Bowman as Bowman: Star winger guides Chiefs

Other than their home ice being used as an elephant gymnasium during the city’s peak hockey moment of the past seven years, things couldn’t be better for the Spokane Chiefs.

Which makes it the perfect time to nitpick.

It isn’t going to be easy. The Chiefs are still chilling out from a 4-2 series victory over the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference semifinals, notable for – among other things – being the earliest elimination of a 100-point team from the playoffs in 28 years.

Not that it was an upset. The Chiefs and their old pals the Tri-City Americans, who open the conference finals Friday in Kennewick, remain alive for a reason: They were the best in the West to begin with.

“When we left Tri-Cities on March 15th, we’d lost the last game to them and it was a big game at the time,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “But you had the feeling we weren’t quite done seeing each other yet.”

Destiny or destination, Spokane had the tougher task in reaching it. The tipping point was Game 5 in Vancouver, a 4-0 Chiefs romp that kept them from coming home facing two elimination games. Peters called it “as complete an effort as I’ve seen here as head coach,” though the encore in Spokane was almost as good.

Still, rough edges remain.

What was the WHL’s most efficient power play during the season has de-evolved into the worst among playoff survivors – just six goals in 47 chances and just one against Vancouver, so Spokane’s survival was largely because of its own penalty kill being nails.

And if the Chiefs hope to reach their first WHL final since 2000, they probably need Drayson Bowman to be, well, Drayson Bowman.

Spokane’s most prolific goal scorer in a decade, the 18-year-old left winger struggled through the early stages of the Vancouver series, finishing with a goal and four assists. Tenth in the league in scoring this season, he’s only 28th on the playoff list.

“Things were a little rough there,” Bowman admitted. “There weren’t many opportunities to score. I don’t feel like I’m helping my team unless I contribute offensively, and I hadn’t been doing that for a while.”

This is, of course, the sort of argument which gave birth to the ubiquitous “yeah, but…”

When the team is playing as well as it has all season – and to both Peters and Bowman, that point is indisputable – is it really that significant that one cylinder isn’t quite firing? And just how much of Bowman’s difficulties can be pinned to playing the Giants, statistically – if not by acclaim – the WHL’s best defensive team?

“He’s got high expectations,” said Peters, “but if you’re a big offensive guy in a tight-checking series, there’s a lot of eyes on you. I told our guys they weren’t going to throw up big numbers. Both teams were too good defensively and work too hard. Some of these series you see guys with 13 points in five games. I don’t think that’s going to happen when we play anybody, let alone Vancouver.

“To be honest, I was surprised there wasn’t a 1-0 game or two.”

But Peters tacitly conceded there was an issue when he decided to shuffle Spokane’s lines in advance of that pivotal fifth game, teaming Bowman with Ondrej Roman and David Rutherford, who were the hottest things going for the Chiefs. Bowman had a goal and an assist in the shutout, so it was at least mission launched if not accomplished.

“After a while, you grow stale whether you want to admit it or not,” Peters said. “Romie was a guy who had the puck more than anybody else in the series and I thought he’d be a good guy to get the puck to Bow – and it’s necessary to get the puck to him. He’s an elite scorer, and he needs the puck.”

Change in the playoff crucible is not always a risk.

“Sometimes it’s welcome,” Bowman said. “Maybe you’re doing the same old things and they’re just not working. And sometimes it gives the other team a different look and something else to worry about.”

Worried was something Bowman wasn’t.

“I felt like I was able to help my team in ways other than scoring – but obviously I’d like to do both,” he said.

It’s more likely that he’ll need to this series. In their seven wins over Spokane this year, the Americans scored four or more goals four times. Their own sniper, Colton Yellow Horn, had that many himself in one game. Bowman was not as productive – seven points in 12 games – but no series is ever won 1-on-1.

So patching the power play no doubt weighs on Peters more. As he said, “We’ve beat it to death to the point where it’s almost mental” – making it the elephant in the room, if you will.

Which is fitting. With apologies to the Shriners, the real circus starts Friday.