Cirjak Scores Twice In Spokane Win Chiefs Winning Ways Wear Out Arena Fans

How tired were they on the way to plastering the Saskatoon Blades 5-2 Sunday night?

They were drained, spent, quiet.

Some had vacant stares. Many sat on their hands, worn out emotionally and physically after investing most of their emotion and energy in a big win the night before.

And that was just the season ticket holders.

The team, the Spokane Chiefs, playing their fourth game in five nights, came out surprisingly fresh, fresh enough to win their fifth straight Western Hockey League game and remain unbeaten in the Arena.

The Chiefs went to 10-2, only the second club in the 17-team WHL to get to 10 victories, with an effort up and down the ice that was almost as methodical as the Zamboni’s driver.

Their 11 veteran penalty killers - six forwards, five defensemen - were perfect for the second night in a row. Their power play was the best its been all year. Spokane converted 4 of 6 power-play opportunities into goals while denying Saskatoon a goal in four power-play tries.

Credit all 20 of the healthy Chiefs who dressed for a rare breeze over the Blades, of late a beast in the east when it comes to Spokane. Saskatoon had won six of its last seven games with the Chiefs dating back to 1991.

John Cirjak, to name only the most prominent, played as though he’d had enough of that.

Sir Jack had 2 goals - the game-winner in the second period and an insurance strike in the third - in front of 4,361 who watched the Chiefs step outside the WHL West Division for the first time.

“Cirjak won key faceoffs for us at critical times and did a lot of good things,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said.

Dmitri Leonov and Jason Podollan each had a goal and a pair of assists but it was the captain, Sean Gillam, who got the Chiefs up in a hurry with a power play goal just 1:39 into the game.

Gillam, who assisted on Cirjak’s second-period goal and was equally effective in the defensive zone.

“It was a mental thing tonight,” Gillam said. “It felt like our fourth game in five nights, but because we didn’t think we were tired, we went out and played pretty well.”

The Blades (5-7) played without the WHL’s third-leading scorer, center Mark Deyell, in addition to winger Frank Branham and goalie Randy Weinberger.

However, they did have Clarke Wilm, who had his first hat trick on Tuesday night in an 8-4 win over Moose Jaw. Against the Chiefs, he assisted on both Saskatoon goals, scored by Mathieu Cusson.There is little relation to the Chiefs’ start this year and last. Last season,

As for the Chiefs, off to their best start ever, they are about a month ahead of last year’s win pace. Spokane didn’t get its 10th win until Nov. 30.

“It’s early. We’re not worrying about anyone else but ourselves right now and that seems to be getting her done for us,” Gillam said. Which invites another ques tion. Was this team too lightly regarded at the start of the season?

“I think we were underrated and now we’re turning some heads,” Gillam said. “We just got to keep it going.”

Chiefs fans get their first look at the Kelowna Rockets, picked by many as the team to beat in the WHL West, here on Wednesday night.

That doesn’t give Babcock much time to savor his division lead.

“For playing four games in five nights the guys stayed with it tonight,” he said. “We were sporadic at times but we got off to another good start. I didn’t think we were that tired. Our guys did a good job. Remember, though, we’ve made very few trips. Tonight we dressed everyone we had healthy. We’re just fortunate enough to have a lot of people who we think can play.”

Babcock shrugged off the October rush, although he did allow himself a comparison to his first season in Spokane.

“Last year we started 7-3 but we relied almost totally on our goaltender (Jarrod Daniel),” he said. “This year we’re better that way, but when we get 12 wins, we’ll talk about it. We had 11 at Christmas last year. We went home in last place.

Chiefs 5, Blades 2

Saskatoon 1 0 1 - 2

Spokane 2 1 2 - 5

First period - 1, Spokane, Gillam 3 (Leonov, Podollan), 1:39 (pp). 2, Saskatoon, Cusson 1 (Buczkowski, Wilm), 14:01. 3, Spokane, Leonov 4 (Podollan), 19:18 (pp). Key penalties - Schaefer, Sas, :18; Leonov, Spo, 9:24; Saskatoon bench, served by Schaefer, too many men, 17:32; Gillam, Spo, 7:40.

Second period - 4, Spokane, Cirjak 7 (Favaro, Gillam), 3:10 (pp). Key penalties - Schaefer, Sas, 1:19; Phillips, Sas, 14:17; Magarrell, Spo, 18:49; Banham, Sas, 19:05.

Third period - 5, Spokane, Podollan 3 (Leonov), 1:20. 6, Saskatoon, Cusson 2 (Wilm), 3:04. 7, Spokane, Cirjak 8 (Leeb, Shockey), 9:47 (pp). Key penalties - Allen, Sas, 9:16; Magarrell, Spo, 11:16.

Power-play Opportunities - Saskatoon 0 of 4; Spokane 4 of 6. Saves - Saskatoon, Weinberger 14-12-9-35. Spokane, Lemanowicz 5-11-8-24. A - 4,361.

, DataTimes