Loose Chiefs streak

Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters left the ice after an hour-long practice Tuesday afternoon at Eagles Ice-A-Rena, and almost immediately the gloves came off.

Several players stayed on the ice – taking shots on goalies between dropping sticks and gloves and play-fighting around the rink after practice was over.

The pressure is mounting, but it doesn’t seem to bother the Chiefs.

It’s simply a great time to be in a Chiefs sweater.

Coming off a 9-1 victory over the struggling Portland Winter Hawks (2-13-0-0) on Sunday – the highest-scoring game this season for Spokane – the Chiefs (11-2-1-1, 24 points) are winners of eight consecutive games, matching the second-longest winning streak in franchise history.

“The biggest thing for us was mentally we knew Portland was having tough times, so we knew that we couldn’t take them lightly,” Chiefs captain Chris Bruton said. “We wanted to go in there and treat it like any other game, not give up a division game, and get the points that we needed.”

The longest streak in franchise history is 12 games and was set during the 1995-96 season.

“The pressure is on ourselves,” said Bruton. “We want to continue to be a successful team, so to keep the winning streak alive is definitely something we want to do and continue to be one of the top teams.”

Eight straight is no easy feat and it gets tougher for the Chiefs, who are tied with Tri-City (12-4-0-0) for the U.S. Division lead with one less game played, this weekend.

The Chiefs, ranked second in this week’s Western Major Junior Hockey Writer’s poll, host the Seattle Thunderbirds (6-3-2-1) on Friday, the defending Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants (11-3-1-2) on Saturday and travel to Seattle on Sunday for the third meeting in nine days with the Thunderbirds.

Minding the net

It’s a good problem to have.

The Chiefs’ situation in goal – splitting time between veterans Kevin Armstrong and Dustin Tokarski – is unique.

More important, it’s working.

Armstrong (7-1-1-0) has won his last six starts and is fourth in the Western Hockey League with a 2.12 goals-allowed average. He earned his fourth career shutout, third as a Chief, with 18 saves in a 2-0 victory over Vancouver on Oct. 21.

Tokarski earned his first shutout of the season and third of his career last Saturday with 22 saves against Seattle. He is 4-1-0-1 on the season and third in the WHL with a 1.98 GAA and .917 save percentage.

The Chiefs are still carrying three goaltenders on their roster – Armstrong, Tokarski and James Reid.

General manager Tim Speltz said that without setting a deadline for anything, it isn’t likely they will carry three after November.

Then someone will be sent back down or traded, Speltz added.

A balanced attack

When it comes to the Chiefs’ offensive output, a red-hot October is largely because of the balanced stat sheet.

Drayson Bowman continues to lead the Chiefs with 18 points – 10 of those from goals – but not by much.

Bruton and Mitch Wahl have collected 16 points each and Judd Blackwater, who had a hat trick Sunday against Portland, and Ondrej Roman have 14 points.

Rookie defenseman Jared Cowen has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 14 games and is tied for seventh in scoring among the rookies.

“I like the fact that we are getting a more balanced score sheet,” said Peters. “For a while it was the same guys showing up in the stats, and it’s important for us that we are more balanced in scoring in case a line gets shut down or any injuries come up.”

Rutherford has MRI

David Rutherford’s status has been day-to-day for the past couple of weeks as the overage forward is dealing with a nagging groin injury.

After an MRI last week, Rutherford won’t be back for at least four to six weeks, Peters said.

“He needs time to get healthy so we can get a good player back when he does return,” Peters added.

Chiefs forward Dustin Donaghy (hand) is also likely out until December.

Chiefs’ games televised

For the third straight year, Comcast will televise a handful of Chiefs games – six home games and three on the road.

Saturday’s game against Vancouver at 7 p.m. will be the first on the nine games televised this season on Comcast channel 12.

Games will be re-aired the next day on the same channel, at 3:30 p.m., and will be available through On Demand for the duration of the season.

The remaining eight games that will be aired are: at Tri-City on Nov. 24, Jan. 5 and March 15; against Swift Current on Dec. 8; against Tri-City on Jan. 12, Feb. 9 and Feb. 23; and against Chilliwack on March 8.