Dan Weaver

Braun

Keller

Trent Whitfield and Greg Leeb are the Spokane Chiefs' winners in the 10th annual Best of the West poll. Compiled by Tri-City Americans beat writer Eric Degerman, the poll is restricted to Western Hockey League West Division players and management.

It was a foregone conclusion disguised as a hockey game. The young, beat-up, struggling Tri-City Americans had no chance and little hope of winning Saturday night. The one thing they did do in a 6-1 loss to the Spokane Chiefs was deny a record crowd a free lunch. "At least we made somebody angry here tonight," said Tri-City coach Rick Lanz, who was resigned to a long night, with three players including his two alternate captains missing with injuries. The only disappointment to a record crowd of 10,737 in the Arena was having their chants of "Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!" go unheeded. Ticket stubs are redeemable for free lunch pizza any time the Chiefs score seven or more goals.

1. Nearly 21, Perry Johnson is a WHL old-timer. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Perry Johnson has the look of an NHL player, with size being perhaps his only setback. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

It took a very good team to beat a very good goaltender Wednesday night in the Arena. The Spokane Chiefs held off the Kamloops Blazers 3-2 in a Western Hockey League game that boiled down to goaltender Randy Petruk trying to fend off Spokane's Ty Jones and Marian Cisar. It was Petruk, the barrier, vs. the puck carriers.

You can put to rest one of the juicy rumors floating around the WHL. The NHL San Jose Sharks were said to be willing to send center Patrick Marleau back to the Seattle Thunderbirds when San Jose's season ends. That would seriously affect the balance of power in the Western Hockey League West. After a year in the National Hockey League, Marleau - a junior hockey superstar last year - might be unstoppable in the WHL playoffs.

1. Once again, Chad Little can see a brighter future. File/The Spokesman-Review 2. Little

It was a long Saturday night for Parry Shockey in the building he helped inaugurate. It was another milestone for Mike Babcock. The two friends and former associates took divergent moods into the night after Babcock's Spokane Chiefs held off Shockey's Regina Pats 4-3 before 10,455 in the Arena. It was a rude homecoming for Shockey, who for 2-1/2 seasons worked as an assistant here and for a brief time in 1994 served as the Chiefs' interim head coach.

It was a long night for Parry Shockey in the building he helped inaugurate. The former Spokane Chiefs interim head coach, and for two seasons an assistant here, endured a rude homecoming Saturday night before a late flurry from his Regina Pats sent a few shivers through 10,455 in the Arena. But with another solid two-way performance and four points from Trent Whitfield the Chiefs held off Shockey and the Pats 4-3. It was the Chiefs' ninth sellout of the Western Hockey League season. There was more good news for the Chiefs before the game. Surgery has been waved off, at least for now, for Kyle Rossiter, who suffered a shoulder separation Wednesday night. The 17-year-old defenseman said he'll skate in 2-3 weeks and return to action in 4-6 weeks.

They wear their road red uniforms once a year. The Spokane Chiefs ought to break them out more often. The Chiefs held the Seattle Thunderbirds to 17 shots Wednesday night in a 5-2 Western Hockey League game before 10,265 in the Arena. Trent Whitfield scored twice, the last time into an empty net in the final seconds, as the Chiefs (39-20-4) moved back into second place, two points up on the idle Prince George Cougars in the WHL West. The Chiefs, meeting Seattle for the final time in the regular season, took the series with the T-Birds 5-3-1.

Spokane Chiefs defenseman Rick Berry goes to work Wednesday at the Arena. Tonight, he challenges his former Seattle teammates. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

They didn't play particularly smart Wednesday night but that wasn't the worst of the Spokane Chiefs' 4-1 loss to the Kelowna Rockets. The Chiefs lost defenseman Kyle Rossiter to a shoulder separation early in the Western Hockey League game before 5,805 in the Arena.

Defenseman Brad Ference has returned from a week off and will be in the lineup tonight when the Spokane Chiefs meet the improving Kelowna Rockets in the Arena. The bad news is that Greg Leeb will sit this one out as part of a Western Hockey League suspension stemming from Saturday night's match penalty in Tri-City.

Players in both locker rooms were still coming down from Sunday night's spirited 5-5 tie when the coaches of two of the top clubs in North American junior hockey took up a familiar refrain. The quality of officiating has to improve.

