Chiefs KO T-Birds

On fight night at the Spokane Arena – with a “Rocky” theme running throughout it – the Spokane Chiefs answered the bell and knocked out their foe.

The Spokane Chiefs scored their first three goals on power plays and downed the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-3 in Western Hockey League play Friday night.

David Rutherford and Michael Grabner led the way with two goals apiece, while Ondrej Roman added two assists. It was the first of five games for Spokane which will shape the U.S. Division race at the Christmas break.

Spokane and Seattle entered the game tied for third place in the U.S. Division of the Western Conference. Spokane earned a two-point lead on Seattle with the win and can forge a tie with idle second-place Tri-City with a win over Portland tonight.

The turning point in the game came midway through the second period.

The game was tied at 2 and Chiefs coach Bill Peters did not like what he was seeing from his team. He had already pulled his starting goalie in the first and let the rest of the team have it during a timeout at the 8-minute mark of the second.

“There was no magic speech,” said Peters. “I just thought there were some guys still trying to test the waters, see what the game was going to be all about, and we’ve got to have everybody going each and every night. When we do that and work hard, then we’re successful. We can’t take any shortcuts.”

Former T-bird David Linsley got an extra earful of Peters’ motivational speech and responded in the desired manner. On his next shift, he drew a penalty which put Spokane on the power play which would allow Spokane to take the lead for good.

Derek Ryan buried a back-pass feed from Ondrej Roman at the 9:18 mark of the second to break the tie. Spokane led 3-2 and Linsley would get the extra marker before the end of the period, at the 18:13 mark, for just his second goal of the season.

Linsley’s goal, on a crisp cross-ice feed from Drayson Bowman, gave the Chiefs an insurance goal they would need.

Spokane (15-11-3-1, 34 points) had jumped to a 2-0 lead on extra-skater goals from Grabner and Rutherford in the first period. Rutherford and Grabner would each add goals in the third – Rutherford’s at even-strength and Grabner’s on a shorthanded, empty-net goal with just 1:28 remaining while Seattle had a 6-on-4 advantage.

Spokane also got solid goaltending from Kevin Armstrong, who had 21 saves after relieving starter Dustin Tokarski after Seattle’s first two goals at the 17:24 mark of the first period.

“I was just thinking I wanted to go in there and get it done for the boys, because they were working hard,” said Armstrong, who allowed just one goal in 42 minutes, 36 seconds.

Seattle (12-8-1-1, 32), which got goals from Bud Holloway, Bretton Stamler, and Radek Meidl, had bounced back to tie the game by the end of the first period and outshot Spokane 14-5 in the third after falling behind again at 4-2.

The Chiefs defense and Armstrong denied them. Seattle star Aaron Gagnon, the WHL player of the week, was kept off the scoresheet largely by the efforts of defenseman Sean Zimmerman.

Peters got to control the line changes all night as the home team and he made sure that the pairing of Zimmerman and Justin Falk were matched up with Gagnon’s line.

Meanwhile, Grabner continued to shed some of the rust of a long layoff with a hip pointer injury, showing the flashes of brilliance which allowed him to be a first-round National Hockey League draft pick last summer.

“Every game I’m getting in better shape,” said Grabner. “We just wanted to show them that when we bring our ‘A’ they can’t stick with us and that’s what we’ve got to do the next couple times we play them.”

The teams meet each other in a home-and-home series next weekend.

Teddy Bear Toss tonight

The Chiefs will host their fifth Teddy Bear Toss Night tonight against Portland.

Fans are encouraged to bring a new or slightly used teddy bear to the game and toss it onto the ice once the Chiefs score their first goal of the game. The teddy bears will be collected and donated to The Spokesman-Review’s Christmas Fund.

Watt released by Bruins

The Chilliwack Bruins released former Chiefs goalie Jim Watt after acquiring Matt Esposito from Everett.

The Kamloops Daily News, with some help from Bruins radio man Dave Sheldon, quoted Chilliwack general manager Darrell May as saying, “There is a certain amount of commitment required to be a Bruin on and off the ice. And you have to be a leader as a 20-year-old. We felt we wanted to go in a different direction.”

Watt was acquired by Chilliwack in the expansion draft after being traded by Spokane to Saskatoon.

Chiefs 6 T-birds 3

First Period—1, Spo, Grabner 9 (Falk, Blackwater) 8:13 (pp); 2, Spo, Rutherford 16 (Courchene) 13:24 (pp); 3, Sea, Holloway 6 (Stamler) 14:20; 4, Sea, Stamler 6 (Holloway) 17:24 (sh). Second Period—5, Spo, Ryan 12 (Wahl, Roman) 9:18 (pp); 6, Spo, Linsley 2 (Roman, Bowman) 18:13; 8. Sea, Meidl 7 (Durand) 14:14. Third Period—8. Sea, Meidl 7 (Durand) 14:14; 9, Spo, Grabner 10 (Zimmerman) 18:32 (en)(sh).

Power-play Opp.—Seattle 0 of 7; Spokane 3 of 6. Saves—Seattle, Yeomans 17 saves. Spokane, Tokarski 4 saves, Armstrong 21 saves. A—5,024.