Chiefs Need Big Hit To Hold Off Tri-City

You won’t see Curtis Suter’s name in the scoring summary, but you will find his mark on K.C. Timmons.

It was Suter’s hit on Timmons midway through the third period that set in motion the play that earned the Spokane Chiefs a 5-4 Western Hockey League victory over the Tri-City Americans Friday night in the Tri-City Coliseum.

And the Chiefs needed it to stay one point ahead of Prince George in the battle for second place in the West. Both clubs have one game left. The Chiefs finish tonight in the Spokane Arena against Tri-City.

Prince George rallied from a 6-3 deficit after 40 minutes to defeat Kelowna 7-6 Friday night.

Spokane had blown a 4-1 lead and was in a 4-4 deadlock midway through the final 20 minutes when Timmons headed for the Chiefs’ end. He never made it.

Suter separated Timmons from the puck near the red line in front of the Tri-City bench, Chiefs teammate Trent Whitfield picked it up and flicked a pass that sent Marian Cisar in on a breakaway.

Cisar lifted a backhander over goalie Aaron Baker at 10:07 for his second goal of the night.

The Chiefs dominated the third period, outshooting the Americans 16-3, but couldn’t add to the margin and it took a clutch save by goalie Aren Miller on Scott Gomez at the buzzer to keep it out of overtime.

Whitfield gave Spokane an early lead when, at 1:28 of the first, he beat Baker on a power play for his 38th goal. Derek Schutz and Ron Grimard also scored for Spokane.

Cisar’s first goal of the night was his fourth short-handed goal of the season and the team’s 11th.

Jarrett Thompson scored twice for Tri-City, one on a power play.

Chiefs 5, Americans 4

Spokane 3 1 1 - 5

Tri-City 1 3 0 - 4

First period- 1, Spokane, Whitfield 38 (Leeb, Johnson), 1:28 (pp). 2, Spokane, Schutz 22 (Cote, Whitfield), 13:30. 3, Spokane, Grimard 7 (Loyns), 15:34. 4, Tri-City, McKay 27, 16:41 (sh). Key penalties-Evans, TC, 1:07; Schutz, Spo, 11:24; Almeida, TC 16:19; Thompson, TC 18:56.

Second period- 5, Spokane, Cisar 32 (Schutz), 3:31 (sh). 6, Tri-City, Thompson 15 (Flynn, Evans), 6:37 (pp). 7, Tri-City, Timmons 11 (Vesely, Melichar), 14:16 (pp). 8, Tri-City, Thompson 16 (Lapeyre, Evans), 15:59. Key penalties- Ference, Spo, 2:04; Leeb, Spo, 4:41; Ference, Spo, 6:37; Boychuk, TC, 9:11; Graf 18:55 Third period- 9, Spokane, Cisar 33 (Whitfield), 10:07. Key penalties- Melichar, TC, 3:00; Leeb, Spo, 5:32; Melichar, TC, 11:38.

Power-play opp.-Spokane 1 of 6; Tri-City 2 of 7. Saves- Spokane, Miller 7-11-3-21. Tri-City, Baker 13-16-15 - 44. A-5,527.

, DataTimes