It's one thing when the Spokane Chiefs struggle against the Portland Winterhawks. That's old news. Spokane's yearlong drought against the Seattle Thunderbirds is another matter. Read story

At least the Chiefs can say they're getting closer to Seattle each time. After dropping 5-1 (Dec. 1) and 7-3 (Dec. 6) decisions to the Thunderbirds, Spokane played fairly well in a 4-2 loss at Seattle on Dec. 7; came within 2 minutes of a win last Saturday in a 4-3 overtime loss at Seattle; and held the Thunderbirds scoreless for more than 64 minutes on Tuesday until Eric Williams couldn't stop Ryan Gropp's shot in overtime.

It just dribbled (in)," Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur said. "Two (games) in a row. It was a long-range shot in Seattle that got by our guy, and again tonight. We had enough quality looks, but we just didn’t get it by their goalie."

Spokane is done with Seattle for the next three weeks.

Spokane's 0-3-2-0 record against the Thunderbirds is quite a turnaround from last season, when the Chiefs were 7-2-0-0 against Seattle.

"I thought we defended well," Nachbaur said. "We didn’t give them a lot of quality looks or scoring chances, and I thought we outchanced them. The end result is it’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we have to march on."

Nachbaur praised the young line of Jacob Cardiff, Blair Oneschuk and Carter Proft.

"They had some chances when the pucks were in front (of the net)," Nachbaur said. "They could have scored a couple of times, but it just didn’t happen."

The Chiefs have still won eight of their last 11 games.

 

 

 

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