First-place Spokane bears down
Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters presented the challenge and his team responded appropriately.
Looking to get back to their “humble hockey” roots, as Peters stated earlier in the week, the Chiefs used a rare Mike Reddington score and a two-goal second period to get past the Swift Current Broncos in a 3-1 Western Hockey League victory Saturday night in front of 7,328 fans at the Arena.
It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but a two-point performance nonetheless, as the Chiefs (23-5-1-2, 49 points) held onto their four-point lead over the second-place Tri-City Americans in the U.S. Division. The Ams also picked up two points on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers.
“I thought we worked real hard and generated a lot of odd-man rushes,” said Peters. “We gave up more than we’d like so we’ve got to find a way to execute better on those – and we will. The effort was sure there and I thought we got contributions from everybody.”
The Broncos (17-11-0-5) took a 1-0 lead 11 minutes, 58 seconds into a slow first for the Chiefs. With both teams down a man because of penalties, Levi Nelson slipped in a shot past netminder Kevin Armstrong, who finished with a solid 19-save performance and improved to 11-3-1-1 between the posts for Spokane.
“We were stuck at four on the shot clock it seemed like forever,” said Peters of the Chiefs’ four-shot opening period. “I don’t know how many big odd-man rushes they had there, but he just turned them all away and gave us a chance. I thought he was outstanding.”
Reddington, who scored one goal in 64 games last season, netted his first goal of the season, taking the puck inside and finishing the play with a backhanded shot at 3:20 to tie the game a 1-all and inspire the crowd to shower the ice with teddy bears.
“That’s a pretty memorable one – that’s something he’ll remember the rest of his life and he’ll have more opportunities in Spokane to make the bears come down,” said Peters. “He’s a good player and it was nice to see him rewarded on the score sheet.”
Prior to the game, Reddington said he jokingly told teammate David Rutherford that he was going to be the guy to score the Teddy Bear Toss goal. The blue-collar defenseman was pleased his team got the win, but knows there is still work to be done for the Chiefs.
“It was a step in the right direction,” said Reddington. “It wasn’t completely what we wanted to get right back to, a win is a win. (We need) to get pucks deep, get tenacious and right on them, and just be committed at all times on all three zones on the ice.”
Overage forward Judd Blackwater scored the go-ahead goal on an outside feed from Tyler Johnson and import Ondrej Roman added an insurance goal in the third.
The Chiefs play at 5 p.m. today in Portland, where they will take on the struggling Winter Hawks. Their four games before the holiday break are within the division.
Notes
Both teams went scoreless on the power play. The Chiefs were 0 for 6 while stopping four Swift Current advantages. … When the Chiefs scored their first goal, 3,948 teddy bears rained down onto the ice. The bears were collected and will be donated to The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund. … Chiefs rookie defenseman Stefan Ulmer and Team Austria begin round-robin play today when they take on Poland in the IIHF World Under-20 Division IA World Championships. The tournament will run until Saturday in Bad Tolz, Germany. The Chiefs’ lone selection in the 2007 CHL Import Draft will miss seven games prior to the holiday break.