Chiefs Blaze Into 1st Spokane Stays Unbeaten Against Kamloops With Win

The Kamloops Blazers ought to just give up the keys to the town because the Spokane Chiefs own the place.

The Chiefs moved into sole possession of first place in the WHL’s Western Division with a 4-3 win over the Kamloops Blazers at Riverside Coliseum Sunday night.

Kamloops hasn’t beaten Spokane on its home ice since Oct. 8, 1994. Spokane is 5-0-1 at Kamloops since then.

Spokane’s win snapped Kam loops’ seven-game win streak and extended the Blazers’ futility against the Chiefs. Spokane is a perfect 6-0 against Kamloops this season.

As for Sunday’s contest, with the score knotted at 2-2 in the second period, Spokane took the lead for good on a controversial power-play goal by Greg Leeb.

Leeb came out of the penalty box when Trent Whitfield lifted a pass to Leeb, but it appeared that at least one Chief was offside.

Leeb took the pass, broke away from the Blazers’ defense and proceeded to beat Kamloops goalie Randy Petruk with a backhander at the 12:26 mark.

Then barely 2 minutes later, Dmitri Leonov scored on a slap shot from the right circle to give Spokane a 4-2 lead.

At the 54-second mark of the third period, Kamloops’ Jerome Iginla scored his 43rd goal of the year with a wrist shot from the slot to cut the lead to 4-3.

Kamloops pulled Petruk with 1:20 left in the game but was unable to get anything past Spokane goalie David Lemanowicz who came up with 32 saves on the night.

The Chiefs are off until Wednesday night when they host Prince George at 7 at the Arena.

, DataTimes