Spokane Saves Face, Series Chiefs Avoid Elimination With First Playoff Victory

The brick wall that Brent Belecki slapped in front of the Spokane Chiefs for three games came crashing down Wednesday night in the Rose Garden.

It took four games, but the Chiefs finally solved the riddle of Belecki, burning the Portland Winter Hawks goaltender four times in the first period of their 5-3 win in Game 4 of the Western Hockey League West Division quarterfinals.

The Chiefs brought the series back to Spokane for a Friday night game, trailing the Winter Hawks three games to one.

Portland still needs only one victory for the monumental upset, but there was relief in the Chiefs locker room after this one, played before a crowd of 8,496.

“We’re going home with a win,” said goaltender David Lemanowicz. “All we have to do is take care of business, one game at a time.”

Game 6, if necessary, will be here Sunday night.

Belecki, who stopped 116 of Spokane’s 126 shots through the first three games, rejected only 8 of 12 in the first 20 minutes Wednesday, when Darren Sinclair beat him twice.

“We can bounce back,” Sinclair said. “It was good to get this one. The first couple games we were nervous. Just being ranked No. 1 was on us, but I think we’ve turned it around.”

Portland coach Brent Peterson said before the game that he’d ask the Winter Hawks to match the Chiefs’ desperation.

A loss away from elimination, the Chiefs weren’t going to be outworked, as they were in the first two games of this first-round series.

Spokane coach Mike Babcock had a different read on it. Winning was more assertiveness brought on by relaxation, than desperation.

“We needed some goals because even tonight David (Lemanowicz) was shaky off the start,” Babcock said. “He was on his heels. But once we got him some goals, he seemed to relax and play a little bit.”

Faced with a four-game sweep by the No. 6 team in the West, the No. 1-seeded Chiefs climbed all over the Hawks.

Sinclair’s first goal 2:53 into the game gave Spokane the lead, only its second of the series, and it only lasted 15 seconds. Bobby Russell answered for Portland at 3:08.

After nearly 8 minutes of stalemate, the Chiefs broke through for the critical third goal, Hugh Hamilton getting it with an assist from Jay Bertsch at 11:02.

Bertsch’s rebound was picked up by Hamilton, who came up from his defensive position, faked with the forehand to pull Belecki out of position and slipped the puck back-handed inside the near post for the 2-1 lead.

That set off a flurry, the Chiefs scoring two more goals in the span of 87 seconds to go ahead 4-1. Sinclair got his second at 12:17; Podollan his first of two at 12:29.

“A lot of our guys were getting to the net and creating some traffic in front of Belecki,” Sinclair said. “I don’t know if he played that bad. We just had the edge tonight.”

Portland coach Brent Peterson called time after Podollan’s goal made it 4-1.

“After the timeout, we got our heads screwed on, came back and played very well,” Peterson said. “It was just a scramble to try and get caught up. We’d already dug our grave by then.”

The Hawks responded with Todd Robinson’s fourth goal of the playoffs at 16:08 to close to within 4-2 after the first 20 minutes.

The only goal of the second period came from Podollan. Trent Whitfield threw it out of the right corner off a defenseman’s stick, and Podollan swatted it in out of midair.

It gave the Chiefs a 5-2 lead and bought time for Lemanowicz, the league’s top goaltender who toughened up as the game wore on. The first two Portland goals - Russell’s slap shot from the left faceoff circle and Robinson’s wraparound - won’t make the highlights film, but the third was legit.

It came from Richard Zednik on the breakaway at 9:37 of the third period.

The goaltender slammed the door at that point, finishing with 32 saves to Belecki’s 29.

“Finally,” Lemanowicz said. “It’s been a long time coming. It feels great right now. All that matters is that we won tonight and we have three more to win.”

Chiefs 5, Winter Hawks 3

Spokane 4 1 0 - 5

Portland 2 0 1 - 3

First period - 1, Spo, Sinclair 1 (Podollan, Leonov) 2:53 (power play); 2, Por, Russell 1 ( Herron) 3:08; 3, Spo, Hamilton (Bertsch) 11:02; 4, Spo, Sinclair 2 (unassisted) 12:17; 5, Spo, Podollan 2 (Hrdina, Gillam) 12:29; 6, Por, Robinson (Haupt, Ference) 16:08 (pp). Key penalties - Ference, Por, 2:31; Podollan, Spo, 5:53; Morrow, Por, 8:43; Shockey, Spo, 15:02; Isbister, Por, 20:00.

Second period - 7, Spo, Podollan 3 (Whitfield) 16:33. Key penalties - Russell, Por, 5:14; Magarrell, Spo, 7:37; Russell, Por, 11:59; Shockey, Spo, 14:28.

Third period - 8, Por, Zednik 7 (Tetarenko) 9:37.Key penalties - Hrdina, Spo, 1:29; Haupt, Por, 4:03; Symes,Por, 5:33; Cardarelli, Spo, 8:05; Robinson, Por, 8:54; Magarrell,Spo, 10:11; Russell, Por, 12:07.

Power plays opp.-Spokane 1-9, Portland 1-7.Saves- Spokane, Lemanowicz 12-10-10-32. Portland, Belecki 8-12-9-29.A-8,496.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo