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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Koper leads Chiefs’ rout

Spokane Chiefs Matt Marantz (32) celebrates after scoring  a goal in the first six seconds of the first period during game 4 of WHL Western Conference finals in Spokane, Wash., Friday, April 29, 2011. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
Spokane Chiefs Matt Marantz (32) celebrates after scoring a goal in the first six seconds of the first period during game 4 of WHL Western Conference finals in Spokane, Wash., Friday, April 29, 2011. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

The Western Hockey League Western Conference finals became a best of three, spread over four days, after the Spokane Chiefs hammered the Portland Winterhawks 8-3 Friday game to tie the best of 7 series 2-2.

Colin Mulvany also prouduced this slideshow, including the Chiefs celebrating their goal 10 seconds into the game.

Levko Koper scored a hat trick and Tyler Johnson and Collin Valcourt each had a goal and two assists.

Game 5 is tonight in Porltand with Game 6 in Spokane on Monday.

3 stars: 3, Darren Kramer. 2, Collin Valcourt. 1, Levko Koper.

Long box below.

Chiefs 8, Winterhawks 2

Spokane – Friday

First period

1, Spo, Marantz 4 (Kramer, Valcourt) :10.

2, Por, Morrow 5 (Johansen, Rutkowski) 10:54, pp.

4, Spo, Johnson 6 (Koper, Kichton) 12:41.

Penalties – Niederreiter, Por (interference) 5:20; Kuhn, Spo (tripping) 8:56; Reid, Spo (trippinging, served by Marantz) 9:18; Aronson, Por (hooking) 9:56; Boychuck, Por (instigator, served b y Ius, fighting major, 10-minute misconduct), Baldwin, Spo (fighting major) 12:04; Cowen, Spo (hooking) 12:33; Aronson, Por (interference) 12:55; Kramer, Spo (tripping) 16:40; Aronson, Por (roughing), Mort, Spo, roughing) 18:27.

Second period

4, Spo, Valcourt 1 (Bardaro, Baldwin) 3:15.

5, Por, Wotherspoon (Cunningham, Johansen) 10:54, sh.

6, Spo, Bardaro 2 (Kramer, Valcourt) 14:20.

7, Spo, Koper 6 (Gal) 18:52.

Penalties – Leipsic, Por (checking from behind) 6:12; Ross, Por (roughing) 10:13, Jordan, Por (boarding) 11:24.

Third period

8, Spo, Koper 7 (Johnson, Mort) 3:43.

9, Spo, Koper 8 (Johnson, Cowen) 6:47, pp.

10, Spo, Holmberg 5 (Valcourt) 16:27.

11, Por, Johansen 10 (Morrow) 18:18, pp.

Penalties – Rutkowski, Por (roughing), Kramer, Spo (roughing) 5:12; Wotherspoon, Por (slashing) 6:19; Ross, Por (roughing) 7:52; Miller, Spo (roughing) 9:40; Jordan, Por (fighting major), Kramer, Spo (fighting major), Ross, Por (10-minute misconduct) 12:24; Niederreiter, Por (checking from behind) 13:19, Wotherspoon, Por (cross checking), Uher, Spo (cross checking) 14:03; Rattie, Por (high sticking), Reid, Spo (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Johnson) 15:23; Spokane bench (too many men on ice, served by Kalus) 17:29; Marantz, Spo (holding), Valcourt. Spo (roughing), Ius, Port (roughing) 19:05,

Shots on goal by
Portland     14-6-12_32

Spokane     14-12-15_41

Goal (shots-saves) — Portland: Carruth (L, 10-3-1) 28-22, Hamilton (3:43 of 3rd) 13-11; Spokane: Reid (W, 10-5-0) 30-28, Engle (4:37 of 3rd) 2-1.

Power plays (goals-chances) — Portland 2-7, Spokane 1-10.

Referees — Andy Thiessen, Derek Zalaski. Linesmen — Trent Knorr, Justin Hull.

Attendance – 8,412.

 Scratches – Portland: Nic Petan, Brett Ponich, Chase De Leo, Oliver Gabriel, Pearce Eviston, Seth Swenson, Brendan Burke, Jason Trott. Spokane: Tyler Vanscourt, Cole Hamblin, Brady Brassart, Mike Aviani.



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