Chiefs’ 2nd Win Sends A Message
A hockey game on the last night of summer makes it too early to saddle the Spokane Chiefs with glitzy labels - like Dynasty In The Making.
But opening weekend in the Western Hockey League was enough to make an assertion, however premature.
After whipping the Tri-City Americans 4-1 Saturday, 24 hours after coming from behind to win 4-3 in Kelowna, the Chiefs served notice on the rest of the WHL West Division.
They may be even better than the club that won 50 games last season.
With a little bit of everything - a goal on the power play, another from the penalty killers, solid goaltending from first-time starter Marc Magliarditi and poise on the road - the Chiefs moved their record to 2-0 heading into Saturday night’s home opener in the Arena against these same Americans.
The Ams are short-staffed. Chiefs coach Mike Babcock was the first to point that out. Still, this looked a lot like the varsity against the jayvees and as much as the return of Terry Ryan, Dan Focht, Shawn Gervais and Mike Hurley will mean to Tri-City, it may not be enough to close the chasm that separates these two.
Spokane piled up a commanding edge in shots, 27-16, and with goals from four different shooters - Greg Leeb, Yegor Mikhailov, Ty Jones and Derek Schutz - never trailed.
Tri-City didn’t get off a shot until nearly 13 minutes had elapsed. By then Leeb had his second goal of the young season and Mikhailov had his first as a Chief. Special teams were special early, the power play clicking for the first goal, the penalty-killers accounting for the second.
Americans goaltender Brian Boucher, who showed up last night at 11 o’clock from Philadephia, tried to clear the puck but it hit teammate-Craig Stahl’s stick hip-high. Spokane’s John Cirjak retrieved it and sent it to Leeb, who scored his second power-play goal in as many nights 2:45 into the game.
The penalty kill - a staple of Spokane’s division-championship run last year - was lethal again. Thirteen seconds after Spokane’s Andrew Milne was sent off for high sticking, Joel Boschman sent the puck long out of the Chiefs zone to Trent Whitfield, who fed Mikhailov on the right wing. Mikhailov had a virtual empty net to shoot at for the 2-0 lead.
Stahl tightened it up in the second period with a slap shot from the right circle but the Chiefs answered 28 seconds later with a 4-on-4 goal of their own. Jones’ back-hander reinstated Spokane’s two-goal lead.
Stahl ended Magliarditi’s bid to post a shutout in his first start, something last done by a Chief in ‘92 when David Lemanowicz threw three periods of blanks as a 16-year-old.
“I play better under more pressure,” Magliarditi said. “The first period was pretty slow. Once they picked up the shots I started getting into the flow.”
The 20-year-old who starred last year at Western Michigan University was asked what the biggest adjustment is, from college hockey to major junior.
“Watchin’ the fights,” he said.
“It’s about what I expected,” he added. “I wanted to get the nerves out - it was tough to get going in the first period - but we got the win and I feel good about that.”
As for Magliarditi’s debut, the coach said, “He’s great with the puck. I never saw him stop any (shots) because they didn’t have a whole lot of shots. But he initiates the breakout very well.”
With that, Babcock said Aren Miller would get the start in goal Saturday night.
Whitfield and Leeb with their quickness and experience were threats every shift.
“We know we have to play them 16 times,” said Whitfield. “We’ve got to go out there and hit them every chance - let them know what they’re up against each time, for 16 games.”
, DataTimes