Chiefs Put Hrdina On Display Former T-Bird, Podollan Score Twice As Spokane Posts 5-2 Win In Seattle

If Seattle had the welcome mat out for Jan Hrdina on Friday night, he was quick to pull it out from under his old Thunderbirds teammates.

Hrdina returned to the KeyArena for the first time since departing Seattle and scored two goals to help his new team, the Spokane Chiefs, power to a 5-2 Western Hockey League victory.

Hrdina, who had 19 goals for the T-birds before the Chiefs got him in a trade last week for Martin Cerven to bolster their power play, showed his old fans why his new team was so eager to have his services.

With the Chiefs on a power play 2 minutes into the game, Hrdina tipped in a rebound of a John Cirjak shot for a quick lead for Spokane.

After Seattle capitalized on a two-man advantage to tie the game on a Dan Thompkins goal and went ahead less than 7 minutes later when Kevin Boris finished off after the Chiefs sloppily gave away the puck in their end, Hrdina displayed his bountiful skills once again.

He took a feed from Jay Bertsch in the slot and back-handed a shot that caromed off the Seattle goalie and found the top corner of the net. It was Hrdina’s 22nd goal of the year and third for the Chiefs.

That gave Spokane, which had seen a three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night by Prince Albert, a deadlock after 20 minutes and the momentum heading into the second period.

And the second period was all Chiefs.

Jason Podollan scored twice, sandwiching his 23rd and 24th goals around Dmitri Leonov’s 24th goal, as the Chiefs outshot the Thunderbirds 15-8 in the period for a 5-2 lead.

The third period was scoreless, but not without action.

Spokane, burned earlier when it was two men short, weathered a two-man Seattle advantage as goalie Aren Miller made two impresive saves.

A series of fights made the final minutes painfully slow.

The Chiefs, who have lost just twice in their last 16 games, have won six (along with a tie) in seven meetings against Seattle this season. Spokane is back home in the Arena tonight at 7 against Tri-City.

Summary can be found on C5.

, DataTimes