Spokane Has Kelowna In A Tight Spot

The Spokane Chiefs are back in the tight confines of Memorial Arena tonight, hoping to close out their first-round playoff with the Kelowna Rockets.

The Chiefs lead the series three games to two heading into tonight’s 7 p.m. faceoff.

Despite losing two of three games last week in Spokane, the Chiefs are comfortable here, where they swept the first two games on an ice sheet that’s five feet narrower and 20 feet shorter than the standard 200-by-85 surface in Spokane.

Both coaches Mike Babcock and Pete Anholt shrug off the suggestion that Spokane’s talent and style is better suited to Kelowna’s 1,800-seat rink.

“I don’t think the ice facility has made a bit of difference in this series,” Babcock said. “What makes the difference is the team that commits to their game plan and pays the price for 60 minutes. To win at playoff time, your best players have to be better than their best players.”

The Chiefs’ best - Trent Whitfield - has averaged a point a game through this series, but teammates Marian Cisar, Joe Cardarelli and John Cirjak are the only three who’ve scored in every game. Cirjak leads with nine points.

Anholt said both clubs have elements of speed and toughness, so it may be that certain players are more effective in the cozy confines here - Mike Haley and Derek Schutz of Spokane to name two.

Schutz, a force in the two games here, played Saturday night with a full face shield to protect a swollen, discolored and stitched left eye.

Schutz was cut in the third period of Friday night’s game when Cardarelli’s stick was knocked up inside his shield.

The issue tonight is how close to 100 percent Schutz can be? It took eight stitches to close the wound, three on the eye socket and five on the eyelid, Schutz said.

He was temporarily left with “about 80 percent” vision Saturday night.

“At times, it closed right up,” Schutz said. “T.D. (Forss, the physical therapist) did a good job keeping it open. I don’t think it affected my play that much.”

Babcock didn’t quite see it that way.

“It was a gutty effort to get ready to play but as hard as he worked, he wasn’t as good Schutzy normally would be,” the coach said. “But he has a day off (Sunday) and he’ll be back at it (tonight).”

Anholt raised the issue of interference after Friday night’s 4-0 Spokane win, citing the Chiefs for failure to move their feet when holding up Rocket forwards. He blasted referee Kevin Acheson for not calling interference penalties.

The Chiefs on most nights have held up the Rockets forecheckers long enough for Spokane to move the puck out of their own zone. If that’s illegal, captain Hugh Hamilton intimated, why hasn’t it been an issue before?

“We’ve been doing it for the last three years,” Hamilton said. “We’ve just got to stick to it. It works. As long as we get a couple of seconds to move the puck (out of the Chiefs zone), we should be O.K.”

Discipline is a key. When they play smart and hard, the Rockets are effective.

“If we keep our heads and stay out of the penalty box, we can do well,” Kelowna captain Tyler Prosofsky said Saturday night. “We’re two pretty evenly matched teams. You never know which way it’s going to go.”

If Kelowna wins, the decisive seventh game will be played Wednesday night in Spokane.

Around the WHL …

It was more of a struggle than many expected, but the Seattle Thunderbirds knocked out the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night when Patrick Marleau scored his fifth goal of the playoffs early in the third period. Although the Thunderbirds took the series 4-1 - and are the first West Division team to advance - Kamloops gave a good account of itself without goaltender Randy Petruk, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Spokane on March 12. Torrey DiRoberto, Bret DeCecco, Jeremy Reich and former Chief Martin Cerven scored for Seattle. It was the first time in eight playoff meetings that the Thunderbirds have beaten the Blazers… . If Prince George eliminates Portland tonight, the T-Birds will sit out the best-of-five second round as the highest remaining seed. Prince George would open the second round on the road against the winner of the Kelowna-Spokane series.

, DataTimes