Jess Brown

As fans exited the McCarthey Athletic Center, one aficionado felt the need to make a play of his own and vocalize the obvious pun. “She made the most of that golden opportunity,” he said.

Kelly Graves saw it in Katelan Redmon last Wednesday at practice. “She came into my office on Tuesday and said, ‘I just want you to know that I’m going to really focus to play as hard as I can for the rest of the season,’ ” the Gonzaga women’s basketball coach said. “It was almost like a Tim Tebow kind of speech – she was telling me nobody was going to work harder than her.

These are desperate times in the Western Hockey League – especially for a team anxious to bypass a few rivals in the standings before the rapidly approaching playoffs arrive. Desperate hockey looks good on the Spokane Chiefs, who scored on their first shift of Sunday night’s game at the Arena and battled their way to a 6-1 win over the Portland Winterhawks in front of 4,315 fans.

Desperate hockey looks good on the Spokane Chiefs, who scored on their first shift of Sunday night’s game at the Arena and battled their way to a 6-1 win over the Portland Winterhawks in front of 4,315 fans.

I t could be said for forward Dylan Walchuk that more than two roads diverged in a Canadian wood – and he went forth and explored them all. Walchuk – the Spokane Chiefs’ final edition to this season’s roster after being picked up on the Western Hockey League’s trade deadline just more than a week ago – scored his first goal at the Spokane Arena last Saturday.

There’s really nothing gentle about hockey – and that includes honest feedback when a lackluster performance is turned in. Two days after scoring an impressive victory over the Western Hockey League’s top team, the Spokane Chiefs went scoreless on six power-play opportunities and gave up a shorthanded goal late in the third period in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds in front of 4,243 fans on Monday afternoon at the Arena.

There’s really nothing gentle about hockey – and that includes honest feedback when a lackluster performance is turned in.

The Spokane Chiefs’ 5-3 victory over the top-ranked Tri-City Americans on Saturday night showed several positives for the young Western Hockey League lineup. Specifically, the recent play of 19-year-old import forward Dominik Uher, who scored twice in Saturday’s game and set up linemate Todd Fiddler’s first-period goal for a three-point effort. His second goal – which gave Spokane its final 5-3 lead in the intense, playoff-style game – was a shorthanded, empty-netter with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining that secured the Chiefs’ (22-13-3-3) victory.