Chiefs plan to take in sights over break
KITCHENER, Ontario – Now they wait.
For the Spokane Chiefs, who wrapped up their round-robin schedule with a 3-1 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques on Tuesday night, the automatic berth into Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship means four days in between games.
In the meantime, they’ll become interested spectators and tourists.
The Chiefs await either the Belleville Bulls (1-1) or tournament host Kitchener Rangers (1-1), who will square off twice before Sunday – first today in the final round-robin contest of the tournament, and again in a semifinal on Friday for the right to play Spokane for the storied Cup.
Though the Chiefs (3-0) had earned the automatic berth after the Bulls beat Gatineau (0-3) on Monday, Chiefs coach Bill Peters said his team never had any intention of playing Tuesday’s game with any less desire to win.
“Our players are so competitive and I think that’s why we’re a good hockey team,” he said. “They’re competitive by nature and it comes out intrinsically – I don’t have to get that out of them every night. If they’re going to play, they want to win and it’s not just on the ice. If it’s on the bus in a card game, if it’s in practice in a game that we create, it’s the most competitive group I’ve been around in sport – it really is.
“I knew there was going to be no problem with getting the juices flowing, and then when we got out in the game Gatineau was coming at us with speed. Our guys picked up and we were fine.”
The Chiefs will practice today and Friday, taking the day off Thursday to head to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Wayne Gretzky Restaurant in nearby Toronto. The team will also take in a Blue Jays game against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.
”(It’s) a little bit of a break (to) enjoy the experience of being at the Memorial Cup,” said Peters. “We’ll back off a little bit on Saturday in preparation for Sunday. We’ve been fortunate – our schedule has been good here.”
The four-day layoff should seem relatively short for the Chiefs, who waited 10 days before their first Memorial Cup game last Saturday after they swept the Lethbridge Hurricanes for the Western Hockey League title.
“I’m just thinking about one more win,” said Chiefs goalie Dustin Tokarski. “We’re pretty confident, but we still have to play humble hockey. A 3-0 record is nothing if we don’t win our next game, so now it’s just all about preparing for the rest of the week and getting it done on Sunday.”
The Chiefs played back-to-back games to open their Memorial Cup tournament campaign – beating Belleville 5-4 in overtime on Saturday and shutting down the Rangers in a 2-1 victory on Sunday.
In each game they’ve played their momentum has seemed to pick up. Though Gatineau played a disciplined game, the Chiefs were able to snuff the Olympiques’ offense with another solid defensive effort.
“It was important to play well and do good things and get better as the tournament goes on,” said Peters. “That was a goal of ours when we got here – to get better every game – and I thought we did that.”