Chiefs win thriller
KENNEWICK – There were chances on both ends.
When both teams were dead even on the shot counter and scoreless on equal power-play opportunities after two periods, it seemed something had to give.
But it didn’t in a scoreless regulation. It didn’t in the first overtime.
The much-anticipated Western Conference championship series between the Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans opened with a 1-0 thriller won by Spokane when Ondrej Roman scored 49 seconds into the second overtime Friday night at the Toyota Center.
Judd Blackwater knocked down the puck and passed it out to Roman on a breakaway, and the 18-year-old import forward buried the puck glove side over the shoulder of Americans netminder Chet Pickard to end Game 1 of the best-of-7 series.
“There’s been a lot of hype for the series and Game 1 sure lived up to the hype,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “If that’s the way it’s going to be, and I anticipate the whole series going this way, it’s going to be a lot of fun and an entertaining series. Both teams were playing at a very high level and it was a hard-fought victory for us tonight.”
In 11 Western Hockey League playoff games this season, Roman leads the Chiefs in scoring with 14 points – six goals and eight assists.
“He’s been everything and more for us,” Chiefs captain Chris Bruton said. “This year he’s been one of our No. 1 guys in playoffs and every night he is just bringing it.”
The intense battle between the U.S. Division rivals included 14 penalties through the first overtime. The most notable call came 1:13 into the second period when Spokane’s Jared Cowen was sent into the locker room for a game misconduct and major elbowing penalty that put Tri-City on the power play for almost five minutes.
By the end of the game, the Americans had killed nine penalties and Spokane had held Tri-City scoreless on five advantages.
“It’s an aggressive style and both teams are going at it and blocking shots and doing whatever it takes,” said Bruton. “Tonight both penalty kills were unbelievable. It’s making it hard to set up on the power play, hard to get shots through, and it’s playoff hockey – it’s going to happen.”
Both goaltenders, as they say in hockey, stood on their heads. Spokane’s Dustin Tokarski turned aside 24 shots and Pickard made 36 saves for Tri-City.
“I’ll tell you what, this time of the year the goaltending is so good and I tip my hat to both goaltenders tonight,” said Peters. “With that and the penalty killers working so hard, it’s real tough out there.”
Ice chips
Forwards Blake Gal and Dustin Donaghy and defensemen Brett Bartman and Jace Coyle were healthy scratches for Spokane. … Tri-City’s Colton Yellow Horn was named Western Conference Player of the Year on Friday. Spokane’s Jared Cowen is a finalist for the Scholastic Player of the Year award along with Regina’s Jordan Eberle.