The Portland Winter Hawks moved within seven points - that's three and a half games - of wrapping up the race in the Western Hockey League West Sunday night. But make no mistake. Their 5-5 overtime tie with the Spokane Chiefs was a clear signal that, although the Chiefs have virtually no shot at tinkering with the ending of the regular-season story, the final chapter - the postseason - is a long way from being scripted. These two clubs are worlds apart in the standings but equals in everything that matters. This was a playoff game in everything but name, and on this night, the Chiefs were the better club.

As usual, all eyes were on the puck Wednesday night in the Arena. Still, there was something different about the Spokane Chiefs' 7-4 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors. This time the puck was looking back, as if it had sprouted eyes.

David Haun gets the start in goal tonight when the Spokane Chiefs take on coach Mike Babcock's first Western Hockey League team, the Moose Jaw Warriors. Haun earned the start with the better game last weekend, Babcock said Tuesday. He beat the Edmonton Ice 5-3 the night after the Chiefs with Miller in net lost to the No. 1-ranked Portland Winter Hawks 5-2.

So, were the Chiefs that bad in the third period Saturday night or was it the fire of the Edmonton Ice that turned a budding Spokane rout into a game won modestly by the Chiefs 5-3? Coach Mike Babcock closed the Chiefs locker room for a few minutes after the game - something he rarely does - to reaffirm what he called a "basic statement. "The basic statement around here is that . . . we have to sacrifice individual interests for team interests," he said.

The rest of the Western Hockey League can only hope that the Edmonton Ice will mellow with age. The young, road-weary Ice - at the end of an extended road swing - fell four goals behind Saturday night to a veteran team with championship designs.

Spokane's Brandin Cote (10) tries to keep the puck away from Portland's Chris Jacobson, something the Chiefs couldn't do enough of in their 5-2 loss. Photo by Jason Clark/The Spokesman-Review

The Portland Winter Hawks gave 10,044 something to remember them by Friday night in their final regular-season visit to the Arena. The Winter Hawks, the No. 1-ranked team in North American major junior hockey, lived up to that status, knocking off the Chiefs 5-2 for their 12th straight Western Hockey League win. Credit much of that to Chris Jacobson, rated this week by one rival coach as the league's most underrated forward. The 20-year-old assistant captain scored two goals, including the game-winner, as Portland left second place Spokane 13 points - 6-1/2 games - behind in the West Division standings with 16 regular-season games remaining. The Chiefs pick up the chase again tonight in the Arena against the Edmonton Ice at 7:05. The Hawks came out flying, peppering Chiefs goaltender Aren Miller with 11 shots before the Chiefs put their first shot on net. Miller was yanked in the third period when Bobby Russell and Mike Hurley scored 32 seconds apart. Jacobson scored during the 11-shot, first-period barrage, sticking a well-placed wrist shot over Miller's right shoulder 7:16 into the game. The second goal wasn't as pretty. A Chiefs' rush ended with Spokane's Dan Vandermeer colliding with Portland netminder Brent Belecki. The puck bounced loose and the Hawks jumped back on the attack. Proving that good things happen when you put the puck on net, Portland's Andrej Podkonicky launched a shot from 60 feet that got by Miller with 2:12 left in the period. The Chiefs evened it at 2 in the second period behind Ty Jones on the power play. Camped in front of the net, the big winger scored on the rebound for Spokane's first goal. He then redirected Brad Ference's slap shot from the point with 1 second left on Spokane's second power-play opportunity. Portland regained the lead late in the second when the Chiefs left Jacobson alone in front of the crease with the Hawks on their fourth power play. Todd Hornung fed Jacobson, who beat Miller to the netminder's glove side 14:24 into the second period. It spoiled an otherwise great penalty kill for the Chiefs, highlighted by a Trent Whitfield breakaway where he just missed getting a short-handed goal. Whitfield, with a strong forecheck, stripped Todd Robinson of the puck on the wall and walked in on Belecki but couldn't slip it past the netminder.

Komarniski

The Spokane Chiefs under Mike Babcock have built a reputation for toughness and defense. Collectively, the second period is by far their worst. So in keeping with the surprise nature of major junior hockey, the Chiefs beat Prince George on Monday night not with defense but with a burst of goals - a club-record scoring burst as it turned out.