The Portland Winter Hawks would strike first on Friday night, but the Spokane Chiefs would strike most as the Chiefs skated to a 6-2 win at the Memorial Coliseum.Luke Walker got the Hawks on the scoreboard with an early goal, less than three minutes into the first period, but Spokane would finish three times before the end of the period and not look back. Troy Rutkowski, with his first career WHL point, and Brett Ponich would assist on the Portland goal.
Ryan Letts would tally twice for Spokane, while Levko Koper, Trevor Glass, Tyler Johnson and Steven Kuhn would add single markers. Johnson would add two assists for a three point night for Spokane.
Portland's second goal would come on the power play, just their second power play goal of the season, when Travis Ehrhardt's point shot found the twine through a screen early in the second period. Travis Bobbee and Radim Valchar assisted on the goal.
Dustin Tokarski went the distance in net for Spokane, stopping 23 of 25 shots in the victory while Kurtis Mucha would stop 31 of 37 shots in defeat.
On special teams, Spokane would finish 2 for 9 on the power play while Portland went 1 for 7.
Next up, the Hawks will host the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7:00 PM at the Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night. Air-time on AM 1550 KKAD will be at 6:40. Tickets are available by calling 503-236-HAWK or at any Ticketmaster location.
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