the way to ending a four-game losing streak.
The star of the show was Derek Schutz but there’s no doubt that Graf is back in the good graces of his teammates after taking on one of the West Divison’s celebrated tough guys.
Chara had flattened Spokane’s Curtis Suter with a devastating head-on check that ended Suter’s service for the evening. As Suter was woozily hitting the ice, Graf was dropping the gloves and the bout was on.
Chara, the 234-pound, 19-year-old drafted property of the New York Islanders, landed the first couple of blows but went down when the Chiefs’ left winger sent him to one knee with a straight shot to the nose. That lit up the crowd of 5,509 who didn’t expect the cruiserweight, the 6-foot Graf, to hold his own with the long-armed Chara, who is routinely picked on by the league’s toughest kids.
“I thought it was the big play of the game,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “Grafer did what he does well and then played a heckuva game after that, with Mike Haley. Hales was my pick for first star of the game.”
Haley made it 3-0 with his first goal since knocking in the game-winner on opening night in Kelowna. Marc Brown’s wrist shot bounced off Myers and Haley put the rebound through the goalkeeper’s pads.
The assist was Brown’s first WHL point. The second assist went to another rookie, Jared Smyth, who picked up his second career point.
The rest was up to the veterans who’ve stepped up in the absence of scoring leader Trent Whitfield, who’s out with an ankle injury.
Playing on a tender knee, Schutz re-directed a Hugh Hamilton shot from the point of the power play just 3:32 into the game to put the Chiefs up 1-0.
Schutz added his 11th goal of the season in the third period playing on what Babcock called a first degree strain of the medial collateral ligament.
“I wore a brace,” Schutz said. “There’s some pain but nothing too bad. The only time it hurt is when I was turning or stopping. Basic skating doesn’t hurt. It felt good in warmups so we tried it out.”
Marian Cisar set up the second goal with the Chiefs short a man. Graf was in the box for instigating the fight with Chara. Cisar blocked an Eric Brewer shot from the point, then turned the puck around to the flying Hamilton, who was off on a 3-1 break that caught the Cougar power-play unit by surprise. Hamilton bounced the puck off 17-year-old goaltender Scott Myers and John Cirjak swooped in for the rebound and his 15th goal of the year.
It was the Chiefs’ fifth short-handed goal of the season.
Schutz echoed Babcock’s praise of Graf, who played his first game in two weeks. He had been sent home for violating team policy regarding class attendance and curfew.
“We’ve had some problems stepping up for our teammates,” Schutz said. “Graf showed us how it’s supposed to be done. He got us going.”
Chiefs 4, Cougars 1
Prince George 0 1 0 - 1
Spokane 3 0 1 - 4
First period - 1, Spo, Schutz 10 (Hamilton, Cirjak) 3:32 (power play); 2, Spo, Cirjak 15 (Hamilton, Cisar) 9:50 (short-handed) 9:50; 3, Spo, Haley 2 (Brown, Smyth) 16:19. Key penalties - McKay, PG, 2:46; Graf, Spo, 8:46. Second period - 4, PG, Bayrack 2 (Kiesman, Brough) 9:27. Key penalties - Schutz, Spo, :23; Cardarelli, Spo, 7:24; Mehalko, PG, 12:34; Lane, Spo, 14:13; McKay, PG, 17:21. Third period - 5, Spo, Schutz 11 (Cardarelli, Magarrell) :40. Key penalties - Mullen, PG, 34; Cirjak, Spo, :51. Power plays - Prince George 0 of 5. Spokane 2 of 4.Saves -Prince George, Myers 15-10-7-32. Spokane, Miller 3-8-10-21.A- 5,509
, DataTimes