Chiefs Stir Championship Memories

Shades of Dmitri Leonov.

Who let Darren Sinclair in the building?

When did Sean Gillam get back in town?

He wasn’t, and neither were Sinclair and Leonov, of course, but for the better part of the Spokane Chiefs’ 4-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers it looked like 1996 all over again.

The Chiefs won 50 games and a West Division championship last year in part by selling out and keeping the opposition bottled up in their own zone. Sinclair, Leonov and company made that part of the routine.

Which brings us to the second period before 7,108 in the Arena.

There was Trent Whitfield, diving for the puck behind the net, Chad Reich throwing his body into everything that moved, Brad Ference creating space for Greg Leeb, who found himself alone in the slot for a drive that whistled by goaltender Clayton Pool 14 minutes into the second period.

That was the winning goal in a man-among-boys style the Chiefs carried throughout the second 20-minute set, when they outshot the Blazers 15-4 and took a step closer to home-ice advantage in next week’s Western Hockey League playoffs.

With the Kelowna Rockets losing 5-2 in Portland, the Chiefs (33-32-4) and Rockets (34-35-2) woke up this morning tied for third, each with 70 points. Spokane has three more games to work with while Kelowna is down to its last regular-season game Saturday night at home with Kamloops.

The Chiefs could clinch third - and the home-ice advantage that goes with it in their best-of-seven playoff with Kelowna - by winning two of their final three. Seattle and Prince George are here on Friday and Saturday nights. The Chiefs close the regular season with their fourth game in five nights Sunday in Seattle.

Seeing his first action since coming to Spokane as a free agent on Jan. 25, goaltender Nolan McDonald knocked aside 22 of 23 Kamloops shots to win his first game since an early season stint with the Hull (Quebec) Oympiques. The 19-year-old was 3-3 with a 3.41 goals-against average early in the season when he left Hull. He came to Spokane with a tender knee.

Starter Aren Miller took warmups but was given the night off.

“McDonald did the job early when they played a good road first period,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought our guys rallied around and played well for him.”

The Chiefs scored and gave up a first-period goal on their first power-play opportunity. Robin Regehr knocked Leeb off the puck in the Chiefs zone and fired from the left circle. McDonald made the save but Blair Rota picked up the rebound and scored his 12th goal of the year.

Leeb had his revenge 40 seconds later. With goaltender Randy Petruk knocked down and injured in a scramble, Leeb picked up a rebound and stuck it in the back of an empty net at 9:39 of the first period.

Petruk left the game, favoring his left knee.

“I hyper-extended it. I don’t think there’s any cartilage damage but there could be,” Petruk said.

After Leeb scored the game-winner, Marian Cisar registered his 29th of the year and his 18th point in his last 10 games to put the Chiefs up by two. Brad Ference got the Chiefs’ fourth goal, his fifth of the season, at 5:32 of the third period.

The 7,108 in the building pushed this season’s attendance to a franchise-record 264,977.

Chiefs 4, Blazers 1

Kamloops 1 0 0 - 1

Spokane 1 2 1 - 4

First period - 1, Kamloops, Rota 12 (Regehr, Ainsworth) 8:59 (shorthanded). 2, Spokane, Leeb 25 (Schutz, Whitfield) 9:39 (power-play). Key penalties - Albrecht, Kam, 7:55; Wright, Kam, 10:13; Dewaele, Spo, 14:36; Schutz, Spo, 17:49.

Second period - 3, Spokane, Leeb 26 (Whitfield, Reich) 14:00. 4, Spokane, Cisar 29 (Jones) 15:20. Key penalties - Regehr, Kam, 4:19; Wright, Kam, 9:13; Ference, Spo, 19:12.

Third period - 5, Spokane, Ference 5 (Magarrell, Cardarelli) 5:51. Key penalties - Rossiter, Spo, 1:38; Burt, Kam, 3:30; Rossiter, Spo, 5:51; Wright, Kam, 8:24; Regehr, Kam, misconduct; Schutz, Spo, 12:43; Skrlac, Kam, 14:50; Rossiter, Spo, 18:24;

Power plays - Kamloops 0 of 6. Spokane 1 of 7. Saves - Kamloops, Petruk 3-x-x-3, 4-13-15-32. Spokane, MacDonald, 10-4-8-22.A-7,108

, DataTimes