With Injuries Mounting, Chiefs Head Into Stretch Run

It’s that time of the year, when important people miss important games.

The Spokane Chiefs will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds tonight without key defenseman Scott Roles, who sat out the third period of Wednesday night’s 2-2 tie in Seattle with a leg injury.

The T-Birds are even more banged up. They’re without five regulars including stars Bret DeCecco (lacerated hand) and Oleg Saprykin (broken thumb). Saprykin was hurt in a Feb. 27 game here.

Three other T-Birds - right wing Keegan McAvoy, left wing Darren McLachlan and left wing Tim Preston are doubtful. Seattle called up two affiliate 15-year-olds to fill in through the week.

Roles, who runs the Chiefs’ power play, was hurt last week, Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. They want him available for the playoffs, which start on March 29 in Spokane.

The Chiefs won’t have the Arena for the first two weekends of the playoffs. Spokane will open at home in the first round of a 1-2-2-1-1 best-of-7 format. They’d play the same number of games with home-ice advantage, but they’ll be without weekend dates in the first two weeks of the postseason.

With the worst of the regular-season schedule behind them, the Chiefs play five of their final eight at home hoping to hold on to their 3-point edge over second-place Prince George in the fight for the No. 1 playoff seed out of the West.

Spokane has played 10 of its last 13 on the road.

“It’s a tribute to our guys that we held on to the lead through that part of our schedule,” Babcock said. “It’s the time of year when you’re bumped and bruised.”

If the Chiefs win the West, it would be the second regular-season division championship in Babcock’s six seasons here - and only the second in their history, starting with the 1985-86 season.

Notes

Tyler MacKay gets the start in goal tonight for Spokane… . Seattle’s busy governor, general manager and coach Russ Farwell, picked up a game misconduct penalty after Wednesday night’s tie with the Chiefs. Assistant Garth Malarchuk also picked up the gamer from referee John Potter. Apparently, the coaches believed the Chiefs should have been called for too many men on the ice during a line change in overtime… . Spokane’s Tim Smith is three assists behind Brad Moran in the battle for the league lead in helpers.