Winter Hawks Upend Chiefs
After what happened last season, nothing in the Spokane Chiefs’ rivalry with the Portland Winter Hawks should come as a surprise.
But even in a series made famous last year for flip-flops, there was lots to puzzle over after Portland’s 4-3 Sunday night win before 5,013 in the Arena, the smallest Spokane crowd since last Jan. 31.
Strange this one was. More or less in order, here’s why.
Two Spokane goals in the final 6 minutes turned a bowser of a hockey game into taut drama.
The Winter Hawks showed up in the wee hours Sunday morning for their third game in as many nights, yet they were the club with the most jump.
The Chiefs scored first and - totally out of character for them - zoned out.
The Winter Hawks lost goaltender Brent Belecki in the second period to what was described as a partially severed tendon of the right thumb. Belecki was hurt when he poke-checked the puck away from Spokane’s John Cirjak, who was on a breakaway, chased by Portland’s Joey Tetarenko. With Belecki off to Deaconess Medical Center for repairs on the slice made by a skate, the Winter Hawks turned to 16-year-old rookie Jason Labarera, who shut out the Chiefs for more than 20 minutes.
The pace was upgraded from dawdling to urgent when Chiefs goaltender Marc Magliarditi stoned Matt Davidson on a breakaway that started a chain reaction that led to Cirjak’s goal, assisted by Joe Cardarelli, at 14:06 of the third. The turnaround That brought the small crowd out of its slumber with the Chiefs down 4-2.
When Yegor Mikhailov scored for the second time on a one-timer from the high slot off a feed from out of the left corner from Trent Whitfield, the Chiefs had wrested complete control with 2:32 to go.
Still they lost, the damage already done by Davidson, who had two goals, and Bobby Russell and Brenden Morrow, who knocked in the others that left the Hawks and Chiefs tied for second in the WHL West at 4-2.
Spokane coach Mike Babcock is taking the Chiefs on a two-day retreat on Lake Coeur d’Alene, but until he forgets this one he won’t be a happy camper.
“We’re going to try to get ourselves into a position where we want to play hockey,” he said. “We’re six games into the year and we acted like a team that just came off a 15-game road trip. They’re the team that got here at 5 this morning. We didn’t play hard last night and found a way to win. We didn’t respond at all tonight.
“There was no screen and holding up for the D. We had no systems. Even on the power play, we didn’t want the puck. I felt sorry for Magliarditi. What was he supposed to do - forecheck and tend goal?”
Babcock said there was enough blame for everybody, including the coach. “We’re not working hard and when that happens you look to the leadership,” he said.
Credit a tight-checking Portland scheme for some of the misery. The Hawks had a 27-26 advantage in shots due in part to the Chiefs’ ineffective transition. The absence of puck-carrying defenseman Hugh Hamilton (concussion) played a part in that but to Portland coach Brent Peterson, the difference was discipline.
“We were tired - there was no juice in the (locker) room at all before the game,” he said. “I was happy to get out of the first period 1-1. Then I thought Spokane played very stupid and undisciplined in the second period. We got a few guys hurt and I just told them there’s no use fighting their whackheads (tough guys).
“Why fight (Andrew) Milne?” Peterson said. “Why would Tetarenko, who’s coming back from a concussion … why even go with them? We’re not going to play the whacko game here. We have enough guys who can go (fight) - Joey, (Kevin) Popp, Muzechka (Mike) - but I’m not going to send them out to fight meatheads. The biggest problem we had is that the referee (Kevin Acheson) didn’t have the courage to call it like it should have been called.
“If you get a good referee, they’ll be in the box all night.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo