By George, Chiefs Prove To Be Hot Ticket Topic, Too

Two lines were formed at the Arena when the office staff of the Spokane Chiefs showed up for work Monday morning, one for hockey playoff tickets, another for the George Strait concert.

“You could tell the difference in the two,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “It’s the hats and the tents. People in the George Strait line were parked out there for three days.”

So far, fans haven’t had to pitch a tent to get tickets, but the Chiefs are junior hockey’s hottest act. Interest is boiling in the club that hasn’t lost since Feb. 14, a string of 11 games.

The Chiefs, who finish the regular season at home this week with Kelowna, Tri-City and Prince George, put playoff tickets on sale Monday, to brisk response.

After nearly 90 percent of season ticket holders exercised options to buy playoff tickets, the public got a chance at prices of $7, $9, $11 and $13 - $1 more than the regular season.

“The year we won the Memorial Cup (1991), we opened with Seattle on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Jim Miller, a Chiefs account executive. “We sold out Saturday night that year (in the 6,000-capacity Coliseum but not the night before, on Friday night. If we sell out the (10,400-seat) Arena on Friday night, we are hot.” The club has had to stay hot to hold off second-place Kamloops, who are at Prince George tonight with a chance to again close within two points of Spokane in the Western Hockey League West.

It’s Portland, probably

With back-to-back wins over Portland during the weekend, the Prince George Cougars are having some say in the playoff mix, even though they’re not in it.

The Prince George sweep virtually assures Portland of a sixth-place finish - and a first-round series with the West Division champion, Spokane or Kamloops.

If it’s Spokane, the Chiefs open the playoffs here March 22 and 23.

The series would go to Portland for games the following Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 7.

That’s a best-of-seven series. The second round is a shorter best-of-five so the top remaining seed that gets a bye through the second round doesn’t sit too long.

Cougars toughen up

Portland’s weekend losses in Prince George shouldn’t be written off entirely as preplayoff blahs.

Prince George - here Sunday night for the final regular-season game of the year - has left wing Ronald Petrovicky back.

Recovered from a broken ankle, playing for the first time in 33 games, Petrovicky scored the game-winner at 15:55 of the third period in a 2-1 win Saturday night. Petrovicky added goals and a pair of assists in Sunday night’s 4-1 win.

He’s not the only reason the last-place Cougars are finishing respectably. Left wing Tyler Bouck, the No. 2 pick overall in last year’s bantam draft, scored his first career goal Saturday. He turned 16 in January.

Chiefs’ newest fan

General manager Tim Speltz and his wife Lynn are the parents of a baby girl, Hannah Margaret, born at 1 a.m. Saturday.

“Everything went fine and I still had time to make the game in Trii-City on Saturday night,” Speltz said.

, DataTimes