Shootout win gives Chiefs playoff berth

CRANBROOK, British Columbia – Drayson Bowman and Ondrej Roman scored in the shootout as the Spokane Chiefs edged the Kootenay Ice 3-2 in Western Hockey League action Saturday, clinching a Western Conference playoff berth.

Brady Calla opened the scoring for Spokane (34-15-0-3) with his 11th goal of the season – sixth since joining the team in a trade-deadline deal from the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 8 in exchange for Seth Compton – at 19 minutes, 2 seconds of the first period.

Bowman made it 2-0 at 10:35 of the second on a 5-on-3 power play. Bowman has registered at least one point in 11 of his past 12 games.

Kootenay (26-21-2-6) got third-period goals from Dominic Pacovsky and Kevin King to force the game to overtime.

King roofed a rebound past Spokane goaltender James Reid with 14:04 remaining in the third to tie the score at 2.

The Chiefs returned to their winning ways after having an 11-game streak snapped on home ice Friday night – a 4-0 blanking administered by conference-leading Vancouver.

The Chiefs captured the shootout 2-1 with Roman’s winner coming in the fourth round. The shootout win was the eighth consecutive for the Chiefs after opening the season with three shootout losses.

The Chiefs remain six points behind the Tri-City Americans in the U.S. Division standings. Tri-City beat Seattle 7-1.

The Chiefs host the Kelowna Rockets today at 6 p.m.

KIJHL

Anthony DeLong scored in overtime to give the Castlegar Rebels (26-16-4) a 3-2 victory over the Spokane Braves (22-2-3) at Castlegar, British Columbia.