Canadian vs. the Yanks

The Kamloops Blazers came to town Friday the 5th. The last time the Spokane Chiefs had played the Blazers it was a 8-1 slaughter of the Chiefs. I wasn’t ready to witness this again.

But Fridays game went surprisingly well.

There was action:

1 - KAM DePape, 4:29 - Delay of Game , 2 min (PP)

1 - SPO Spurgeon, 7:27 - Checking from Behind , 2 min (PP)

1 - KAM Funk, 11:45 - Slashing , 2 min (PP)

1 - KAM Caron, 15:55 - Instigator , 2 min (PP)

1 - KAM Caron, 15:55 - Major-Fighting , 5 min

1 - KAM Caron, 15:55 - 10-Minute Misconduct , 10 min

1 - SPO Baldwin, 15:55 - Major-Fighting , 5 min

2 - KAM Schaber, 0:05 - Major-Fighting , 5 min

2 - SPO Wahl, 0:05 - Major-Fighting , 5 min

2 - KAM Saip, 1:46 - Holding , 2 min (PP)

2 - SPO Bardaro, 5:16 - Interference , 2 min (PP)

2 - KAM Smith, 15:39 - Slashing , 2 min

2 - SPO Spurgeon, 15:39 - Roughing , 2 min

2 - KAM Funk, 18:20 - Hooking , 2 min (PP)

2 - KAM Saip, 18:20 - 10-Minute Misconduct , 10 min

2 - KAM Underwood, 18:20 - Roughing , 2 min

2 - SPO Beach, 18:20 - 10-Minute Misconduct , 10 min

2 - SPO Gal, 18:20 - Roughing , 2 min

3 - SPO Letts, 5:23 - Slashing , 2 min (PP)

3 - SPO Ulmer, 7:14 - Slashing , 2 min (PP)

3 - KAM Ranford, 9:14 - Tripping , 2 min (PP)

3 - KAM Dieno, 12:35 - Tripping , 2 min (PP)

3 - KAM Madaisky, 15:57 - Roughing , 2 min

3 - SPO Kuhn, 15:57 - Roughing , 2 min

3 - KAM Saip, 17:42 - Holding , 2 min (PP)

3 - SPO Letts, 18:44 - Slashing , 2 min (PP)

3 - SPO Letts, 20:00 - 10-Minute Misconduct , 10 min

There was drama:

Scoring

1. SPO Spurgeon, (5) (Wahl, Beach), 12:46 (PP)

!!!-->1. SPO Cowen, (7) (Beach, Wahl), 17:15 (PP)<—!!!

2. KAM Stretch, (23) (Saip, Smith), 6:50 (PP)

2. SPO Johnson, (23) (Ulmer, Koper), 16:06

2. SPO Johnson, (24) (Wahl, Spurgeon), 19:02 (PP)

3. SPO Spurgeon, (6) (Johnson, Beach), 18:29 (PP)

There was… the inevitable:

Three Stars

-->1. SPO - 9 Tyler Johnson<--
2. SPO - 18 Jared Spurgeon
3. SPO - 14 Mitch Wahl

and there was awesomeness:

Final Score

Kamloops Blazers - 1

Spokane Chiefs – 5

From the looks of it, the team played very well. Blake Gal really is amazing. Jared Cowen looks to be a little more motivated these days. I also have to give props to Kurtis Mucha. Not only is he now the WHL leading goaltender for most games played… but he was pretty damn good between the pipes until his defence left him out to dry.

But back to the Chiefs… Passes were looking clean and turnovers at a minimum. The boys looked rested and together. Overall I’d say this was a good game. A win is a win. There were also Chalupas. Word.

Saturday was a completely different story. I’m having a hard time comprehending just how wildly inconsistent the team is this year. They go from beating the Everett Silvertips Wednesday and looking pretty snazzy, to playing them Saturday and looking like they couldn’t beat a bunch of 50 year olds at rec hockey. It was so sad to watch.

