Wahl hat trick drives Chiefs

Mitch Wahl completed a hat trick with goals in each period to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 5-3 Western Hockey League victory over Lethbridge on Friday at Lethbridge, Alberta.

Wahl opened the scoring for the Chiefs (26-15-3-1) late in the first period. After a Lethbridge goal tied the game at 1 going into the second, Steve Kuhn put the Chiefs ahead with his fourth goal in seven games before Wahl netted a short-handed goal at the 10:47 mark.

Brady Brassart gave Spokane a three-score cushion over the Hurricanes with a rebound goal 16:06 into the second.

Lethbridge (15-24-3-2) scored two goals within 2 minutes early in the third. The Chiefs held, and Wahl put the game out of reach with an empty-netter with 6 seconds remaining.

“We played a great 40 minutes to get the win,” Spokane coach Hardy Sauter said. “I wasn’t happy with the start of the third period, but we had a good solid finish.”

The Chiefs will try and extend their two-game winning streak tonight against Kootenay.

•KIJHL: The Spokane Braves (24-17-0-2) scored six goals in the second period and had nine players find the net for a 10-7 win over host Columbia Valley (4-36-0-1) at Invermere, British Columbia. Joel Steward scored a pair of goals to lead the Braves.