Weak, Weary Chiefs Drop Into Third Place

The Spokane Chiefs came up short before and after the game.

Depleted by injury and an illness and down to 18 skaters, the Chiefs took the Portland Winter Hawks deep into the third period Saturday night only to lose the important Western Hockey League game 4-3 in front of 10,079 in the Arena.

The Chiefs (14-12-2) fell to third place in the West behind Portland (17-8-1) and the Seattle Thunderbirds (14-12-3), who salvaged a 5-5 tie at Red Deer.

Playing without scoring leader Trent Whitfield, with alternate captain and tough guy Jay Bertsch suffering from a recurrence of migraine headaches that plagued him two years ago, with D-men Joel Boschman, Brad Ference and Curtis Suter out with injuries, the Chiefs took a 2-1 lead after two periods only to be caught from behind for only the second time this season.

The Chiefs - 12-2-1 in games they lead after 40 minutes - led 1-0 and 2-1 when fatigue and two familiar antagonists, Portland’s Todd Robinson and Brad Isbister, caught up with them. Robinson took over the league scoring lead with three goals, his 18th, 19th and 20th of the year, then left it up to the quick and sturdy veteran Isbister to notch the game-winner, virtually without help.

Isbister, the 19-year-old right wing who nearly stuck with the NHL Phoenix Coyotes, broke a 3-3 tie with 1:14 remaining after blowing past Spokane’s weary Adam Magarrell as the two crossed the Chiefs’ blue line. Alone with goaltender Aren Miller, Isbister sent the puck under Miller’s glove with a wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.

“Miller stoned me the last two days,” said Isbister, referring to the two-game series that began with the Winter Hawks’ victory Friday night in Portland. “I had a lot of chances to score that didn’t go in. Then late in the game, one finally goes in for me.

“They were missing a few key players. Their D-men must have been tired, especially Magarrell and (Hugh) Hamilton. We just tried to keep on them and wear them down.”

The Chiefs didn’t help themselves early, taking five first-period minor penalties that put Portland on the power play. Although Spokane snuffed all five Winter Hawks’ chances, skating short-handed exacted an energy toll on special teams players down the stretch - Magarrell among them.

Kris Graf, Greg Leeb and Joe Cardarelli scored for the Chiefs, who are back at it Wednesday night here against the Regina Pats. Marian Ciasar assisted on all three goals

The teams traded first-period scores, Graf striking for the first time this season to make it 1-0, Robinson countering for Portland to tie it.

Spokane led 2-1 when Leeb scored with 2 seconds left on a Chiefs power play at 8:31 of the second period. But, with Robinson completing the hat trick, the Hawks went up 3-2 in the third period.

Cardarelli tied it at 3 with 4:40 to go and nearly knotted it again in the dying seconds with the Chiefs skating with a two-man advantage. Miller was pulled for the extra attacker after Isbister scored. When Portland lost Joey Tetarenko to a delay-of-game penalty with 8 seconds left the Chiefs had a 6-4 manpower advantage.

That led to a Cardarelli slap shot that bounced off the right post in the closing seconds.

“It’s tough to win here,” Isbister said. “It’s my first time back here since Game 7 of the playoffs (in April). I remember how tough it was to win then. Any time you get one in here it’s great.”

Winter Hawks 4, Chiefs 3

Portland 1 0 3 - 4 Spokane 1 1 1 - 3

First period - 1, Spo, Graf 1 (Cisar), 2:31. 2, Por, Robinson 18 (Davidson), 9:21 (pp). Key penalties - Mikhailov, Spo, 7:44; Evans, Spo, 11:59; Hamilton, Spo, 13:31; Schutz, Spo, 17:27; Jones, Spo, misconduct, 17:27; Hamilton, Spo, 18:20.

Second period - 3, Spo, Leeb 11 (Lane, Cisar), 8:31 (pp). Key penalties - Strobl, Por, 6:33; Haupt, Por, 8:31; Hamilton, Spo, 12:58.

Third period - 4, Por, Robinson 19 (Russell), 1:46. 5, Por, Robinson 20 (Russell, Morrow), 7:51. 6, Spo, Cardarelli 13 (Cisar, Hamilton), 15:20. 7, Por, Isbister 11 (Tetarenko), 18:46. Key penalties - Tetarenko, Por, 19:42.

Power-play opp. - Portland 1 of 6; Spokane 1 of 3. Saves - Portland, Wickenheiser 11-8-10-29. Spokane, Miller 17-11-5-33. A - 10,079.

Braves lose

Rob Schreiner scored the gamewinning goal to lift Beaver Valley to a 7-6 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League win over the visiting Spokane Braves.

Spokane, which was outshot 31-18, saw its record drop to 8-15 for the season.

Six different Braves scored goals.

Spokane 2 3 1 - 6 Beaver Valley 3 2 2 - 7

SCORING: Spokane - Vristock, Wong, Brasch, Heinz, Witver, Brough.

Beaver Valley - Weanerhead, Jaerman, Tonns, Keith, Jessep, Schreiner, McLean.

Saves - Spokane, Bebber 7-16-8-31. Beaver Valley, Corey 5-5-8-18.

, DataTimes