Spokane runs Memorial Cup record to 3-0
KITCHENER, Ontario – There was sound enough reason to let their feet off the gas.
They had already earned the automatic berth into Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game, and in that respect Tuesday’s tilt with the Gatineau Olympiques was said to be meaningless for the Spokane Chiefs. But a blemish on the perfect record was unacceptable, and the Chiefs diffused a desperate Gatineau team with a 3-1 victory in front of 6,626 Kitchener Auditorium fans.
“We wanted to be 3-0,” said Chiefs center Mitch Wahl, who finished with an assist and the game-winning goal. “We’ll build off this game, and we’ll have confidence and momentum going into Sunday.”
The Seal Beach, Calif., native – who is on the home stretch of his campaign to be picked up in this summer’s NHL draft – is second in tournament scoring with six points, one behind teammate Drayson Bowman.
After Alexandre Quesnel redirected Maxime Mallette’s shot from the top of the right circle to give the Olympiques a 1-0 lead, Wahl set up Bowman’s fifth goal in three games on a power play five minutes into the second period that tied the game.
Wahl capitalized on a Gatineau turnover in its zone 10 minutes later, and worked his way across the slot before wristing in the winner from the right face-off zone at 16:09.
“Wahly’s a skill guy – we all know that,” said Chiefs coach Bill Peters. “He’s been clutch for us most of the year. He’s still a young guy, and that’s the thing people don’t take into account sometimes. Everyone always wants to say you’ve got a No. 1, 2 and 3 line and he’s our first-line center.
“He’s a 17-year-old playing against 19-year-old guys or 20-year-old guys in our league night in and night out, and at the age of 17 that’s hard to do. I think when this guy is 21 or 22, he’s got a chance to be a top-six forward in the national league – I really believe that.”
The way the Chiefs played sent the message that they believe in their game. After a somewhat slow start to the game, the Chiefs bore down in the second and outshot the Olympiques 18-9.
“Every chance you get to play a game, you want to go hard,” said Chiefs defenseman Trevor Glass, who notched an assist on Levko Koper’s empty-net goal with 35 seconds remaining in the game. “I think we played really solid. We got off our game a little bit in the first there, but we bounced back and didn’t give them too many chances.”
Tokarski – who is also eligible for this summer’s draft – was on top of his game, coming up with some key saves to back up another solid defensive effort from the Chiefs.
“Tik’s been playing unreal for us,” Glass said. “He’s been coming up with some big saves at the right time. We need him to be strong throughout and he’s definitely been that so far.”
The Quebec league-champion Olympiques’ (0-3) run at the tournament came to an end, making today’s final round-robin game between the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls (1-1) and Kitchener Rangers (1-1) meaningless. The Bulls and Rangers will be playing for home ice – an advantage that gives the winner final line changes in Friday’s semifinal.
Goalie Ryan Mior stood up in net for Gatineau, finishing with 40 saves in his best performance of the team’s three-game stint.
Mior faced more than 143 shots during his three games in net.
“Obviously we’re not lucky, because we played our best game against probably the best team of the tournament,” said Gatineau coach Benoit Groulx. “We’re proud of the effort we got tonight from our guys. Obviously, it wasn’t enough to win our first game.”
Ice chips
Despite having the automatic berth, Peters didn’t change his lineup in the game. Defensemen Brett Bartman and Jace Coyle and forwards Dustin Donaghy and Blake Gal were healthy scratches. … Spokane was 1 for 2 on the power play and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill.