Chiefs get down to business

So apparently there is some fight left in the Spokane Chiefs after all.

Sorry. Hard to resist those cheap shots with a stick in your hand, even if it is only a pencil.

Sequels are notorious for being disappointing, and anyone who showed up at the Spokane Arena on Friday expecting Pick the Scab Night possibly left unsated, though surely a 5-2 win by the home club over their favorite chums in grudge, the Tri-City Americans, is consolation enough.

And, no, I didn’t come looking for a fight.

I came because I figured there wouldn’t be one.

A combination of the looming playoffs and the Western Hockey League’s high court in Calgary keeping a watchful eye figured to be enough to keep the peace that got carpet bombed the last time out at the Arena, and for the most part it did. There was one fist swap midway through the second period when Spokane’s Mitch Wahl didn’t like the way he’d been flipped by the Ams’ Jarrett Toll, and that was about it. Even the ridiculous chest-puffing that usually punctuates every whistle at the net was kept to a minimum, which almost made it seem like something other than junior hockey.

Still, there’s always going to be tension, and the fact that the Chiefs’ Ryan Letts put ace goaltender Chet Pickard out of commission for a couple of weeks the last time around with a cheap bit of business will keep things on simmer well into next season – never mind just to tonight’s rematch in Kennewick.

“I didn’t think they were going to come back and look for revenge or take our goalie out or something like that,” said Chiefs winger Brady Calla. “They wanted to play an honest game. We need the wins and they want to win, too, and that’s what’s going to be most important.”

Well, considerably more important for the Chiefs.

The Americans have sewed up the U.S. Division title and long since lost contact with the Vancouver Giants for the top seed in the Western Conference, so in a practical sense they’re just playing out the regular-season string. The Chiefs, however, have fallen behind Kelowna in the race for third and presumably would rather not be looking at Vancouver in the second round of the playoffs – presuming they survive the first.

Not that the parlay of who and when necessarily matters in the playoffs.

“Whoever we play,” said Calla, “we just want to be playing good hockey.”

OK. So are the Chiefs playing good hockey?

Well, pick your game. Pick your period. Pick five minutes.

For the first five Friday night, it was even money whether the Chiefs would even get the puck out of their own end. That they were able to escape the first period with a 2-2 tie was a virtual triumph of the human spirit, too.

And then came the final two periods, when Tri-City turnovers led to Spokane breakaways, when goals were set up with passes by players falling to their knees to make a play, when hits were clean and crisp and the checks were carried out with a mission.

But this was also a Spokane team that had lost six of its previous 11 games, playing hockey from its heels.

“I think we’re in a good spot now,” said Calla. “If you’d asked me that question two weeks ago, I would have been concerned. But the last few games, we’ve been doing more of the right things and I think our playoff habits are starting to evolve.”

We have heard that before – heck, during a 72-game regular season you hear everything, several times over. The fact that the Chiefs are still trying to find themselves is something of a concern in itself, given that they are the defending Memorial Cup champs with a goodly number of Cup veterans back.

Of course, there are a goodly number of Cup veterans not on the ice, too – most of the defense, in fact. Coach Hardy Sauter acknowledged that some of Spokane’s recent troubles are due to this latest run of injury ill-fortune that has shadowed the Chiefs all season.

“But some of it, on the nights when it’s a little tough, the guys use as a bit of a crutch,” he insisted. “From a coaching standpoint, you like guys to figure it out and make it work no matter who is in the lineup. For the most part, our guys have done that all year, and better this last week.”

But the fine edge has not been there and it seems less and less likely it will be found in the playoffs. The Chiefs eventually discovered the right stuff Friday night doing the things they do best, but one game is not a best-of-7. Bad games, bad periods, bad stretches of five minutes become harder to survive in the playoffs, to say nothing of three or four of your top six defensemen being absent.

“Our centermen have to be exceptionally defensive minded,” said Sauter, “and we really have to minimize turnovers. If we do those things, we have a chance. If any go wrong, we’re in deep trouble.”

Looks as if the real fight is just beginning.