Roles Grows Into Roll Chiefs Defenseman A Big Reason Spokane Has 2-0 Lead On Kootenay

A sign of the times.

Mason Wallin’s playoff beard is beginning to fill out so you actually notice it.

Growing a beard doesn’t come easy to a fair-haired, 17-year-old like Spokane’s Wallin, certainly not as natural for him as blowing by Western Hockey League defensemen.

“You’ve got to go a long way into the postseason for Wally to have facial hair,” Chiefs assistant coach Bill Peters said.

Not so for 20-year-old Scott Roles, who’ll return to Arena ice tonight for Game 3 of the WHL Championship Series sporting a full, red, all-league beard.

“I didn’t see too many others around the league,” Roles said. “I know Chubb (Chris, of the Ice) has a pretty good one, but for our team, I’ve got a pretty good one, too.”

Figures. Everything is coming up full in Scott Roles’ life these days.

Traded to Spokane from Kootenay last fall, he’s blossomed into the complete player. With 13 points in 11 games, he leads the Chiefs in playoff scoring.

Friday night’s 3-2 win in Cranbrook was the most satisying of his career. He said he had a similar feeling, playing against Regina after the Pats had dealt him to the Ice, when the Ice were still in Edmonton.

But this time, the stakes were a lot higher.

Saturday night’s win was even better.

“I had a feeling we’d win the first two,” Roles said. “I mentioned that to D.D. (Forss, the trainer). I said, `What are they going to do when we’re up two-oh, going home?”’

What, indeed.

The Chiefs can close this series at home with wins tonight and Wednesday night.

Roles says he expects the series to get tougher as the desperation level rises.

Initiating the breakout, jumping in the rush, quarterbacking the power play, Roles is having “the time of my life.”

With WHL teams restricted to a max of three 20-year-olds, Roles was caught in a numbers game in Kootenay. The Ice had a superb puck-handling D-man in Steve McCarthy. They could afford to move Roles out of their division.

Unfortunately for them, McCarthy is out with a shoulder injury and Roles is a major reason why they’re down two games to none.

“We knew in this series we’d need contributions from everybody, and we’re getting them,” general manager Tim Speltz said. “We haven’t had one most valuable player so far. We’ve had a number, and Roles is certainly prominent among them.”

Roles scored the most important goal of his career on a shot from the point to tie Saturday night’s game in the third period.

“I was getting my shot blocked all night,” he said. “They do that very well in their small rink. They collapse down on the slot and block shots.

“I faked the shot, Jaffray (Jason of Kootenay) went down, and I moved out, trying to get a little bit of a lane. I was just trying get it through because I knew (Derek) Schutz was there for the rebound or the deflection, but it just went right through.”

The flow of Saturday night’s game sputtered with stoppages, but Roles wasn’t critical of referee Kelly Sutherland’s work.

“The sticks were getting up there and he (Sutherland) had to take care of it,” Roles said. “We have to be more disciplined.”

So do the Ice. Power-play failure was rampant in cramped Cranbrook Memorial Arena. The open ice here should give the skill players just enough time and space to make the softer pass and the better shot.

Notes

Former Chiefs star Greg Leeb, his season in the International League over, will be in attendance tonight. Leeb plays with the Michigan K-Wings… . Ex-Chiefs alternate captain Darren Sinclair is a close follower of this series. His younger brother, Colin, is a promising 17-year-old with the Ice. Sinclair, who played three seasons in the Vancouver organization with Syracuse, spent last season in the East Coast League, with the New Orleans Brass… . Jon Klemm, who captained Spokane’s ‘91 Memorial Cup championship team, grew up in Cranbrook. Asked where his loyalties lie in this series, Klemm said he’d have to side with his old club, the Chiefs.

How hot are the Chiefs? Well, they’ve chilled an Ice team that heading into this series had lost only five of its previous 34 games… . They’re right. You can throw out the regular season. Kootenay humbled Spokane twice in the regular season, but is down 2-0 in the playoffs. Spokane beat Brandon twice in the regular season of ‘95-96, then lost four of five to the Wheat Kings in the league finals. … If the old Spokane Coliseum was a barn, and it was, Cranbrook Memorial Arena is a sty. But credit a city of fewer than 20,000 for putting life in the barnyard behind them. The roof trusses of a new 4,800-seat building were going up last week. After only two seasons in the sty, the Ice are due to move into their new digs in September… . The lights hang so low in Memorial that Derek Schutz hit one in Game 1 with a high chip shot. It was the first time Cranbrook Daily Townsman sports editor Duncan Clarke remembers that happening… . Kootenay’s first-line forward Mike Green has signed with the Florida Panthers.

Tri-City Americans owner Ron Toigo has reached agreement to lease the PNE, clearing the final hurdle that will allow him to operate a WHL expansion franchise in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2001. At last report, the group of investors who want to buy the Americans from Toigo were still looking for partners. Toigo has to divest himself of the Tri-City franchise before starting a new one… . The Tri-City-Spokane rivalry is about to spill over to baseball. Tri-City is expected to get Portland’s Northwest League franchise in time for 2001.

Chiefs coach Mike Babcock was unhappy with referee Alain Smith after Friday night’s series opener in Cranbrook, when the Chiefs were shorthanded for 6 of the final 10-plus minutes. “Without the referee in the third period, I thought we had things going our way,” he said. “To me, that was an embarrassing effort on his part.” … . Kootenay scored its first goal Friday night while Spokane’s Matt Keith was trying to get off the ice on a line change. Such is the price of inexperience. Still, Keith had a hand in scoring the tying goal, showing why Babcock is not hesitant to send fourthliners out in critical situations.