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WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Win in a Shootout Over Victoria

February 3, 2012 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs defeated the Victoria Royals by a score of 6-5 in a shootout in front of 7,709 fans Friday night at the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs offense was well balanced with five different players scoring goals, including rookie defenseman Cole Wedman with the first of his career.

The scoring started just four minutes into the game when Royals forward Steven Hodges put his team ahead 1-0.

Spokane responded with Dominik Uher scoring his third shorthanded goal of the season at 11:23 of the first, splitting the Victoria defense and beating goaltender Jared Rathjen top shelf. Liam Stewart was credited with an assist on the play.

The Chiefs however would eventually surrender a goal on the same penalty kill with Jamie Crooks picking up the power play goal to give the Royals a 2-1 advantage.

Spokane was able to even the score before the first intermission thanks to a Mitch Holmberg goal set up by line mates Uher and Dylan Walchuk at 14:42 of the first.

Wedman's slap shot from just inside the blue line gave the Chiefs their first lead at 4:21 of the second, with Mike Aviani picking up an assist.

Stewart helped Spokane build on its lead picking up a loose puck in the neutral zone which was created by a strong check from Carter Proft, skating down the left side of the ice and beating Rathjen on his glove side at 6:47. Stewart leads all Chiefs rookies in goals with seven as well as points with 14.

Marek Kalus made it 5-2 for Spokane, cleaning up a rebound off a point shot from Vandane and scoring at 9:01 of the second. The goal prompted Victoria to make a goaltending change and bring in Keith Hamilton who would stop all 10 shots sent his way.

Victoria responded late in the second period scoring their second power play goal of the evening on a shot by Hodges for his second of the night.

The Royals continued their comeback in the third, scoring twice to force the game into overtime. Brandon Magee made it 5-4 at 16:46 of the third, and Robin Soudek tied the game on the power play with just 35 seconds left to play in regulation.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the overtime period, despite Spokane spending the last two minutes of the period on the power play.

Spokane selected Blake Gal, Dylan Walchuk and Holmberg to shoot in the shootout, with Gal and Holmberg both beating Hamilton. Eric Williams stopped two of the three shooters he faced.

The Chiefs outshot the Royals 38 to 29 while going 0-2 on the power play and 5-7 on the penalty kill.

The Chiefs next game is on the road tomorrow evening in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. They return to the Arena Monday night to play the Seattle Thunderbirds. Tickets for all home games can be purchased by calling the Chiefs office at (509) 535-PUCK or TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT.

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from February 3, 2012


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