Chiefs blank Prince George
There wasn't much excitement but the Spokane Chiefs did what they needed to do, blanking Prince George 3-0 at the Arena Tuesday night.
My unedited game story follows.
By Dave Trimmer
davet@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2154
Hard as it may to believe by what transpired at the Arena Tuesday night, the Spokane Chiefs lost to the Prince George Cougars earlier this season.
Granted it was a 2-1 overtime game in PG the second game of the Western Hockey League season but it was a loss – one of just five the Cougars have administered this season.
About the only thing the Cougars accomplished in this meeting – a dull 3-0 Chiefs victory – was to take the announced crowd of 3,645 out of the game, which is what happens the opposition provides very little resistance.
Michael Tadjdeh had 25 routine saves in handing PG its fourth shutout of the season.
“It’s tough getting up for
these games with PG being at the bottom of the pack,”
It’s not that PG was without merit. The Cougars battled hard, but they accomplished little. Meanwhile, after Jared Sprugeon’s goal 1:52 into the game and Jared Cowen’s nifty rush late in the first period the Chiefs went on cruise control.
“I think our guys, as a group, realized you never want to let a team off the hook,” Chiefs coach Hardy Sauter siad. “There were times we had chances and probably should have scored but didn’t. With a five-on-three power play at the end, those can come back and bite you.”
Spurgeon notched his second goal when his shot from the bottom of the right circle somehow eluded Cougar goalie Hudson Stremmel.
Cowen gathered the puck at his blue line, banked a pass to himself off the left board as he went around a forward, then went around a defenseman and cut in on Stremmel when he reached the endline, scoring his fifth goal with a high backhand.
“It was like the old days back in minor hockey when you can do that whenever you want,” Cowen said. “I feel like I was skating good tonight. I don’t know what their guys were doing. I felt good after the goal, though.”
The Chiefs out-shot the Cougars 16-6 in the first period and had numerous chances to score as it appeared at times they were on a power play as they kept the puck in the offensive zone.
However, the second period was a yawner. On the only power play
of the first two periods,
PG, which had a late five-on-three power play, out-shot the Chiefs 14-11 in the third period but the only goal was Tyler Johnson’s 16 at 7:20. Kenton Miller kept the puck alive in the corner and Gal drove it to the net with Johnson poking it in.
“I liked our first period and I liked our third,” Sauter said. “I wasn’t a big fan of our second. After the first I kind of warned them we were starting to be a little complacent. After the second, where we had five shots on net – that’s just no where near enough – I thought after the second period I guys really did do a better job trying to get the puck to the net.”
Tadjdeh, in his first start in more than two weeks, picked up his
first win since Oct. 17 by stopping 25 shots for his third career shutout,
first with
“Everyone just shored up all the little things and paid the price to get it for me,” Tadjdeh said. “It was good to be able to see all the shots. The team did a real good job playing solid defense in front of me since I haven’t played in a game situation for a while.
“It’s fairly tough so you have to treat practices as your games, give 110 percent all the time.”
Ice chips: Goalie Alex Wright, who had a cup of coffee with the
Chiefs last year and was in training camp in August, was PG’s backup goalie. He
has played in name games and has a 2-4-1 record with a 4.74 goals-against average
and a saves percent of 87. Neither Wright or Stremmel were with the Cougars
when the Chiefs opened the since in PG with a 6-3 win and 2-1 overtime loss. … Cowen
will depart for the
