Tired Chiefs stumble in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – The Spokane Chiefs discovered something on Wednesday at the Interior Savings Centre – they don’t play well on five hours of sleep.

Fresh off a 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday, the Chiefs arrived in Kamloops at 4 a.m. and had to grab some shut-eye before a 10 a.m. breakfast.

The end result was a 6-1 Western Hockey League defeat at the hands of the Kamloops Blazers (4-5).

Jaret Anderson-Dolan actually staked the Chiefs (2-4) to a 1-0 lead with a goal just 2 minutes, 20 seconds into the match – with assists from the Yamamoto brothers Keanu and Kailer.

Ondrej Vala scored at the 13:46 mark of the first to knot the score and Collin Shirley gave the Blazers the lead for good with a tally at 15:15 in the first. Dawson Davidson added a goal with 39 seconds left in the first for a 3-1 advantage. Nolan Kneen, Vala and Davidson chipped in second-period goals for Kamloops.

The Chiefs announced that forwards Kiby Morrisseau and Eli Zummack and defenseman Ty Smith were named to Canada’s U-17 Hockey Challenge roster.