Jess Brown

By the end of tonight, Spokane Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur – one way or another – will be able to exhale, and it will finally become clearer how the West will be won. The best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal series between the Chiefs and rival Tri-City Americans – who have been treating Western Hockey League fans to a back-and-forth postseason battle the past two weeks – will wrap up tonight with Game 7 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

By the end of tonight, Spokane Chiefs coach Don Nachbaur – one way or another – will be able to exhale, and it will finally become clearer how the West will be won.

The Spokane Chiefs are hoping tonight isn’t that dreaded night that their Western Hockey League season comes to an abrupt end, and they know what they need to do to prevent that from happening. “We have to play to our identity and if we do that we’re going to have success,” Chiefs captain Darren Kramer said. “We have to find that. We have to put pucks in deep and play off their goal line.”

The Spokane Chiefs are hoping tonight isn’t that dreaded night that their Western Hockey League season comes to an abrupt end, and they know what they need to do to prevent that from happening. “We have to play to our identity and if we do that we’re going to have success,” Chiefs captain Darren Kramer said. “We have to find that. We have to put pucks in deep and play off their goal line.”

Just like all the other spring sports, tennis was a victim of the weather – which put the Greater Spokane League in catch-up mode in the past two weeks. “For the most part, we’re caught up now,” GSL tennis coordinator and Lewis and Clark athletic director Jeff Norton said. “We got caught with the bad weather just like everybody else. It wasn’t as bad for us as it was for baseball and softball, because we started matches about a week later, but it still put us behind. Aside from the odd match here and there, we’re on track.”

If “almost” counted, the Spokane Chiefs wouldn’t have needed overtime to win on Friday night. But more than anything, they simply needed the win – and they played desperately enough to make that happen. Dominik Uher scored 6 minutes, 28 seconds into overtime to lead Spokane past the Tri-City Americans 3-2 in Game 4 of their Western Hockey League playoff series in front of 7,520 fans at the Arena. With the victory, Spokane leveled the Western Conference semifinal series at two wins apiece heading into Game 5, tonight at Kennewick’s Toyota Center.

The pressure is building for the Spokane Chiefs, and coach Don Nachbaur insists his team will handle it better this time. The Chiefs – coming off a 2-1 loss on Wednesday night – host the Tri-City Americans tonight at the Arena in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series. The Ams lead the best-of-7 Western Hockey League playoff set 2-1.

The pressure is building for the Spokane Chiefs, and coach Don Nachbaur inisists his team will handle it better this time.

This time, there was no last-minute – or last-second – drama.

In the first two games of their best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal series, the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans put on a show hot enough to melt the ice on which they play. There’s already been a sudden-death decision, followed by a dramatic finish in regulation the next night, where a goal at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime was waved off. There were several scrums between the historic rivals in each game and two hot goalies, neither of whom appears ready to fold.

In the first two games of their best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal series, the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans put on a show hot enough to melt the ice on which they play.

Behind every joke are shades of truth, so when Katelyn Bauman said she likes being the center of attention – there was a straight face hidden behind her playful smile. You can’t blame her. Bauman does well when she’s front and center – especially on a softball field, where she adds a positive charge to one of the top batteries in the league.