Chiefs offense remains cold in loss to Seattle

From staff reports

It seems the Spokane Chiefs’ offense is still on pause.

The Chiefs suffered their second consecutive shutout, losing 7-0 to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night.

Spokane (10-21-2-1, 23 points), which is in last place in the WHL’s U.S. Division, dropped to 0-3 since it had four games postponed because of the pandemic between Jan. 7-12, and has been outscored 19-2 during the skid.

The Chiefs’ scoreless streak has reached 146 minutes and 47 seconds, or just shy of 2½ games. Their last goal came from Raegan Wiles at 13:13 of the second period of a 6-2 loss to Everett on Jan. 14 at the Spokane Arena. They were blanked 6-0 at home by Kamloops last Saturday before opening a four-game trip Friday against Seattle.

Lucas Ciona and Matthew Rempe each scored twice for the Thunderbirds (22-9-4-0, 48 points), who won their second in a row after a 5-1 victory against division-leading Everett last Saturday.

Jared Davidson and Conner Roulette each had a goal and an assist for the T-birds and Jeremy Hanzel had two assists. Goaltender Thomas Milic made 19 saves in posting the shutout.

Goaltender Mason Beaupit was given little help as the Chiefs were outshot 40-19. Beaupit made 33 saves.

The Chiefs went 0 for 6 on the power play. The Thunderbirds converted two of their three chances with the man advantage.

Seattle struck early, with Davidson scoring 1:07 into the game and Rempe adding a power-play goal at 5:27 for a 2-0 lead through the first period. The Thunderbirds tallied twice more in the second period and three times in the third.