WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs rally to topple Giants in shootout

Published on November 23, 2006 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs earned their third shootout victory this year and capped off a come from behind effort with a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Giants on Wednesday night in the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs are now 12-10-3-0 on the season with 27 points, good for third place in the US Division.

Vancouver scored first and never gave up the lead in regulation. Tim Kraus scored at 4:21 of the opening period of the game, but the Chiefs tied it less than a minute later. Derek Ryan sanpped home his eighth goal of the season, from Ondrej Roman, at 5:18 to tie the score. Less than a minute after that, though, the Giants Michal Repik scored to give the Giants a 2- 1 lead.

After a scoreless second period, the Chiefs tied it on the power play at 1:18 of the third when David Rutherford wrapped in his team leading 12th of the year.

With Vancouver on the power play, Repik redirected a point shot at 7:52 to give themselves the lead once more, but the Chiefs were able to answer on their own man advantage.

At 14:07 of the third, Roman carried the puck behind the net and passed it backwards to Ryan, who scored for the second time and evened it at three all.

Spokane outshot the Giants 5-1 in overtime, but neither goaltender, Kevin Armstrong for Spokane and Tyson Sexsmith for Vancouver, forced the game into a shootout for the first time in the Spokane Arena this year.

Repik was stopped by Armstrong with Vancouver's first attempt while Ryan scored for Spokane. Both Cody Franson for the Giants and Rutherford failed to score in the second round and when Armstrong stoned J.D. Watt, the Chiefs earned the victory. The loss was just the fifth of the year for Vancouver, the third coming in either overtime or a shootout.

The Chiefs will travel on Thursday morning to Kamloops where they play the Blazers for the second time in a week on Friday night. The Chiefs will host Kelowna on Saturday at 7:30 on The Inlander's College Pride Night.

Tickets for all home games are available by calling the Chiefs office at (509) 535-PUCK or TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT.

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 23, 2006


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