Pretty sure Tanner Mort was playing. Pretty sure he was also playing as a forward. Whhaaaaa? What the hell is this craziness? I’m so confused. I spent most of the game shaking my head and chatting with the 7 year old next to me. He was convinced his team was going to win everything this season because “they are better than anyone!” Such well-placed faith. He even kindly pointed out to me that the Chiefs were going to lose because they don’t look like they play very well at all. They don’t hit and they can’t get the puck in the net.

Gaw. Even the 7 year old knows it.

Awesome.

He also told me Kyle Beach sucked and was a “meanie!”

This made his dad slightly uncomfortable since he noticed I was wearing my Beach jersey.

It made me laugh hysterically. I love kids and their honesty.

Good times.

I also got to explain what “warm up the bus” means.

Too bad the Chiefs forgot to warm up our car while they were out there.

Even if the Chiefs couldn’t win or play at all, I’m glad I could educate the little hockey fan of Everett.

If I could try to pinpoint one thing that lost this game for the Chiefs, I would fail miserably. Maybe it was just an off day? I did notice that Coach was juggling lines like a circus act on the Boardwalk. When I see Kyle Beach on the ice and he’s without Mitch Wahl one could assume it will not end well. It did not. This whole game was hard to watch. Jared Cowen needs to to remember how to destroy people again. The rest of the team needs to learn to keep pace with lovely Levko Koper. Corbin Baldwin needs to get a little more comfortable on the ice and everyone needs to help James Reid out a bit. Our defence leaves him to his own devices far to often. They can obviously get it right once in a while. They need to work on doing that more often.

Or maybe I’m looking at this all wrong.

But whatever happened Wednesday and Friday needs to happen on a more regular basis.

The End.

The Chiefs welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Arena on Wednesday…

then back to Everett to meet the Silvertips again on Friday…

and then they return home Saturday to play the Tri-City Americans.

It’s a buck night.

Fantastic.

/sarcasm

Bring the funk.

Leave the cowbells.

Go Chiefs Go.

Last night the Everett Silvertips brought their very impressive 14 game winning streak to the Spokane Arena. The Spokane Chiefs have not done so well against the ‘Tips this season. The Chiefs have been inconsistent… it was a weekday game… it was trying to rain… the odds didn’t look to good for a win. Such trivial stuff (I know).

When I walked in the door, I had forgotten that it was player magnet night. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the marketing department had nailed this one… Kyle Beach. Who better on a night when the Chiefs are playing the Silvertips? No one, that’s who. Don’t you dare say Tyler Johnson…

The game had its high and low points.

Low points:

• having only beer to consume in the company suite
• Mitch Wahl’s continued… funk? need to seek a turnover record? Can I have the real Wahly back now?
• Blake Gal forgetting to go top shelf on Kent Simpson during his penalty shot
• seeing what other creative ways the officials of the WHL can get Beach in the box… Srsly.
• Everett managing to score one goal

High Points:

• my bag of M&M’s
• my Kyle Beach magnet
• Jared Cowen showing he could do more than suck valuable oxygen out of the arena and was hustling a touch
• company suite complete with prime rib and chips
• Spokane’s own, Gold medal winning, special sauce, bobble head choice Tyler Johnson scoring a goal… brreaaathhh
• Kyle Beach scoring a goal
• Cowen arguing and getting a secondary assist on said goal
• the refs letting Baldwin and his dance partner drop gloves and skate all the way back to centre ice to duke it out. Classy.
• my pretzel w/ faux cheese
• seeing what other creative ways the officials of the WHL can get Beach in the box. Why don’t you just implement a penalty called “Beaching” and get it over with, eh? Beaching: A player, being of the name “Beach”, placing two feet on the ice any time during play.

Overall it wasn’t a terrible game. Weird. The Chiefs finally showed some hustle. Weirder. Everett is a pretty skilled/physical team and the Chiefs seemed to hold their own. They kept most of the stupid penalties to a minimum although Cowen did manage to land his “DOH!” penalty of the game during the last 1:30 of the 3rd… when the score was 2-1 (Chiefs). Thank you James Reid for being awesome and Jared Spurgeon and Blake Gal for playing some amazing defence.

