Spokane Turns Tri-City’s Power Into Weakness

This was the hardest kind of loss to swallow.

Trent Whitfield turned the Tri-City Americans’ one positive - their power play - against them Saturday night.

The Chiefs beat the Ams 3-2 on two Whitfield goals. One came shorthanded. The other was a third-period game-winner with Spokane on the power play.

The Americans, suffering through a 2-9-1 start, came in with one redeeming statistical edge, the Western Hockey’s League’s No. 1 power play. After scoring on only 1 of 10 opportunities with the extra attacker in this one, even their power play needs work.

Spokane’s slick forwards - Whitfield and Greg Leeb - gave them fits all night.

The Americans took their toughest lick with 1:10 left in the second period. They had the puck on the perimeter of the power play when Whitfield stripped Darrell Hay at the point and scored on the breakaway to put Spokane up by a goal.

“I just pressured up on him, he (Hay) kind of bobbled it and I chipped it by him and went in,” Whitield said. “I kind of got lucky. I wanted to keep the shot on the ice, to the glove side, because he (goaltender Aaron Baker) wasn’t moving. The puck kind of got up on me a little bit but the shot went off his glove and just trickled over the line.”

Ondrej Vesely tied it 7:46 into the third period. But Whitfield got that one back at 11:09 with his second goal of the game and fourth in two nights.

Referee Mike Hasenfratz was a busy man - too busy to suit the Chiefs.

“It felt like were were killing penalties for 40 of the 60 minutes,” Whitfield said. “Hazzy (Hasenfratz) definitely had it in for us.”

Mike Babcock’s verbal blast at the referee after the game resulted in the Chiefs coach picking up a misconduct penalty, mostly a symbolic slap on the wrist.

Babcock chose to ignore the referee, at least for the record.

“Whitter was the best guy on the ice tonight, but Leeber was right there with him,” he said after his team went to a WHL West-leading 8-4-1. “Our penalty kill was real good. So was our goaltending.”

The Chiefs’ Aren Miller stopped 28 of 30 shots including four break-aways by the league’s top scorer, Mike Hurley. Two were wide-open chances.

“It was one of those nights when you don’t see the net,” Hurley said. “You see him.”

Dan Vandermeer’s first WHL goal - a wrist shot from the blue line that bounced by Baker - gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead in the first period.

Tri-City got the equalizer when Zenith Komarniski broke the restraint of Leeb to push a neutral-zone lead pass to Scott Gomez. Gomez scored his sixth goal of the season on the breakaway.

The Chiefs were up against it in the second period with the game tied at 1. Brandin Cote was slapped with a boarding major that put the Ams on the power play for 5 minutes. Cote was ejected.

Tri-City’s Ken McKay left the ice with a strained back and did not return.

The Chiefs not only snuffed the penalty, Whitfield scored shorthanded.

The Chiefs will probably have forwards Derek Schutz and Marian Cisar when they start a five-game homestand Wednesday night against the Saskatoon Blades. Schutz sat out this one with sore ribs. Cisar is resting a tender shoulder. Defenseman Perry Johnson was the odd man out in Babcock’s rotation of his four 20-year-olds.

The Chiefs can keep four overage players until the weekend, when they have to get down to the WHL limit of three.

Chiefs 3, Americans 2

Spokane 1 1 1 - 3

Tri-City 0 0 1 - 2

First period-1, Spokane, Vandermeer 1, 7:35. 2, Tri-City, Gomez 6 (Komarniski), 14:02. Key penalties-Evans, Spo, 1:34; Darby, Spo, 4:18; Ference, Spo, 8:20; Katcher, TC, 10:40; Jones, Spo, double minor, 14:02; Anderson, TC, 18:04.

Second period-3, Spokane, Whitfield, 18:50 (sh). Key penalties- Jones, Spo, 7:44; Flynn, TC, 9:23; Rossiter, Spo, 9:45; Cote, Spo, boarding major, game misconduct, 13:53; Gyori, TC, 14:48.

Third period-3, Tri-City, Vesely 4 (Gyori, Komarniski), 7:46 (pp). 5, Spokane, Whitfield 5 (Suter, Grimard), 11:09 (pp). Key penalties- Komarniski, TC, 4:25; Brown, Spo, 6:37; Ference, Spo, 7:22; Stahl, TC, 10:41; Boschman, Spo, 19:30; Ference, misconduct, 19:30; Spokane bench, misconduct, 20:00.

Power-play opp.-Spokane 1 of 5; Tri-City 1 of 11. Saves-Spokane, Miller 9-8-11-28. Tri-City, Baker 15-9-9-33. A-4,025.

, DataTimes