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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Winter Hawks overwhelm frustrated Chiefs



 (The Spokesman-Review)

The Portland Winter Hawks just know how to frustrate an opponent.

On Friday night, Portland came at Spokane time and time again, both taking Chiefs players off the puck then also taking them on physically, as the Winter Hawks cruised to a 4-0 win over the Chiefs in a Western Hockey League game on Friday night before 7,823 at the Arena.

Coach Al Conroy had preached to his team before the game not to take the bait and be drawn into confrontations with Portland players. That lasted about a period, then the Winter Hawks blew the game open in the second period with three unanswered goals.

The Chiefs never quit, but they never made headway either. When they did get chances, Portland goalie Blake Grenier shut them down while making 30 saves in posting the shutout.

“I thought we worked hard; I thought Portland worked hard, too,” said Conroy. “It’s just mistakes again. We had a couple guys give up on a couple plays that they shouldn’t be doing. We coughed the puck up at bad times and gave them opportunities – and they capitalized.”

After a scoreless first period, the Winter Hawks came out strong to start the second and took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Dan Da Silva just 1 minute, 42 seconds into the period. He beat Spokane goaltender Kevin Opsahl high, glove-side on a beautiful feed from Brandon Dubinsky as Portland collapsed Spokane’s defense.

At that point, the Chiefs began to match the Winter Hawks’ intensity and the game was more hotly contested. Tempers boiled to the point that Spokane’s Chad Klassen, the team’s leading scorer who is not a fighter, took on Dubinsky in a fight at the 13:10 mark of the second period.

But it would be Portland that would strike the next blow.

The Winter Hawks made it 2-0 just 46 seconds later when Kyle Bailey put back his own long rebound from just inside the blue line on a slapshot past Opsahl.

Portland would make it 3-0 with 1:39 left in the period when Garrett Festerling and Brian Woolger both got around two Spokane defenders and Festerling got it past Opsahl.

That’s how the period would end, and the Chiefs had dug themselves quite a hole as they were booed off the ice by their fans.

Spokane would come back with full effort in the third period, but continued to be out of sync at times and just plain frustrated by Portland. The Chiefs would mount increasing pressure on the Winter Hawks that led to a would-be goal by Jeff Lynch but was waived off because he knocked the puck into the net while committing a high-sticking offense.

The ultimate sign of the Chiefs’ offensive ineptitude on this night was when they got a 5-on-3 opportunity for 1 minute, 28 seconds at the 6:30 mark of the third but had trouble even keeping it in Portland’s end of the ice. The Winter Hawks escaped the situation intact.

Portland closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at the 13:48 mark of the third period, when Cody McLeod made it 4-0 just nine seconds into a Myles Stoesz penalty for roughing. A great portion of the crowd then started making its way for the exits.

Spokane (52 points) now must respond to yet another challenge tonight against the now fourth-place Americans (54) before an expected sellout.

Winter Hawks 4, Chiefs 0

Portland0314
Spokane0000

First period–None.

Second period– 1, Por, Da Silva 26 (Dubinsky) 1:42; 2, Por, Bailey 13:56; 3, Por, Festerling 12 (Woolger) 18:21.

Third period– 4, Por, McLeod (Da Silva, Cepek) 13:48 (pp). Key penalty – Stoesz, Spo (roughing) 13:39.

Power-play Opportunities–Portland 1 of 3; Spokane 0 of 7. Saves–Portland, Grenier (W, 11-8-0-1) 8-11-11–30. Spokane, Opsahl (L, 4-7-4-1) 6-9-7–22. A–7,823.