Did I mention the Chiefs actually won?

Oh. Yeah.

Snapped that streak like a Slim Jim, kids.

2-1 win over the Silvertips.

Stat-age here.

Live it. Love it.

Tyler Johnson with the 1st star.

Don’t you forget it.

Kamloops Blazers in town Friday.

Back to Everett Saturday.

Go Chiefs Go.

As you can tell my updates have been as sporadic as the trade rumors surrounding Kovalchuk.

I’ve been busy with a new REAL job and have been sans laptop for a while. Hopefully that is changing as I write this.

Good news: There are a few things to talk about today in Chiefs land.

The Everett Silvertips come to town and the Chiefs are going to try to snap their 14-game winning streak. The Tips are 7 points up on the Chiefs and if there’s any hope in the world to catching up to them… tonight could be considered a must win. I’m pretty much going with the mindset that every game is a must win from now until the end of the season.

Also… Jared Cowen signed an entry level contract with his overlords, the Ottawa Senators. Do what you will with that information. I might have rolled my eyes and chuckled a bit.

The Kamloops Blazers come to town Friday night. Like always, I’m excited to see Ryan Hanes again.

Saturday takes the Chiefs back over the hill to meet the Silvertips… again. Srsly. They play like 5 times this month. I’d call this going steady.

Until later… Go Chiefs Go.

Wow. It really has been almost 3 weeks since I’ve updated?

… has there been much to update?

No.

Loooottsss of road games. The Chiefs have had to play on the road due to the US Figure Skating Championships being hosted in the Arena. Luckily, the competition is over and the Chiefs can return home.

So what’s happened over the last 3 weeks??

The Spokane Chiefs are being as consistent as ever… at losing. It’s one of those things that you just can’t pinpoint. It seems to be a multitude of things. They’ve managed to pull out a few wins on the road but the spark that was there seems to be missing.

Last night the Chiefs went into Kamloops and have (hopefully) hit the lowest point of the season. They were destroyed 8-1. Tadjdeh started in net. He allowed 2 goals on two shots. James Reid then took over. He allowed some more goals… then Tadjdeh went back in. He allowed some more goals… then Reid went back in. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed that many goalie changes. Ever. Dominik Uher scored the only goal for the Chiefs. It was a rough game to watch and we’re hoping that this is the last that we see of this dysfunctional Chiefs team.

Currently the Chiefs are sitting in 4th in the US Division and 5th in the Western Conference.

Not exactly what we were hoping for.

The Chiefs are in Chilliwack tonight to try and get their mojo back and hopefully score some goals and a win. They host the 5th/9th place Seattle Thunderbirds Friday night (as well as FSN broadcasting) and then the Kootenay Ice Saturday night. Both games are important not only for the point but for the team to pull together and show us what they can do.

For my sanity, I'll try to keep this thing up to date...

Go Chiefs Go.

**SIDE NOTE: Kyle Beach only needs one more goal to break his career-high goals scored. Best of luck, Kylie.

This not only describes my utter lack of technical communication…

but the Spokane Chiefs as well.

In my world: laptop dying issues.

In the Chiefs world: TURNOVERSSSSSSSS

And not the yummy carbohydrate-filled kind…

For some reason the Chiefs turnover rate has increased 200% in the last 5 games.

It's rather ridiculous.

The Chiefs started off the New Year on the road to Vancouver. I always love visiting Vancouver. With the complete lack of snow in the NorthWest, the drive was fantastic and NO TROUBLE at the border?! We'll call that a total WIN. Yes. I drove to Vancouver but not only to watch hockey but to visit friends and take a few days vacation. It was needed.

Needless to say, the Vancouver Giants and Spokane Chiefs were a shaken pop ready to esplode. The Chiefs were coming off of a disappointing loss to the TriCity Americans and the Vancouver Giants had just been embarrassed in their own house by the Prince George Cougars.

