Spokane Chiefs seem to miss wake-up call in home-opening loss

Getting home at 2 a.m. impacts the human body, no matter your age.

So, when a group of teenage hockey players – and three 20-year-olds – have to get up for a hockey game after having an unusual sleeping pattern, the results may vary.

Such was the case for the Spokane Chiefs, who fell to the Kootenay Ice 2-1 in the team’s home opener Saturday in front of 8,428 fans at the Arena. The Chiefs were coming off a thrilling 6-5 overtime win Friday night over the same Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook, B.C., that saw the team rally from 4-0 and 5-2 deficits.

Of course, the door swings both ways.

“I’m pretty sure they (the Ice) traveled as well today and it didn’t seem to bother them very much,” Chiefs coach Dan Lambert said. “I didn’t think we were very sharp mentally and I didn’t think we played the type of game that we needed to play to have success.”

The Chiefs seemed a step behind from the get-go and only registered their first shot on goal halfway through the first period.

Brett Davis opened the scoring for the Ice 6 minutes and 31 seconds into the game after tapping in a pretty feed from Alec Baer to beat Chiefs’ goalie Dawson Witherill.

The Ice would go ahead 2-0 on a Peyton Krebs goal that saw the Kootenay forward benefit from a bouncing puck in front of Weatherill.

The Chiefs got on the board in the second period on a Hayden Ostir goal right after a Kooteany penalty expired.

The Chiefs had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the third period after a sequence of penalties for both teams.

First, it was Spokane’s Riley McKay taking a bad checking-from-behind double minor, putting him in the box for four minutes. The Chiefs got a break, though, when Kootenay’s Colton Veloso took a hooking penalty soon after, putting the teams at 4-on-4.

Refs then called a bench minor on the Ice for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Chiefs – initially looking to be down a man for four minutes – were suddenly on a rare 4-on-3 power play.

Alas, despite some chances, the Chiefs came up empty.

“Getting home at two in the morning sucks but we don’t have an excuse,” Jaret Anderson-Dolan said. “I think guys were a little bit tired and it showed today. It showed that we weren’t there in the first period mentally or physically. We didn’t move our feet and we were slow.”

Anderson-Dolan assisted on Ostir’s goal.

Lambert acknowledges that his team’s record at three wins and one loss after just four games looks good, but he still isn’t thrilled with how his team has played to start the year.

“I think we have to play a certain way to have success and we haven’t done that on a regular basis,” he said.

The Chiefs are back at the arena Oct. 4 to face U.S. Division foe the Everett Silvertips.

Chiefs honor Freeman

The Chiefs provided tickets to about 700 families from Freeman High School and both the Chiefs and Ice wore Freeman decals on their helmets. Chiefs captain Tyson Helgesen – the last player introduced during the pre-game festivities – skated out with a Freeman High School flag.

Some of the 700 Freeman family members followed Helgesen onto the ice to a standing ovation. There was a moment of silence prior to puck drop to remember Sam Strahan, who lost his life in the Sept. 13 shooting. Numerica Credit Union also donated a little more than $11,000 to the “Freeman Strong” movement on behalf of its members, and presented the donation during the game.