Spokane Chiefs At Brandon

Time: Tonight at 5:30 PST in Keystone Center.

Records: Spokane (11-6), Brandon Wheat Kings (14-5-1).

Radio: KGA-AM (1510). Hockey Tonight with Craig West, 4:30.

Key players: Spokane: D Sean Gillam (3 goals, 18 assists), LW Greg Leeb (14, 7), C Trent Whitfield (13, 15), C/RW Jason Podollan (8, 5), RW John Cirjak (9, 9), RW Randy Favaro (7, 16), D Hugh Hamilton (2, 14), C Darren Sinclair (5, 9), LW Dmitri Leonov (6, 9), GK David Lemanowicz (3.52 goals-against), RW Jay Bertsch (2, 2).

Brandon: LW Mike Leclerc (14 goals, 14 assists), LW Peter Schaefer (11, 14), LW Chris Dingman (5, 5), C/LW Darren Van Oene (3, 2), GK Brian Elder (3.31 goals-against), D Wade Redden (2, 14), D Justin Kurtz (5, 20), RW Bobby Brown (7, 15), C Cory Cyrenne (8, 9).

At a glance: The sagging Chiefs play the first of three games in three nights on the road. After losing a tough one to Saskatoon on Wednesday night, they boarded the bus and plowed through a snowstorm to reach Brandon at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Coach Mike Babcock gave the club the day off in hopes of reviving them on this 0-2 road swing. Although he won’t point the finger at any one player (“We win and lose as a team,” he says), the coach did make a change in goal Wednesday night, subbing Aren Miller for Lemanowicz, who has struggled of late. “We’ve lost two games we had great chances to win,” Babcock said. “We’re not playing hard enough. Maybe it’s time to let some people sit out. The list of guys who’ve played real well isn’t long. Our success at the start came from a whole bunch of guys working hard. We’re not talented enough to take the night off.” The road doesn’t get any smoother tonight. Brandon is 8-0 in its rink. The Chiefs move on to Moose Jaw on Saturday and Regina on Sunday.

, DataTimes