Spokane Chiefs fritter away two-goal third period lead, lose to Seattle in shootout 7-6

Before Friday’s game against the Seattle Thunderbirds, the Spokane Chiefs organization honored the three 20-year-olds on the roster – Shea Van Olm, Rasmus Ekström and Brayden Crampton – and the team’s award winners in their final regular season home game at the Arena.

It was a fitting tribute to three players who have meant a great deal to the organization – and to the stellar regular season the Chiefs have produced – as they prepare to start the Western Hockey League playoffs next week.

The game, however, was a sloppy, back-and-forth affair that the home team frittered away.

Andrew Cristall scored a goal with three assists, increasing his league scoring lead to 129 points, but the Chiefs lost in a shootout against the eighth-place Thunderbirds 7-6 (1-0) in a Western Hockey League game .

Spokane led 6-4 with less than four minutes left in the game, but surrendered two goals in the final three minutes, two seconds.

The Chiefs (44-20-1-2) started the scoring 41/2 minutes into the game. Ekström entered the Seattle zone with speed and carried the puck below the goal line. He wrapped around the other side and found Sam Oremba alone in the slot, who tapped the puck past goalie Grayson Malinoski for his 14th goal of the season.

Seattle (28-33-4-1) evened it up with 5:10 left in the first on a power-play goal by Brayden Schuurman, his 12th goal of the season.

Chiefs defenseman Will McIsaac was called for tripping 26 seconds into the period and the Thunderbirds cashed in when Coster Dunn scored his 24th goal of the season on the ensuing power play.

Seattle made it 3-1 less than one minute later, taking advantage of a defensive turnover and a failed clear resulting in Hayden Pakkala’s 16th goal of the season.

The Chiefs got one back a few minutes later when Cam Parr tipped Crampton’s shot from the point for his fourth goal of the season.

They tied it with 6:23 left in the period as Cristall sprung Van Olm on a breakaway, and the winger put a backhander past Malinoski for his league-leading 49th goal of the season.

Barely 2 minutes later, Berkly Catton won a loose puck at center ice and gave it to Cristall, who entered the Thunderbirds zone with Van Olm on a 2-on-1. Cristall kept it and slotted a wrister past Malinoski stick side for his 48th goal of the season.

The Chiefs had two power-play opportunities early in the third but couldn’t take advantage. Just after the second infraction expired, Sawyer Mayes chipped a puck up the wall that eluded two Chiefs and went to Dunn, who came in alone and beat Dawson Cowan for his second of the game.

The league’s top power-play unit got its third extra-man opportunity of the period a few moments later and made good on it, with Crampton corralling a loose puck and whipping a wrist shot past Malinoski from the high slot for his 10th goal of the season.

They were still announcing Crampton’s goal when Brody Gillespie converted a Cristall cross-ice pass on the rush for his eighth of the season and a 6-4 lead with a little more than eight minutes remaining.

Things got chippy down the stretch with a fighting major and several roughing penalties on both sides.

Playing at 4-on-4, Seattle made it a one-goal game with 3:02 left as a failed clear led to Dunn getting behind the defense and completing the hat trick.

Cowan kept it tied with an acrobatic diving save with 2:13 remaining.

But Seattle kept on the attack, generating chance after chance, and finally struck paydirt as Schuurman beat a scrambling Cowan with 29 seconds left in the game.

Spokane outshot Seattle 24-8 in the third period but was outscored three goals to two, and it headed to overtime.

Honors: In addition to the 20-year-olds, Cristall was honored for recording 400-plus WHL career points, Cohen Harris was named high school scholastic player of the year, Smyth Rebman was the college scholastic player of the year, Owen Schoettler was selected as most sportsmanlike player of the year, Van Olm was named humanitarian of the year, Mathis Preston was selected rookie of the year, Crampton earned defenseman of the year,

Catton and Cowan were chosen as co-players of the year, and Owen Martin won the Terry Bartman “player’s player” award as voted on by the team.