Chiefs master art of forechecking
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Good forechecking is not only an art, it’s a fundamental part of hockey.
It’s about wanting the puck and aggressively pursuing it in the offensive zone. It’s about wearing down opposing defensemen and setting up scoring opportunities.
It’s what the Spokane Chiefs were about on Wednesday night.
Both the Chiefs and the Vancouver Giants have reputable forechecks, among other things, but the Chiefs stood out in their 3-2 win Wednesday night. The win gave Spokane a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal series, which resumes tonight at Pacific Coliseum.
“I think one of the things our team is good at is using our speed,” said Chiefs forward Justin McCrae after the Chiefs practiced on Thursday afternoon. “That’s one of the things we thrive on is hitting hard on the forecheck and to counter that, we have a solid d-core … we’re making one pass and getting out of (our defensive) zone.”
The Giants took notice on Wednesday night.
“What makes it so deadly is their speed,” Giants defenseman Jonathon Blum told the Vancouver Province. “We obviously have to be quicker in our decisions and getting more support down low.
“It feels like there’s no room out there to make plays. You have to be tightly supported and make the simple play.”
Spreading the offense
With no one breaking out and dominating Spokane’s score sheet, the Chiefs have relied on a balanced offense. Ten different players have scored Spokane’s 24 goals through seven total playoff games and 15 players have recorded points.
Ondrej Roman leads scoring with four goals and five assists, David Rutherford is second with four goals and four helpers and Mitch Wahl and Drayson Bowman are third with three goals and four assists each.
“I like that a lot,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “I’d like to see 18 (players) with points. Our depth is what makes us successful. We can get offense from all our lines and all our lines are responsible defensively.”
Killing time
Spokane is 1 for 15 on the power play through the first three games of the series and 0 for 11 in their two victories.
Credit is due to Vancouver’s penalty killers, who have denied access to Giants goalie Tyson Sexsmith when Spokane is skating with an advantage.
“They are, right now, winning the war,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “They’re working so hard, those penalty killers, and when they do break down they’ve got a good goaltender in behind them, on both ends, so it’s tough to score right now.”
The Giants have been better then Spokane on the power play, converting 3 of 12 advantages.
Ice chips
Wednesday night’s win ensured that the Chiefs will play another home game during the playoffs. Game 6, if necessary, will be played on Monday night in Spokane. Tickets are on sale for the Chiefs next home game, whether that be for Game 6, or the first home game of the next round if the Chiefs wrap up the series with Vancouver in the next two games. … In the Eastern Conference semifinals, Calgary leads their series with Swift Current 3-1 and Lethbridge is beating Kootenay 3-1. In the other Western Conference semifinal, Tri-City had a 3-1 lead over Seattle.