Chiefs erase bad memories
According to Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters, there were two options after last Monday’s 9-7 loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Dwell, or throw the game tape away and move on.
“You’ll drive yourself crazy watching that one over and over,” Peters said Thursday before the Chiefs boarded a bus and headed west for tonight’s Western Hockey League contest with the Everett Silvertips.
Coming into Monday, the Chiefs had allowed a league-low average of 2.16 goals a game. Kevin Armstrong started between the posts and after a five-goal first period was replaced by Dustin Tokarski, who allowed four goals in the final two periods.
The entire weekend was a bust, beginning with the postponement of Friday’s game at the Arena with Seattle. The Chiefs lost 7-2 at home to the rival Americans on Saturday and were shut out on Sunday in Seattle after detouring through Portland on a 10-hour bus ride.
The loss to Seattle on Monday was their third straight and dropped them to second in the U.S. Division, six points behind the Tri-City Americans.
“I’m sure both goalies want at least one goal back (from Monday’s game),” Peters said. “There’s not one area we were real pleased with – 5-on-5 play, our effort in the offensive zone and the way we handled ourselves in the defensive zone.
“We just weren’t there and it was a very poor effort, but you can either nag on that or you can elect to move on, and we’ve moved on big time.”
The Chiefs took Tuesday off for some well-needed rest, before practicing Wednesday and Thursday at Eagles Ice-A-Rena and heading to Everett for the first of 15 final regular-season games – 11 of which are within the division. The Chiefs will also make a stop in Kennewick on Saturday to take on the Americans.
“I’m interested in seeing how this team responds overall,” Peters said. … “The other teams were more desperate for the win all weekend, and that’s what I’d like to see come back.”
Unfortunately, Peters will probably have to wait until after this weekend to roll the lines he feels will skate together down the stretch.
The plan is to reunite the dynamic top line of Drayson Bowman, Mitch Wahl and Chris Bruton – a combo that scored a lot and gave up little in the first half of the season.
He will also likely pair rookie Jared Cowen and veteran Jared Spurgeon back up and continue to pair Mike Reddington and Trevor Glass on the blue line.
Peters hopes injured forward Curtis Kelner (shoulder) will return by Tuesday and will rotate on a line with Seth Compton, Ryan Letts and Dustin Donaghy.
“This weekend will be good for us,” Peters said. “The thing I love about this group is how resilient they are. They had a team meeting Monday and then brushed it off and got back to business and this weekend will be big in terms of seeing how well they can respond to that.”
Ice chips
The Chiefs dropped from first to third in the latest Canadian Hockey League poll, released Thursday. From the WHL, Tri-City is ranked second, Calgary is fourth and Vancouver is eighth. … Overage forward David Rutherford (flu) practiced for the first time this week on Wednesday and Tyler Johnson will likely sit out this weekend because of nagging flu symptoms. … Tokarski will start in goal tonight for Spokane. Tokarski is tied for third in the league with a 2.11 goals-against average. … Chiefs captain Bruton is second in the league with a plus-32. Wahl is tied for fourth at plus-29 and Drayson Bowman and Spurgeon are tied for sixth with plus-28.