Chiefs finally play in Arena
After playing their first five games of the Western Hockey League season on the road, the Spokane Chiefs finally get home.
But the momentum generated by winning their first three games has turned into a limp as they arrive in the Arena tonight at 7 to entertain the Tri-City Americans in the second half of a home-and-home series.
Americans captain T.J. Fast gobbled up a rebound of a Kevin Armstrong save and slipped the puck past the Spokane goaltender 51 seconds into overtime Friday night to give Tri-City a 4-3 victory in Kennewick.
Spokane (3-1-1) came out of a frantic-scoring first period training 3-2, but tied it 3-3 42 seconds into the second period on Judd Blackwater’s second goal of the season.
During the next 40 minutes, the Chiefs, backed by Armstrong’s stellar performance – Tri-City outshot Spokane 20-14 in the second and third periods – battled the Americans (6-1) on even terms.
But a defensive breakdown early in the 5-minute extra period produced a two-game losing streak.
Taylor Procyshen, whose sixth goal of the season late in the first period gave the Ams the 3-2 lead, was left open in front of Armstrong and got a point-blank shot that the Spokane netminder kicked aside. But Fast was there to end it.
Jared Cowen, the Chiefs’ 16-year-old No. 1 selection in the Bantam Draft, collected his first WHL goal 2:48 into the first period, but Spokane’s lead was short-lived.
Johnny Lazo scored 61 seconds later, and WHL scoring leader Kruise Reddick got his sixth goal 14 seconds after that.
Mitch Wahl tied it for Spokane at 12:05 on a nice feed from captain Chris Bruton before Procyshen put the Ams up 3-2.
Tonight’s game – the 17th time in 18 seasons Spokane will open at home against Tri-City – kicks off with a ceremony recognizing this year’s team.
This time they meet as the top teams in the U.S. Division, but Tri-City has a five-point margin over runner-up Spokane, 12-7. The Americans have the top scorer in the league in Reddick, who has 15 points.
Spokane is 13-9 in home openers, 8-4 in the Arena, but lost 5-1 to the Ams last year.