Another Tokarski zip

First things first.

Give credit to the Spokane Chiefs’ sturdy combination of stingy defenseman and defensive-minded forwards, on Friday night and for most of the season.

But don’t take anything away the Chiefs’ last line of defense – netminder Dustin Tokarski, who has executed, night after night, in solving the simple equation of how to lead his team to victory: Don’t let pucks in the net.

Tokarski turned away 21 shots and tied the franchise record for shutouts in a season, earning his fourth in Spokane’s fourth-straight win, and Chris Bruton scored the lone goal in the Chiefs’ 1-0 Western Hockey League victory over the U.S. Division-rival Seattle Thunderbirds in front of 5,316 Arena fans.

Tokarski has been the winning goalie in all four Chiefs’ victories over Seattle this season. What more can be said that hasn’t been already, about the league’s top backstopper?

In a game without much glitter, Tokarski shined.

Splitting his time with fellow goalie Kevin Armstrong, he is 14-2-0-1 and leads the WHL with a 1.76 goals-against average. Three of his four shutouts have come against the Thunderbirds (14-11-5-1), all on Arena ice, where the Chiefs (26-5-1-2) are 14-1-0-2.

“We play well at home every time,” said the typically modest Tokarski. “Every time we play good and the defense really helped me out tonight and it was just an all-around effort.”

At the midpoint of the season, he is now listed among some seriously talented names that spent time between the posts for Spokane.

Tokarski is tied with Jim Watt, who accomplished the feat twice (2003-04, 2004-05), David Lemanowicz (1995-96) and Scott Bailey (1990-91).

And those guys did it in a full season.

“That’s real awesome, I didn’t know that (I did that),” said the Watson, Saskatchewan native. “There have been some real good goalies in the past in Spokane – so I’m pretty honored to be in that category.”

Asked if he thinks the record will become his, Tokarski said “Let’s hope so, right? Knock on wood.”

Bruton scored the game-winning goal on a power play 7 minutes and 46 seconds into the first. Mitch Wahl dished the puck to import forward Ondrej Roman in the high slot, and Roman powered in a shot that ricocheted off Bruton, who was down low screening.

That settled it.

“That was a quality hockey game,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “I thought they played real well and I thought our guys did a good job, that first period was very high-tempo, each team with five shots on goal. We were fortunate to get one on the power play and our penalty kill was 4 for 4, and that’s the difference in the hockey game.”

The Chiefs conclude their three-game homestand tonight when they take on division rival Tri-City in a matchup of the top teams in the U.S. Division. The Chiefs have a six-point lead over the Americans (24-7-1-0).

After tonight the Chiefs will go on their two-week holiday break before returning to action on Dec. 28 in Cranbrook, British Columbia, to take on the Kootenay Ice. They host the Ice the following night at the Arena.

Notes

The Chiefs remain second in the latest Canadian Hockey League Top 10 poll and are the highest of four ranked WHL clubs. Tri-City is third, Vancouver is sixth and Lethbridge is ninth. … Chiefs import defenseman Stefan Ulmer and Team Austria continue to roll at the IIHF Division IA U-20 World Championships in Bad Tolz, Germany. The Austrians are 4-0 after a 15-0 victory over Lithuania on Thursday. They take on Germany today in their final contest of the tournament. Ulmer has a goal and an assist and is plus-four in four games. … Forwards Luke Betts and Dustin Donaghy were healthy scratches for Spokane.

Chiefs 1, Thunderbirds 0

First Period—1, Spo, Bruton (Roman, Wahl) 7:46. Second Period—None. Third Period—None. Power-play Opp.—Seattle 0 of 4; Spokane 1 of 6. Saves—Seattle, DeSerres 4-10-10—24. Spokane, Tokarski 5-8-8—21. A—5,316.