Anholt Expects His Rockets To Perform Better In Game 3 Rockets Spot Chiefs Two Games In Opening Round Of Whl Series

Although the Spokane Chiefs are in command of their Western Hockey League series with the Kelowna Rockets, two games to none, the playoff that resumes here Wednesday night ain’t over yet.

Kelowna coach Pete Anholt said as much Saturday night, standing in the glare of TV lights after his club had taken its second straight 5-3 loss at home.

“Spokane played well in our building,” Anholt said. “Their goaltender (Aren Miller) stepped up. But with all the selfish and undisciplined penalties we’ve taken, we haven’t seen how well we can play yet.

“We beat ourselves in a lot of cases. Eventually, our players have to be a little bit more accountable for that.”

Rockets captain Tyler Prosofsky sat out with a 10-minute misconduct and picked up two roughing minors in Game One, his first action since October thanks to a shoulder injury.

Prosofsky spent even more time in the bin Saturday night, going off at different times for elbowing, roughing, charging and cross-checking. The cross-check at 5:42 of the second period put the Chiefs on the power play that Mike Haley jumped on to score the game-winning goal.

That may be business as usual in November but it’s not the way to win in the playoffs.

At the other extreme - from headache to headiness - is Brad Ference, the usually volatile Chiefs rookie who has kept his emotions checked.

Credit that to intelligence on Ference’s part and strong coaching - and give an assist to common sense. The Rockets and the Lethbridge Hurricanes are two teams you can beat, but you wouldn’t want to meet ‘em in the parking lot afterward.

“This is the most disciplined Spokane team I’ve ever seen play,” Anholt said. “They stay out of the B.S. They just play. They have no desire to fight because they know they can’t (match) us when it comes down to fighting. They’ve played better than our guys.”

Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said discipline was part of the plan.

“Coming in we knew we were going to absorb some punishment,” he said, “but it’s amazing what winning does. The cross-check doesn’t feel that bad. I really felt that if they took penalties and our power play went to work, we’d kill ‘em.”

The Chiefs are winning the battle of special teams in a big way. Spokane is 4 of 19 on the power play in two games, Kelowna 2 of 13.

Babcock was all smiles after Haley - a five-goal scorer in the regular season - poked in the game-winner on Saturday night, then tacked on the Chiefs’ fifth goal later in the second period.

“We usually tell Mike not to stickhandle,” Babcock said. “We tell him on a 3-on-2 to dump it deep. No, seriously, he was exceptional.”

Haley took a page out of his coach’s book by turning a question about his offense into an answer about defense.

“We played great defense (as Saturday night’s game wore on)” Haley said. “We only had like one guy forechecking - we kept the other guys high. They had two power plays in the third period and only had six shots (in the entire 20-minute set).”

Notes

The leading scorer in the series is Spokane’s John Cirjak, with a goal and three assists in two games… . Chiefs hard-luck rookie Jared Smyth took a hard check from Kelowna’s Karel Betik in Friday night’s game and was held out Saturday night… . Rockets left wing Quintin Laing was scratched out of Saturday night’s game after it was learned he’s suffering from mononucleosis, the third Kelowna player to be shelved by mono this season… . Chiefs forward Marian Cisar carries a 15-game scoring streak heading into Wednesday night’s game in the Arena… . Brent Gilchrist of the Dallas Stars is in the unique position of having played for both Kelowna and Spokane in the WHL. Because the 29-year-old forward maintains a home in Kelowna, and grew up in nearby Vernon, British Columbia, his junior hockey loyalties lie with the Rockets. “I was pretty disappointed when the team (then the Kelowna Wings) moved out at the end of the ‘85 season (to become the Spokane Chiefs),” Gilchrist told John Harding of the Daily Courier in Kelowna. Gilchrist did hedge his loyalty statement by talking up Spokane. “We had a great time in Spokane,” he said of his two seasons with the Chiefs. “The city really got behind us.”

, DataTimes