Chiefs win despite missing pieces

Friday night was somewhat of a sneak preview of what the show will look like for the next couple of weeks.

With four key veterans already absent from the Spokane Chiefs’ lineup – three gone to represent their countries on an internationally competitive stage, and one out with a nagging groin injury – and four more players due to leave Monday, it’s now up to the rest of the lineup to make sure the shorthanded Chiefs don’t play like they’re undermanned.

Their first performance wasn’t the most rhythmic game they’ve put together, but thanks to Jared Cowen’s first-period power-play goal and 26 saves in a shutout performance from backup goalie James Reid, the Chiefs passed their first test with a 1-0 Western Hockey League victory over U.S. Division rival Seattle. The Chiefs (20-9-0-3), who pulled within three points of the Tri-City Americans for the division lead, and Thunderbirds (13-17-1-2) play again tonight at the Arena.

“It was hard to get in any kind of rhythm early, just because we’ve never played that shorthanded before,” Chiefs coach Hardy Sauter said.

A big part of the win, Sauter added, was Reid’s performance in net.

“The 2-on-1 that he stopped (in the first period) was absolutely outstanding, and he made probably another handful of quality saves that kept it a 1-0 game. The fact that he played the puck a few times in order for us to clear the puck away from pressure was a nice feature to the game,” Sauter said of Reid, who is 4-0-0-1 for Spokane and posted his second career shutout in a Chiefs sweater.

The Chiefs were without league-leading goalie Dustin Tokarski and veteran defensemen Jared Spurgeon, Mike Reddington and Stefan Ulmer.

Reddington is sidelined with a day-to-day groin injury, but said he doesn’t expect to be back until after the holiday break, and Ulmer is in Denmark playing for Team Austria at the Division I Group B IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Under-20 Championships. The tournament begins on Monday, and Ulmer will miss three games before the holiday break.

Tokarski and Spurgeon are at Team Canada’s National Junior Team Selection Camp in Ottawa – both are candidates to make Canada’s final 22-man roster that will compete in the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships.

If Tokarski and Spurgeon make the final cut, they’ll play in the tournament in Ottawa from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.

Spokane loses four forwards after this weekend – including first-liners Drayson Bowman and Mitch Wahl and second-line center Tyler Johnson, who all leave to represent the United States at the World Junior Championships. Those three will miss six games, while rookie forward Blake Gal will compete for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge from Dec. 28 through Jan. 4.

“We need some guys, not necessarily to step up, but we need everyone to play good – nobody can play below average,” Sauter said. “Tonight we had some guys below average, and when you’re shorthanded you usually don’t get away with it. We’re fortunate that our goalie made some saves and kept us in early and allowed us to get our feet under us.

“Do I expect us to be better (tonight)? – absolutely.”

Notes

The Chiefs were 1 of 5 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. … Brenden Kichton and Levko Koper picked up assists on Cowen’s goal. … Spokane is 13-3 at home and has scored 58 goals and allowed 25.