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Thread: First Playoff Win in 4 Years!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Spokane
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    Default First Playoff Win in 4 Years!

    Just like that Spokane in back in the series. About time the Chiefs got a win. They came out strong which was huge considering they did not convert on the marvelous overtime opportunity they had in game two. Of course Everett did not go away, and made it an interesting game in the third period. Irving definitely was not the same goalie who stymied the Chiefs in the first two games. I thought that 2 of the 3 goals he gave up were pretty weak by his standards. I expect the Irving of old to be back in net tomorrow night. It won't be easy, Everett does not want to drop both games in Spokane, but if the Chiefs do manage to take game four, you never know what can happen.
    On another note, I was dissapointed that the first playoff game in Spokane in 3 years only managed to draw 3900 fans. Hopefully more will be willing to come out tomorrow night; I don't think 5000 would be too much to ask for. Either way I'll be rooting them on, even if I can't do it in person.

    Go Chiefs!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Spokane Valley
    Posts
    508

    Default

    Tonight was a great game for the boys. They came out with a jump and made things work for them. Tic was great in net tonight. Everyone, well almost everyone, were laying down blocking shots. It was a total team effort tonight. applause

    Little nerve racking there for awhile. The Tips are definately not the type of team to take lightly.

    Keep the momentum going and bring another win Wed night.

    GO CHIEFS GO!!!!!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Spokane
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    1,287

    Default John Blanchette: Maybe Chiefs are masters of destiny

    http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools....asp?ID=181474

    John Blanchette
    The Spokesman-Review
    March 28, 2007

    Remember Martha Burk?

    No? And you'd like to keep it that way?

    Sorry. It's for reference purposes only.

    If you need a reminder, she was the attention hound who tried to bring the Masters to its knees with an admit-women-to-Augusta boycott that A) achieved nothing except B) actually making club despot Hootie Johnson a marginally sympathetic figure.

    Seems like a hundred years ago.

    Well, she was very much in the news the last time the Spokane Chiefs won a Western Hockey League playoff game. The last time until Tuesday night, that is.

    And now it seems longer, right?

    Not necessarily. At least, not unanimously.

    The 3-2 victory over Everett in Game 3 of the opening-round series was the first time the Chiefs have been able to celebrate a playoff victory since April 2, 2003 – or before any of the current Chiefs wore the sweater.

    So, really, why should they care?

    "Four years," said center Chris Bruton. "Yeah, we know. We've been told of it. So it's been stuck in the back of our minds."

    OK, so they do care. In the back of their minds.

    Apparently, way, way back.

    We're all very skilled in trying to heap old baggage on strong, new backs and let's face it – the Chiefs have accumulated their share of baggage. Two seasons without a playoff appearance, a sad first-round sweep the year before that, fans that seem to be leaking out of the Spokane Arena, a busy coaching carousel and assorted front-office navel-gazing.

    But half of the 20 Chiefs who suited Tuesday night didn't even play here a year ago. You think they know Al Conroy from Al Jazeera?

    "Honest to God, we don't think about the past," said coach Bill Peters. "We don't talk about it. We don't talk about the fact that we don't have experience. We talk about being a good hockey team that's getting better, and that's what we want to do – get better in small increments."

    Well, one playoff victory. That does qualify as a small increment.

    It appeared for a time Tuesday evening that it was going to be bigger. The Chiefs scored a pop-pop-pop power-play goal barely 5 minutes after the opening faceoff and 11 minutes later had a 3-0 lead after one of those sheer-effort bursts by Adam Hobson and Michael Grabner through a pair of Everett defenders. The Silvertips – the WHL's winningest team this season – were lost somewhere between indifferent and ordinary, except for goaltender Leland Irving who could only aspire to that level.

    Still, the best thing that happened to the Chiefs in the period was that time ran out.

    That's what the officials ruled after 10 minutes of huddling and working the headsets – that the puck that Everett's Brennan Sonne managed to wedge between the right skate of Spokane goaltender Dustin Tokarski and the post crossed the line after the horn. The consensus may have been cloudy, but the wave of the arms to signal that the goal didn't count was definitive, and when the Chiefs flailed around a bit at the end and allowed two third-period scores, it was certainly decisive.

    "Up 3-0 after one is a great spot to be in," Peters allowed. "If it's an actual goal, they would have got momentum out of that, but it's one of those things. It's no different than hitting a crossbar in overtime. You want it to be 2 inches lower, but it's not. They want that to be 2 seconds earlier, but it's not."

    Two seconds and 2 inches. Seems as if that's all the difference there is between these two teams.

    The standings said differently, of course, but the Chiefs and Silvertips split eight games during the regular season and the fact is Everett is probably a better matchup than if Spokane had drawn Seattle or Tri-City in the first round.

    "Or probably anybody in the league," Peters said. "We had some early success against these guys and therefore our guys gained some confidence. And I think our guys understand how we have to play against them to be successful and they stick to it for 60 minutes.

    "There's times they'll hem you in and you have to have composure with the puck, but there are also plays to be made. Sometimes we get caught making the safe, simple play where there's a little more opportunity – but our guys don't want to become high risk and I understand that. But we've got to do a better job of alleviating their forecheck pressure."

    So maybe that's the baby step for Game 4 tonight. And maybe this victory will bring out a few more than the 3,838 patrons who dribbed and drabbed their way into the Arena – or at least more animated ones.

    "We haven't been in this territory – it's new for some of us," Bruton said. "So it's a game-by-game thing. But Spokane is a hockey town and if you can get the fans behind you, it'll only help you more – and we definitely want to give back to the community for all the support they've given us over the four tough years we've had."

    Four tough years that Peters insists are as irrelevant as, well, Martha Burk.

    "We're a confident group and I think we've earned the right to be confident," he said. "I see good things in the present and the future. Our young guys are good players and our veteran guys have done a hell of a job leading this group.

    "They went through the tough times and they appreciate this more than anybody. They're not going to let the young guys take it for granted."

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