Sam Oremba records first career hat trick, Spokane Chiefs score six unanswered goals in third to down Portland 8-3

After winning three games in three nights last weekend, the Spokane Chiefs jumped from out of a playoff spot into sixth place in the Western Conference. Their opponent at the Arena Friday night, the Portland Winterhawks, are one of the teams they’ll try to leapfrog as they work their way up the ladder.

The home team got off to a quick start, withstood killing penalties the entirety of the second period, then put their foot down in the third.

Sam Oremba recorded a hat trick, including the fastest goal to start the game in club history, and the Chiefs handled the Winterhawks 8-3 in a Western Hockey League U.S. Division game at the Arena on Friday.

The Chiefs improved to 16-14-0-0 and sit two points behind Portland in second place in the division. The Winterhawks (17-13-0-0) entered play winners of four of their last five games. 

“It was one of those breakout games where we got on top of them, and we got shots on net and a couple went in and we started running away with it,” Oremba said. “For the past couple games we’ve had one or two goals, and we’ve talked about getting towards the net and tonight that’s what we did.”

“I thought we were a little bit inconsistent in the first couple periods with how we wanted to play,” associate coach Brian Pellerin said. “We talked about in between periods, about playing the way we want to play. And I thought the guys, for the most part, did that in the third period and we ended up putting some goals in.”

“The room’s been a little bit better. The guys have kind of gelled a little bit better, and I think that’s really showing on the ice,” defenseman Will McIsaac said. “We’re just kind of playing for each other a little bit more out there.”

Portland tied the game at 2-2 late in the second period, but Spokane took all the momentum coming out of intermission.

The Chiefs were awarded a power play early the third with Finn Spehar sent off for hooking, and Oremba made a terrific individual effort to beat a defender to the outside and tuck it between Clark’s pads for his second goal of the game and a 3-2 lead at the 4:11 mark of the third.

“We rely on our older guys for some leadership, and Sammy has been taking that on his back a little bit,” Pellerin said. “I think he’s just been playing really well – he’s been skating really well.”

They made it a two-goal goal game 59 seconds later. Travis Buckley broke in with speed and appeared to beat Clark top corner, but the goal was awarded to Coco Armstrong on the rebound.

Ethan Hughes made it 5-2 a few minutes later knocking in a loose puck out from that Portland goalie Blake Clark mishandled in the crease.

But the good times didn’t stop there.

New addition Logan Wormald fed Brody Gillespie for a one-timer at 11:52, then Gillespie went the length of the ice to score his second goal in 48 seconds to make it 7-2. Just 40 second after that, Oremba skated into the slot and beat Clark for the third time in the game to make it 8-2.

It was his first official career hat trick.

“I got one two years ago in Regina, but they called one of the goals off,” Oremba said. 

“We had a bunch of these games last year,” McIsaac said. “But not too many this year.”

The Chiefs got on the scoreboard first, and in historic fashion. They won the game’s opening faceoff, and Oremba carried the puck down the right wing and into the Portland zone. His backhanded flip on net slipped past goalie Blake Clark for his ninth goal of the season just 10 seconds into the game, setting a record for fastest goal at the start of a game in Chiefs history.

“I actually didn’t hear (the announcement) on the ice, but the boys were talking about (the record) in the room,” Oremba said. “We have some set face-off plays that we run, and we’ve been practicing quite a bit.”

They made it 2-0 with 2:27 left in the period. Mathis Preston circled in the zone and found McIsaac alone in the high slot. McIsaac settled the pass, waited for Clark to commit, then beat the goalie high glove side for his fourth goal of the season.

Chiefs forward Gavin Burcar was sent off for 4 minutes early in the second for high-sticking. Portland celebrated as if they had scored with 37 seconds left in the double-minor, but the apparent goal was waived off due to goaltender interference. They killed off the remaining time without incident.

The Winterhawks did get on the board 8 minutes into the period. Chiefs defenseman Nathan Mayes broke his stick, and forward Chase Harrington gave his to the defender. After an extended offensive zone possession, the puck found its way to Reed Brown, who deposited it for his ninth goal of the season to halve the Portland deficit.

The Chiefs were whistled for another penalty, with Owen Martin sent off for slashing, but they killed it off. With 5:22 left in the period, Mayes was called for boarding, giving Portland its sixth man-advantage of the game, but again the Chiefs penalty kill got the job done. 

Portland tied it 51 seconds left in the period, with Alex Weiermair netting his 19th of the campaign while the teams were skating 4-on-4.

Transactions: The Chiefs played without head coach Brad Lauer and goalie Linus Vieillard, who were away with their respective national teams (Canada, Germany) at the IIHL World Junior Championships, and forward Assanali Sarkenov, who is with Team Kazakhstan at the Division I, Group A U20 World Championships.

The team added defenseman Ryker Doka (2010) and goaltender Alexander Watren (2008) to their roster as Affiliate Players ahead of this weekend’s three games in three nights schedule.