Goalie Dawson Cowan sharp, Spokane Chiefs drop close contest to first-place Saskatoon

No coach wants to talk about a “moral victory,” especially when facing a team playing its sixth consecutive road game in nine days.

But the seventh-place Spokane Chiefs gave first-place Saskatoon all it wanted Wednesday at the Arena. It just wasn’t enough.

Blades defenseman Samuel Barcik’s long wrist shot in the first period made its way through a screen and into the Chiefs goal, and Saskatoon escaped Spokane with a 2-0 win in the lone Western Hockey League matchup between the teams this season.

Lukas Hansen added an empty-net goal with 45 seconds left.

“You know, we did a lot of good things tonight against a really good team and we just ran a little short,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. 

Chiefs goalie Dawson Cowan made 35 saves and was “the best player in white (jersey) tonight,” according to his coach. 

“I thought we played really well as a group,” Cowan said. “All the guys played really good in front of me defensively. It just didn’t go our way tonight.” 

“He was outstanding,” Smith said of Cowan. “The goal they got was kind of a seeing eye shot and then the rest of the game he was really into it. He was making plays on the pucks; his rebound control was outstanding. He’s been really good the last couple weeks.”

Cowan has allowed four goals over his last three games with scores of 8-1 and 5-2 in wins, and Wednesday’s nail-biter loss. 

“The score doesn’t matter to me,” the 18-year-old netminder said. “I just try and play my game and have a clear mind every play and just battle as hard as I can. No matter what the score is, even if it’s 8-0 or 1-0 or 0-0. I don’t really care.”

If Saskatoon (18-8-1-0) had heavy legs from travel, it didn’t show early. Just 4:15 into the game, Barcik flipped a shot toward the net from the point that got past a screened Cowan for his first WHL goal.

“I really didn’t (see the shot),” Cowan said. “There was a lot of bodies in front of me. And then I saw it once it was behind me.”

The pressure was sustained, as the Blades outshot the Chiefs 9-2 over the first 10 minutes of the game and took a 1-0 lead to the dressing room after one period.

“I think we started off somewhat slow and a little bit intimidated by a really good team that we knew going in was going to be like that,” Smith said. “And until you start living and playing in the moment, maybe you don’t realize it.” 

The Chiefs (10-11-2-0) found some momentum in the second period, with a couple of good opportunities early, but Blades goalie Evan Gardner (30 saves) was equal to the task. Midway through the period, Spokane killed a penalty, with Cowan making an exemplary save on a one-timer by Fraser Minten, the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect who played in four games with the NHL team this season before being returned to juniors.

On the ensuing shift, Owen Martin hit the crossbar on a two-on-one, registering the Chiefs’ best offensive opportunity to that point.

With Spokane’s Rasmus Ekström off for high-sticking, Cowan robbed Brandon Lisowsky, a 2022 seventh-round pick of Toronto, on a rebound attempt at the far post to keep it a one-goal game.

After the Chiefs killed the penalty, Gardner mishandled a wrist shot with 3:30 left in the period and winger Cam Parr had a great chance on the rebound, but his shot on the bouncing puck hit Gardner in the chest and the goalie swallowed it.

The Chiefs got 45 seconds of five-on-three toward the end of the period, but three times shots were deflected off the ice before they even reached the goalie, and the Blades escaped the frame still leading 1-0.

Four minutes into the third, former Blade Conner Roulette picked off a crossing pass and sent a wrister on net, but Gardner pulled it down with a snap of his glove hand.

“(Roulette) made a great play to get the opportunity,” Smith said. “He made a shot, he picked his spot and then goalie beat him. And that’s a bit of a showdown between the shooter and the goalie and the goalie won that one.”

On the next shift, the Chiefs went back to the power play, but could muster just one shot on goal – a trickling puck that came off the stick of Berkly Catton as he tried to stickhandle through the slot.

“In the second and third (periods), we calmed down, we worked pretty hard,” Smith said. “We missed the net with some shots that probably should hit the net. We were a little late on our forecheck, giving (Saskatoon) a chance to exit. They’re a good team. You tip your hat. Their goalie was on and, you know, our goalie was on too.”