Don’t Bid Bye-Bye To The Barn

Hold that demolition order.

Hockey is coming back to the Spokane Coliseum.

For the third time in as many playoff games, the Spokane Chiefs jumped to a three-goal lead over the Tri-City Americans, only this time they started what they finished.

It took nine goals as they finished off the Americans 9-7 Saturday night before 5,936 at Tri-Cities Coliseum.

The Americans lead this Western Hockey League West Division semifinal 3-2 with Game Six scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Spokane.

“The team with the last shot won,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said, smiling and shaking his head.

It was as imperfect a game as Babcock had seen all year - but a gratifying one nonetheless. The Chiefs refused to knuckle under to the pressure of impending elimination in this Highway 395 series.

Spokane had leads of 3-0, 4-1, 6-3, 7-4, and 8-5 cut to one, but each time Chad Cabana, Terry Ryan and Pavel Kriz incited an Americans rally, the Chiefs kept playing their game.

Beat the goaltender.

The Chiefs chased Tri-City netminder David Trofimenkoff with six goals in two periods, then battered his replacement, rookie Blaine Russell, with a three-goal barrage in the third.

Russell, called up from Kimberly of the Rocky Mountain Junior League to fill in for injured starter Brian Boucher, saw only six shots. Three went in.

Darren Sinclair, Dmitri Leonov and Trent Whitfield beat him with shots that varied from every good to very average.

Between them, the two Tri-City goalies managed to stop only 17 shots.

Trying to end the series before a capacity crowd at home, Tri-City out-shot the Chiefs 56-26. So if you had to pick a star - and Babcock wasn’t sure there was one on either side - it would have to be Spokane goaltender Jarrod Daniel.

If Daniel were in a Tri-City uniform, the Chiefs would be finished and the wrecking ball would be aimed at the Spokane Coliseum, which comes down at the conclusion of the hockey season.

“It was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played in,” Daniel said. “It seemed like everything either team shot went into the net. We got a few more bounces than they did.

“They had a lot of traffic in front of the net and that makes it tough on the goaltender when you can’t see the puck, or when it’s deflected,” Daniel added. “I don’t know if I should say I was terrible, but seven goals is too many to allow in a playoff game.”

“He found a way to stand in front of more pucks,” Babcock said.

The game took a Spokane turn late in the second period, after Tri- City captain Chad Cabana scored twice and assisted on a third goal as the Americans rallied from the 3-0 deficit to trail 4-3.

Tri-City coach Bob Loucks took a bench minor for complaining about a Chiefs line change.

The Americans paid by putting the Chiefs on the game’s key power play.

Jason Podollan and Kevin Sawyer scored 11 seconds apart to pull the Chiefs - temporarily as it turned out - out of trouble at 6-3.

Ryan’s goal closed that to 6-4 and kicked off the flawed gem of a third period.

The last score - Whitfield’s unassisted goal 15:23 into the period - wasn’t the last anxious moment.

Jeremy Stasiuk scored the third goal to extend his playoff scoring streak to five games. It was Stasiuk’s eighth goal of the postseason.

Podollan and Whitfield had a pair of goals. Joe Cardarelli scored Spokane’s fourth goal and set up the third with a sacrifice - taking a tough open-ice hip check from Alexandre Boikov without losing control of the play.

Cardarelli poked the puck to Stasiuk, who knocked it between Trofimenkoff’s pads, and it was 3-0.

Spectacular on one end, soft on the other.

After 21 meetings, these teams are still finding new contradictions.

Chiefs 9, Americans 7

Spokane 4 2 3 - 9 Tri-City 2 1 4 - 7

First period-1, Spokane, Podollan 2 (Leeb), 3:49. 2, Spokane, Whitfield 3 (Leeb), 5:53. 3, Spokane, Stasiuk 8 (Cardarelli, Leonov), 12:32. 4, Tri-City, Cabana 3 (Butz, Ascroft), 13:20. 5, Spokane, Cardarelli 3 (Stasiuk), 15:10. 6, Tri-City, Cabana 4 (Brown, Ryan), 16:24 (pp). Key penalties-Cabana, TC, :44; Sawyer, Spo, 6:52; Gillam, Spo, 15:55; Magarrell, Spo, 18:25.

Second period- 7, Tri-City, Butz 4 (Cabana), 8:03. 8, Spokane, Podollan 3 (Whitfield), 18:10 (pp). 9, Spokane, Sawyer 2, 18:21. Key penalties-Cabana, TC, 2:50; Podollan, Spo, 4:48; Podollan, Spo, 8:28; Tri-City bench, served by Zavediuk, 17:37.

Third period-10, Tri-City, Ryan 8 (Ascroft, Kriz), 4:44. 11, Spokane, Sinclair 2 (Cirjak, Cardarelli), 7:10 (pp). 12, Tri-City, Ryan 9 (Kriz), 9:20 (pp). 13, Spokane, Leonov 6, 10:21. 14, Tri-City, Cabana 5 (Ascroft, Langkow), 11:04 (pp). 15, Tri-City, Kriz 3 (Langkow, Ryan), 12:30 (pp). 16, Spokane, Whitfield 4, . Key penalties-Hurley, TC, 6:55; Shockey, Spo, 8:54; Magarrell, Spo, 10:39; Gillam, Spo, 10:51; Tri-City bench, unsustained stick measurement, served by Stahl, 18:52.

Power-play opp.-Spokane 2 of 5; Tri-City 3 of 8.Saves- Spokane, Daniel 17-12-??-29. Tri-City, Trofimenkoff 7-7-x-14, Russell x-x-3-3.A-5,936.