Sports stats



WHL Spokane Chiefs

Game Seven a Familiar Setting

April 13, 2009 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs have taken a playoff series the distance for the ninth time in franchise history. Spokane and Vancouver will play the seventh and deciding game on Tuesday night at 7:00 in their second round playoff series. The game can be seen live on Comcast Channel 79 or heard live on 1510 KGA.

Spokane has played one game nine (1985-86) and seven more game sevens. In total, the Chiefs are 5-3 in winner-take-all contests, including a 4-1 win on the road in Tri-City last year during the Western Conference Championship series. Game seven was just one of two games that entire series that did not have an overtime, although it looked like it might after 40-minutes of play. Judd Blackwater scored 16- seconds into the third period to give Spokane a 2-1 lead and a Drayson Bowman goal at 8:29 gave the Chiefs insurance. Blackwater found an empty net with 35 seconds left to ice the Conference title.

Twelve Chiefs who will play on Tuesday night were a part of the Tri-City win, including Trevor Glass. The 20- year-old has played in three previous game seven's in his career. In 2007, Glass was a part of the Medicine Hat Tigers that won a deciding game in the first round against Red Deer and then at home in the WHL Championship series against Vancouver. He was also on the Tigers roster as a 16-year-old in 2005 and played four post season games, but one of them was not their first round game seven against Red Deer.

Brady Calla has also played in game seven, a 3-2 win for the Everett Silvertips over Portland in 2005 in the first round. Calla was a 16-year-old rookie.

Spokane also earned a win over Portland in the Spokane Arena in 2003 with a Mason Wallin overtime goal. Spokane and the Winter Hawks have met four times in deciding games, including one of their most memorable playoff series in the first round in 1995-96 when the Chiefs came from a 3-0 deficit to win the series in front of a sold-out home crowd with an overtime winner by Darren Sinclair. The Chiefs were forced to win a double overtime game six in the Memorial Coliseum in Portland to even force the seventh game. The Americans earned an overtime game seven victory in 1995 in the second round in Kennewick.

The winner of game seven will take on the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Conference Championship series. Kelowna beat the Tri-City Americans in four straight to claim their best-of-seven series in the sixth game on Sunday night.

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from April 13, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central