Thunderbirds Down Chiefs Again

Spokane has lost nine games this season and four of those have come at the hands of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The Chiefs made their last trip of the Western Hockey League season to KeyArena Friday night and that’s probably a good thing after the T-Birds pinned a 4-1 defeat on them.

Seattle, which trails second-place Spokane by one point in the West Division standings, now holds a 4-2 advantage over the Chiefs this season. The idle Kamloops Blazers lead the division with 36 points, one ahead of Spokane.

Greg Black put Seattle up 1-0 at the 7:32 mark of the first period with his second goal this year. Shane Endicott and Tim Preston picked up assists on the score.

Igor Agarunov, with an assist from Dion Lassu, netted his first goal of the season with 51 seconds remaining in the period to stretch the lead to 2-0.

Brandin Cote and Roman Tvrdon got the puck to Jeff Lucky on a power play and Lucky banged in his 12th goal of the season to cut the lead to 2-1 at 4:26 in the second period. It was Lucky’s fifth tally in six games against the Thunderbirds.

That was as close as the Chiefs would get.

Dustin Johner fed Shane Endicott, who upped the lead to two just 1:49 later. It was Endicott’s 13th goal.

Jamie Lundmark capped the Seattle scoring at the 15:11 mark of the second period. Barrett Heisten and Lassu assisted on Lundmark’s 13th goal of the season.

Seattle upped its record to 16-11-1-1, while Spokane fell to 15-9-4-1.

The Thunderbirds put an end to Spokane’s six-game unbeaten string.

Thunderbirds 4, Chiefs 1

Spokane 0 1 0 - 1

Seattle 2 2 0 - 4

First period- 1, Seattle, Black 2 (Endicott, Preston), 7:32. 2, Seattle, Agarunov 1 (Lassu), 19:09. Key penalties-Tutschek, Sea, 12:28; Spiller, Sea, 16:35; Heisten, Sea, 19:43 Second period- 3, Spokane, Lucky 12 (Cote, Tvrdon), 4:26 (pp). 4, Seattle, Endicott 13 (Johner), 6:15 (pp). 5, Seattle, Lundmark 13 (Heisten, Lassu), 15:11. Key penalties-Black, Sea, 3:44; Thorpe, Spo, 4:53; McAvoy, Sea, 7:30 Third period- None. Key penalties-Preston, Sea, 11:10; Metcalfe, Sea, 16:44.

Power-play opp.-Spokane 1 of 7; Seattle 1 of 2. Saves-Spokane, MacKay 11-9-10- 30. Seattle, Vicars 13-10-12- 35. A-4,002.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

WORLD JUNIORS

Tvrdon selected

Spokane Chiefs center Roman Tvrdon has been selected to represent Slovakia at the 2001 World Junior Hockey Championship in Moscow, Russia.

Tvrdon, 19, will leave the team Dec. 14 and return after the tournament, which concludes Jan. 5. He is the Chiefs’ No. 3 scorer.