WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Win Big Over Calgary

Published on October 21, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


Blake Gal's first career hat-trick highlighted a dominant 8-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Wednesday night for the Spokane Chiefs at home in the Arena.

Kenton Miller also scored two goals and recorded an assist as Spokane won their second straight.

"That was something we really needed here," Gal said. "Now we are only one game below .500. Saturday night we'll try to get there and go from there."

The Chiefs will play their fifth straight home game on Saturday when they host the Red Deer Rebels on Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel Night.

"Playing at home here with our crowd we would like to go on a streak before we go out on the road," Gal said after Spokane scored their most goals since an 8-0 win over Portland on February 27th, 2009.

Gal gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead just 43-seconds into the game by pounding in a rebound of a Tyler Johnson shot. Nineteen-year-old rookie Darren Kramer followed at 2:27 with his second of the year.

The three-year veteran Gal made it 3-0 with his second of the night at 11:54 with a backhand that went top-shelf.

"I took a chip from Miller on the wing and went down the wall and took a quick peek up and saw him leaning to the far post so I tucked her in there," Gal said about his team leading seventh goal of the year.

Kenton Miller deflected a Jared Cowen shot on the power play at 17:06 for a 4-1 lead.

Gal's eighth of the season came from over 100 feet away when he chopped the puck off the boards from beyond the red line and into the Calgary zone.

"I didn't see it at all, just went in," he said. Calgary goaltender Juraj Holly left the crease to play the puck in the corner. The puck never arrived at his location, but instead bounced into the empty net.

"I was just trying to get it in their zone to start up the forecheck and fortunately it went in for me."

The goal came at 3:59 of the second and was the first of three in the middle frame. Miller added his second powerplay goal of the night at 6:02 and Mike Aviani scored his first of the season at 8:08.

With a 7-1 advantage going into the third the Chiefs outshot the Hitmen 16-8 in the final period. "We needed to stay with our good habits and keep doing the things that are helping us win. Going into the Red Deer game we needed to stay sharp," Gal said.

Mitch Holmberg finished the scoring with the only goal of the third.

All told, five different players scored goals and 12 players recorded a point. Five had multiple points (Gal, Miller, Cowen (0-2-2), Johnson (0-3-3), Kichton (0-2-2)).

Spokane outshot the Hitmen 52-20 and went 2-8 on the power play. Calgary scored their only goal on one of their three power play chances.

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

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Western Hockey League Stories from October 21, 2010


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