The game proved explosive and fairly entertaining to watch. I'm so glad I got to witness it.

Exhibit A:

Yeah. Look at that. Amazing.

This was hands-down the most fantastic game I've witnesses since playoffs last season.

Something else that made this game entertaining to watch… Michael Tadjdeh got the start in net. Silly really. That guy makes me more nervous than watching Curtis McElhinney take to the pipes last season. But I’ll have to admit that I was rather amused and slightly impressed with his showing in net. The Chiefs managed a 2-1 win over the Giants. Mitch Wahl and Jared Spurgeon had the goals. Can Spurg just keep the ‘C’?

The next night saw the Chiefs back in Kent to tangle with the Seattle Thunderbirds. This game saw less penalty minutes but the effort was weak and turnovers aplenty. Seattle went up 2-0 in the 1st. Tadjdeh started in net again and we were kind of giving up some hope… We’ll call this the game of crazy miracles. Kuhn, Letts and Miller all scored in the 2nd to give the Chiefs the 3-2 lead (and finish). Tadjdeh had 37 saves to help the Chiefs to another win and as the game wrapped up the fans were not yelling at us (for once) but for Coach Sumner to be fired. Whether I agree with that or not isn’t important… but thank you for being more polite this time, Seattle.

Tuesday, the Chiefs returned home to host the crazy-hot Saskatoon Blades. James Reid got the start in net. The Blades pretty much made the U.S. Division their bitch. I’ve written this game off as a “fluke” and I’m leaving it at that. The final score was 5-4 with the Blades winning. 5-4!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? It was like a figin goal-a-palooza. Utter rubbish. I’m hoping for more awesome things this weekend as the Chiefs play the Chilliwack Bruins Friday night, the TriCity Americans Saturday night and Everett Silvertips Sunday night.

I’ve rambled. I’m excited for hockey this weekend. I’m hoping for a win and possibly some more Kyle Beach goals and LESS MITCH WAHL TURNOVERS! Srsly. Keep possession of that puck in the neutral zone. I should start keeping track...

Go Chiefs Go?

Damn right.

Cue the clowns. Bring out the unicycles. Where’s the ringmaster?

This has pretty much been that last few weeks of games for the Spokane Chiefs.

and my liifffeeee...

verra busy.

The last few weeks have been slightly crazy. Between my own life and the million gallons of hockey I have been consuming, it’s been busy. I pardon the interrupt in the writing. Not that it matters. In Chiefs land… there hasn’t been much to write about. Lots of losing. The last few home game in the Spokane Arena… the reffing could be called “bad” and I might be under-exaggerating. It really has been bad. But that’s just in my own opinion.

Last night the Spokane Chiefs met the Portland Winterhawks… again. 3rd time this month. Tensions finally boiled over a bit at the end of the game. This might have been carried over from the last game where there was attitudes being thrown about and Ian Curtis and Kyle Beach started a fling. Last night, there may or may not have been a line fight. Depends on your definition. James Reid was the only player that wasn’t involved since he was sitting on the bench and the Chiefs were going for the tie. It didn't happen and the Chiefs lost 5-4. They took out their frustrations at the end...

Mitch Wahl and Kyle Beach need to have a talk about their future together. If Kyle keeps kickin the crap out of every guy that gets up in Mitch’s business, it could be a verrrrrrry lonnngggg season and Kyle will out-pace any team in PIMs. I luv ya both keep it turned down from 11 eh?

The Chiefs travel to met Portland (AGAIN!?) Tuesday. I suppose we can expect more shenanigans on the ice. Looks like a season rivalry with Portland is well underway. There is one bright spot in all of this… the Chiefs have recalled Reid Gow to play with the team since we are still missing players to tournaments. I’m verra excited about this. Other than Cole Hamblin and Brendan Edie, Gow was my favourite player out of camp. I can’t wait to see how he plays.

Go Chiefs Go.

I'm sure I've missed things to talk about. It's the holidays. I've got things to do.

I'm going back to watching World Jr's now.

Go Canada Go.