Mcdonald Steps Up Huge In Chiefs’ Win Veteran’S Two Goals In Final Minute Help Spokane Keep Cougars At Bay

It’s a little early to start celebrating, but the Spokane Chiefs may look back on Wednesday night’s 4-2 win over the Prince George Cougars as the decisive stroke in their drive to a championship. They could also trace the turning point way back to Oct. 28.

That’s when Brent McDonald came down from Prince George in one of four trades that have helped put the Chiefs no more than two wins away from a Western Hockey League West Division regular-season championship.

McDonald scored two goals inside the final 57 seconds in the Arena to break open a tight, tough game, after which Spokane had a 2-1/2-game lead over the Cougars with four games to go. McDonald’s goals were almost as big on a personal level. He made his former teammates wince again at having lost him.

Caught with one too many quality 20-year-olds - the league max is three - Prince George traded McDonald to Spokane, and paid for it Wednesday in front of 6,256.

Words didn’t convey the feeling as well as the grin McDonald wore in the locker room.

“You can’t really explain it,” said the 20-year-old center, playing in his 339th regular-season game and 373rd WHL contest, counting playoffs. “To get the game-winner in a battle for first place, against them, is pretty sweet.”

The Chiefs never trailed in a fast-paced game dominated by Prince George in the first and third periods and controlled by Spokane in the second.

It only seemed as if Spokane was behind at times.

The Cougars fired the first 12 shots of the third period and for two periods beat a steady tatoo of rubber on Chiefs goaltender Jason LaBarbera, who stopped 32 of 34 shots.

As the press scrambled to find McDonald, Chiefs coach Mike Babcock pointed to LaBarbera’s dressing-room cubicle and said, “Player of the game.” Although he picked up the media’s vote as the game’s first star, McDonald seemed to agree.

“Labs kind of won that game for us,” McDonald said. “It’s really sweet when you get a goaltender like LaBarbera, who made the key saves when it counted.”

The Chiefs caught an early break when Cougars goaltender Scott Myers let a softy by Daniel Bohac float past him for the game’s initial score.

“It was a bit of a knuckler, but I misjudged it,” Myers said.

He was no more proud of his handling of the game-winning play, set up by Spokane’s Brandin Cote, whose shot from the left circle bounced off the goalie’s stick and out to McDonald.

“It was a rebound I shouldn’t have given up,” Myers said. “In another game, you give up a rebound like that, it doesn’t go in. Against a team like Spokane, who drives to the goal hard, they’ll score on a rebound like that.”

McDonald’s reaction: “The rebound came right to me and I buried it in the back. It was a great feeling. They (his former teammates) kind of gave it to me for stickin’ it to ‘em, there, but they’re a good bunch of guys.”

The Cougars got the first one back by burning the Chiefs with a short-handed goal set up by their iron man Trent Hunter, the WHL player of the week. Hunter, on a 2-on-1 break, fed Justin Cox for his 30th goal.

The Chiefs owned the second period, just as Prince George controlled the first and third, highlighted by defenseman Kurt Sauer’s goal that gave Spokane a 2-1 lead. The fourth man in on the rush behind McDonald, Sauer took Tim Smith’s drop at the right circle and put a wrister inside the far post that got by Myers’ glove.

Prince George tied it at 2 midway in the third when Josef Mrena scored on the rebound of Gary Toor’s shot on the wraparound.

“We did play pretty well tonight, especially a great third period,” Toor said. “The loss is disappointing, obviously. You love big games like this. We’d like to play them in the playoffs.”

A Chiefs-Cougars final in the West does seem inevitable after the way the two have distanced themselves from the pack, and the way they went at it here. Clean. Hard. “They have a couple of pretty strong lines - (Blair) Betts, Hunter and (Tyler) Bouck are some pretty skilled guys,” McDonald said. “We’re going to meet up with them in the playoffs.” McDonald’s second goal came with 6 seconds left, into an empty net, after the Cougars had pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker.

Chiefs 4, Cougars 2

Prince George 1 0 1 - 2

Spokane 1 1 2 - 4

First period - 1, Spokane, Bohac 36 (Tvrdon, Mann), 5:23. 2, Prince George, Cox 30 (Hunter), 19:16 (sh). Key penalties - Tvrdon, Spo, 16:55; Bouck, PG, 17:31.

Second period - 3, Spokane, Sauer 3 (Smith, Schutz), 14:39. Key penalties - Krymusa, Spo, 11:13.

Third period - 4, Prince George, Mrena 16 (Barkman, Toor), 9:42. 5, Spokane, McDonald 25 (Cote, Boychuk), 19:03. 6, Spokane, McDonald 26 (Schutz), 19:54 (empty net). Key penalties - None.

Power play opportunities - Prince George 0 of 2. Spokane 0 of 1. Saves - Prince George, Myers 7-9-6-22. Spokane, LaBarbera 12-5-15-32. A - 6,256.