Chiefs Open With Win Over Americans Spokane May Also Get Whitfield Back In Uniform

The Spokane Chiefs won an exciting if loosely played season opener, but their biggest score Saturday night may have come off the ice, before the puck was dropped.

Trent Whitfield is back in town.

The 20-year-old star center watched in street clothes - his contract talks with the Boston Bruins at an impasse - while the Chiefs held off the Tri-City Americans 7-6.

Whether he returns to junior hockey is still an open question, Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said, but Whitfield characterized his chances of returning to Boston as “about 90-10 against.”

A veteran of Whitfield’s dimension is a blessing to a team that will play in junior hockey’s Final Four as the host in the Memorial Cup tournament. It also presents a sticky numbers problem, since the club can carry only three 20-year-olds.

Saturday night, the three were captain Joel Boschman, defenseman Perry Johnson and center Greg Leeb. All contributed mightily to the win.

This is a faster, deeper and better-disciplined Chiefs club than the one that struggled to finish third last season. Derek Schutz had a pair of goals, Marc Brown, Marian Cisar and Leeb had 3-point nights and Jared Smyth came up with the game-winner.

Chiefs coach Mike Babcock played down the mediocre second and third periods in goal by Aren Miller, who saw only 24 shots, six of which went in.

“I don’t think we should turn this into a negative,” Babcock said. “I saw some things to work with. Blake Evans, Kyle Rossiter and Marc Brown are guys you can identify with from last year and (now) say they’re pretty good. Smitty has played on the fourth line, he’s been hurt, gets a chance to play and scores a nice goal through work ethic.”

Evans got it started, skating from out of the corner, patiently sizing up his options and, spinning, driving the puck through the pads of Americans goaltender Aaron Baker to get the Chiefs on top 1-0 in the first.

Jared Thompson tied it at 1 in the second, and twelve seconds later Dyland Goyri put the Ams up 2-1. When Spokane’s Dan Vandermeer couldn’t clear the zone - Scott McCallum stepped in front of his clearing pass and put it on net. Miller made the save but Thompson, parked on the doorstep, shoved in the rebound and Tri-City had its third goal in the opening 5:37 of the second.

The Chiefs then went to work on the power play. Leeb, alone in the slot, wristed one past Baker at 7:27. Schutz tied it at 3 with the second Spokane power-play goal at 10:47. Schutz’ second goal came on a shot from the slot with 2:07 left in the period. It put the Chiefs back in front but only until Craig Stahl - another skater alone in the slot - got on the board with 1:05 remaining in the second.

Brad Ference’s one-timer from the point bounced high and drifted behind Baker 4:38 into the third period. But that 5-4 Chiefs lead lasted all of 1:16, whenTri-City’s Gyori notched his second goal of the game, set up Mike Hurley, to tie it at 5.

Then came a goal from Brown and the goal off a rebound from Smyth that sent the customers home happy.

Joey Bastien scored for Tri-City with 1:34 left to make for an interesting last minute and a half.

Chiefs 7, Americans 6

Tri-City 0 4 2 - 6

Spokane 1 3 3 - 7

First period-1, Spo, Evans 1 (Brown, Vandermeer), 17:25. Key penalties-Hay, TC, 5:43; McCallum, TC, 9:11; Evans, Spo, 14:57; Skaug, TC, 19:42; Jones, Spo, 20:00.

Second period-2, TC, Thompson 1 (Waltze), 2:40. 3, TC, Gyori 1 (Lapeyre), 2:52. 4, TC, Thompson 2 (McCallum), 5:37. 5, Spo, Leeb 1 (Jones, Cisar), 7:27 (pp). 6, Spo, Schutz 1 (Bellmore, B.Johnson), 10:47 (pp). 7, Spo, Schutz 2 (Jones, Cisar), 17:53. 8, TC, Stahl 1 (Gomez), 18:55. Key penalties- Anderson, TC, 7:10; Skaug, TC, 8:53; Vandermeer, Spo, 11:26; Waltze, TC, 14:24; Boschman, Spo, 1:57.

Third period-9, Spo, Ference 1 (Leeb, Cisar), 4:38 (pp). 10, TC, Gyori 2 (Lapeyre, Hurley), 5:54. 11, Spo, Brown 1 (Leeb), 8:06. 12, Spo, Smyth 1 (Brown, Evans), NA. 13, TC, Bastien (Flynn, Gomez), 18:26 (pp). Key penalties-McCallum, TC, 3:54; Jones, Spo, 17:10; Jones, Spo, misconduct, 17:10; Baker, TC, 19:30; TC, bench minor, 19:30.

Power-play opp.-Tri-City 1 of 5. Spokane 3 of 9. Saves-Tri-City, Baker 17-4-16-37. Spokane, Miller 6-6-6-18. A-10,455. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo