Chiefs sweep ‘Tips

EVERETT – Break out the brooms and bring on the Vancouver Giants.

In by far the most intense and exciting game of their opening-round Western Hockey League playoff series, the Spokane Chiefs completed a four-game sweep of the Everett Silvertips with a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night at Comcast Arena to win the Western Conference quarterfinal series 4-0.

It was Chiefs forward Mitch Wahl who redirected a pass from Jared Spurgeon on the left boards and gave brutal meaning to the phrase sudden death for the Silvertips when he tapped in the game-winning goal, his second of the playoffs, 12 minutes and 21 seconds into overtime.

“It feels good to get that out of the way,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “Move on. Go home. We’ve been here a month – it ain’t that nice of a town.”

The Chiefs will now face the defending Memorial Cup champion Giants in a best-of-7 conference semifinal series, set to begin Friday in Spokane. Vancouver also swept its first-round series against the Chilliwack Bruins.

“I think it’ll be one of best matchups the WHL has ever seen,” Chiefs captain Chris Bruton predicted. “You’ve got two teams who have scored (more than) 100 points (in the regular season) and that are very similar with physical players.”

Chiefs goalie Dustin Tokarski won his fourth game of the 2008 playoffs between the posts, turning aside 33 shots – including several big-time saves in overtime.

In a tightly contested match, the Silvertips finally played desperate hockey.

When Spokane took a 1-0 lead with a Judd Blackwater goal late in the first, though, Spokane carried the momentum through the second period and gave Everett just three shots in the middle stanza.

The Silvertips, though, didn’t give up anything in the second, either, thanks to the play of backup goalie Shayne Barrie. Barrie made his first start of the playoffs, in place of Calgary Flames first-round draft pick Leland Irving, and finished with 32 saves.

Something had to give, and it did in the form of Levko Koper’s second goal in as many nights for the Chiefs midway through the third. It seemed the end was near for Everett, until less than two minutes later when the Silvertips’ Graham Potuer slapped in a shot from inside the blue line, cutting the Chiefs’ lead to one goal.

Opportunity came knocking for Everett when Spokane’s Drayson Bowman took a double-minor high sticking penalty while the Chiefs were on the power play at 17:23.

Barrie was pulled with 1:30 left, and the Silvertips’ Jonathan Harty scored a 6-on-4 goal with less than a minute in regulation.

“That final 20 minutes they came out and threw everything at us,” said Peters. “We made it harder than it needed to be, took a double-minor when we were on the power play and early in game had too many men on the ice. It had been since December since we made that kind of mistake.”

True to the series, though, Spokane got the break.

“It was good not to give them any sort of momentum and (allow them to) extend the series,” said Chiefs defenseman Justin Falk. “It’s hard to win in this building. To not give them any more life was huge for us.”

Ice chips

Several NHL scouts and a handful of general managers were on hand for the game, including Hurricanes amateur scout Albert Marshall, who was not only scouting draft-eligible players but keeping an eye on Spokane’s Drayson Bowman and Justin McCrae, Carolina’s respective third- and fourth-round draft picks in the 2007 draft. “Bowman is pure talent,” Marshall said. “He’s a smooth skater, has good hands and seldom gives the puck away – he has a gift. Justin is more of a defensive player. We’d like to see him develop more offensively, but he is a very sound defensive player.”

Chiefs 3, Silvertips 2 (OT)

First Period—1, Spokane, Blackwater 3, 18:56. Second Period—None. Third Period—2, Spokane, Koper 2 (Johnson), 11:06. 3, Everett, Potuer 1 (Harty, Karamnov), 12:20. 4, Everett, Harty 2 (Harper, Gendur), 19:05 (pp). Overtime—5, Spokane, Wahl 2 (Spurgeon), 12:21.

Power-play opportunities—Spokane 0 of 5; Everett 1 of 6. Saves—Spokane Tokarski 9-3-14-7—33. Everett, Barrie 9-13-7-3—32. A—5,404.