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Spokane Chiefs

Spokane rallies to beat Tri-City 7-6, clinch WHL playoff berth

From staff reports

The Spokane Chiefs scored a pair of goals in the final 3 minutes to tie and go ahead of the Tri-City Americans in a 7-6 victory Saturday at the Arena.

The victory clinched a playoff spot for the Chiefs, who last made the Western Hockey League playoffs in 2022. They are currently seeded eighth in the Western Conference, three points behind seventh-place Victoria entering the final week of the regular season.

“We’ve gone through a couple track meets this year where it seems like it’s back and forth,” Chiefs leading scorer Berkly Catton said in a postgame radio interview. “We know how to score. We had 53 shots, and something was bound to go in.”

Catton scored two goals for the Chiefs, including the tying goal with 2:22 left. He has 52 on the season, third most in the WHL. The Chiefs outshot the Americans 53-22.

Catton also assisted on two other goals – including Will McIsaac’s winner – and has 112 points this season. It was his seventh four-point game of the season.

McIsaac’s goal, his sixth of the season, came with 13 seconds left.

“It was a good relief,” McIsaac said of the goal. “I think we’re all pretty happy that went in.”

In the first period, Shea Van Olm and Conner Roulette scored 1½ minutes apart to give the Chiefs an early 2-0 lead. But the Americans scored the next four goals – including three by Parker Bell – to take a 4-2 lead midway through the second period.

With just less than 5 minutes left in the second period, Carter Streek’s eighth goal of the season got the Chiefs (28-31-5-1) within a goal. Catton tied the game when he scored with 3 seconds left in the period.

The Americans (22-40-2-1) took the lead twice in the third period, 5-4 and 6-5, before the Chiefs rallied to win.

Roulette’s 43rd goal and his two assists boosted his season points total to 102. The Chiefs have two players with 100 points in the same season for the first time since 1993-94, when they had three: Ryan Duthie (126), Maxim Bets (116) and Valeri Bure (102).

Spokane will play its final regular-season home game at 5:05 p.m. Sunday against Wenatchee, which sits in fourth place in the Western Conference. The Chiefs have two road games after that – at Seattle on Friday and at Tri-City on Saturday – before the playoffs.