Chiefs Slice Up Winter Hawks, 5-3 Spokane Still Unbeaten At The Arena

Surgery should be this smooth.

The Spokane Chiefs remained perfect at home Friday night at the Arena, beating the Portland Winter Hawks 5-3 before 6,223 fans.

Unlike the Chiefs’ two previous wins in their new building - both penalty-marred games won with fists and grim determination - this came with precision and some flash.

The Chiefs dropped the gloves, but this time they picked their spots. They didn’t hit everything that moved. And because they were smart as well as spirited, they held second place in the Western Hockey League West.

The Kamloops Blazers, the Chiefs’ Monday night opponent in Kamloops, remained in the lead, a game up on the Chiefs, after winning at Prince George.

Spokane’s Trent Whitfield scored in his fifth straight game, with a slick, unassisted first-period goal. The Chiefs center also assisted on goals by John Cirjak and Greg Leeb.

Whitfield beat the Winter Hawks’ power play to put the Chiefs up 2-1. It was his second short-handed goal of the year.

“I pressured him (Portland’s Kevin Haupt) on the wall and he coughed it up,” Whitfield said. “I chipped it by the D-man, skating full-tilt. I saw Leeber breaking to the net. I just fired at the net and luckily it went in.”

Whitfield’s slap shot was from the top of the right faceoff circle.

Leeb, who got a late start at training camp after a cyst was surgically removed from his ankle in the second week of August, had a pair of goals and won the press-box vote as the first star of the game.

“I didn’t have a good start, but Randy (Favaro) and Whitfield have been outstanding, and that’s given me time to get back into it,” Leeb said.

Whitfield had a hand in Leeb’s first goal, firing the puck from the wall to Favaro behind the net. Favaro tossed it in front to Leeb, who circled into the slot and fired before Portland goalkeeper Scott Rideout saw what was developing.

“Both Witter and Randy did a good job on the forecheck,” Leeb said. “Randy put it out front and I just banged at it. It was a good pass. I don’t think he (Rideout) caught on to the pass that quick.”

Joe Cardarelli also scored for the Chiefs, his fourth goal in the last three games, helping Spokane to its best start since 1991.

After Cirjak put Spokane up 1-0 5:47 into the game, and Whitfield notched his goal on the penalty-killing unit, 16-year-old Portland rookie Paul Ference cut the Chiefs’ lead to 2-1 with his first WHL goal. Richard Zednik and Dave Scatchard also scored for the Winter Hawks, who used two Todd Robinson assists.

Spokane outshot Portland 41-27.

“It’s nice to get more rubber on net,” Spokane coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought tonight was our toughest test, just because their specialty teams can be so good. They had us in trouble a lot. Zednik is a dominant player who beats us one-on-one enough that he had us in trouble at times. And you have to take your hat off to Rideout (the Portland goaltender).I thought he played real well for them.”

Rideout rejected 36 shots to 24 for Spokane’s David Lemanowicz.

The Chiefs went without captain and top defenseman Sean Gillam after Gillam suffered a pulled groin in the second period, Babcock said.

“I was real happy the other guys stepped in,” the coach said. “Chris Lane, for one, did an excellent job. I want to see who’s here and who’ll be my guys in February. Bertschie (Jay Bertsch), (Kris) Graf and Leeber were good tonight.”

Chiefs 5, Winter Hawks 3

Portland 1 1 1 3

Spokane 2 1 2 5

First period - 1, Spo, Cirjak 4 (Gillam, Whitfield), 5:47 (pp). 2, Spo, Whitfield 5, 12:43 (sh). 3, Por, Ference 1 (Robinson, Zednik), 13:43 (pp). Key penalties - Forbes, Por, 3:42; Tetarenko, Por, 5:38; Magarrell, Spo, 8:32; Cirjak, Spo, 12:03; Gillam, Spo, 15:54.

Second period - 4, Spo, Leeb 2 (Favaro), 1:09. 5, Por, Zednik 3 (Forbes), 13:48. Key penalties - Shockey, Spo, 1:27; Zednik, Por, 8:51; Cirjak, Spo, 14:23; Ference, Por, 17:12.

Third period - 6, Spo, Leeb 3 (Whitfield, Cirjak), 1:17 (pp). 7, Spo, Cardarelli 4 (Shockey, Sinclair), 11:36. 8, Por, Scatchard 4 (Standish, Ference), 16:37. Key penalties - Davidson, Por, :24; Davidson, Por, 4:52; Leonov, Spo, 5:33; Magarrell, Spo, 14:47; Robinson, Por, 15:04; Leonov, Spo, 15:20; Zednik, Por, 19:23.

Power-play opp. - Portland 2 of 9, Spokane 3 of 10. Saves - Portland, Rideout 15-5-13-33. Spokane, Lemanowicz 9-7-7-23. Att. - 6,223.

, DataTimes