Austin Roest scores hat trick to lead Silvertips past Chiefs

It was more of the same for the Spokane Chiefs Sunday at the Arena.

Too many shots against, not enough shots for, not enough scoring chances. Playing from behind early, and from way behind late.

According to associate coach Stefan Legein, you can add another mark against the Chiefs: a lack of effort.

Austin Roest scored a hat trick for Everett in the second period of a Western Hockey League tilt, pacing the Silvertips to an 8-3 win. Dawson Cowan got the start in net for Spokane and surrendered seven goals before being replaced by Cooper Michaluk midway through the second.

Everett put up 47 shots on net – 26 in the second period.

Legein wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort, particularly in the second frame when Spokane gave up five goals. Spokane’s third period was better, but it was too late.

“For 40 minutes we were just invisible and had no fight,” he said. “No energy, no nothing. The outcome of the game was a direct result of the way we played.”

The Chiefs scored all their goals in the third when Everett was rolling four lines and sitting star players to keep them uninjured. Tim Metzger made 29 saves for Everett.

“It’s tough and you don’t ever want to take a goalie out,” Legein said of Cowan. “But at a certain point … you’re not doing him any favors when the team’s playing like that in front of him.

“It’s (43) shots against through two periods. It’s by no means his fault, but you can’t keep a kid in there who’s getting beat up. It’s tough to bounce back from that but I had to get him out of there to save himself and show the team we needed some spark.”

Vincent Lamanna got Everett going quick when he made it 1-0 just 91 seconds into the game. Jesse Heslop made it 2-0 Everett, a lead the Silvertips took into the first intermission.

The second period proved fatal for Spokane’s chances to claw back into the game. Roest got his first goal of the night with just nine seconds off the clock. Olen Zellweger scored on the power play at 7:40 of the second to make it 4-0.

Roest completed his hat trick with two straight goals 46 seconds apart.

Ryan Hofer made it 7-0 at 11:13 of the second, sending Cowan to the bench and Michaluk onto the ice.

Ty Cheveldayoff scored his 10th goal of the season 47 seconds into the third to keep Spokane from being shut out for the first time this season. He followed up with his 11th of the season at 10:42 . Chase Bertholet scored with 2:04 remaining to get Spokane’s third goal.

Aidan Sutter scored Everett’s lone third -period goal.

It’s been a tough season for Spokane, as the Chiefs have just four wins and nine points. They are 11 points back of the Tri-City Americans in the U.S. Division and 10 points back of the Kelowna Rockets, who hold the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

As far as fixing his team’s effort, Legein said it’s ultimately up to the players.

“It’s hard to coach effort, it’s hard to coach desire and commitment,” he said. “You can yell and scream but unless the players decide that they want to work, it doesn’t go anywhere. If a team shows up with no legs and no willingness or desire, you’re dead in the water and I think we saw that with our group tonight.”

The Chiefs are back at the Arena Friday to host Kelowna, and Saturday against Lethbridge in the annual Teddy Bear Toss game.