CHIEFS BLOG: Chiefs close the shortened season with 5 defeats

There are no playoffs, no championship titles to be won, but each division would crown a champion in this shortened season.

SPOKANE, Washington. – When the Western Hockey League announced that they would actually have a season in 2021 despite the COVID-19 outbreak, I was just happy along with every ice hockey fan to have the boys back on the ice.

It had been a little over a year since the 2019 campaign was canceled, and any hockey of any kind was welcome. The Chiefs and the rest of the U.S. Division started out in mid-March knowing they only had 24 games to complete a junior hockey career, attract coaches’ attention for the next season, or develop their games into the next Year to extend. There are no playoffs, no championship titles to be won, but each division would crown a champion in this shortened season. Everett had completed the title after beating the Chiefs in overtime last Sunday, so the final week of the season would be a team and personal improvement for Spokane.

The Chiefs started their final week with the conclusion of their home season when they hosted division rivals Tri City on Tuesday night. The Americans took the lead with only 5:46 and took the lead 1-0. Spokane has had a disturbing trend of falling behind early in the games this season which can definitely be worked on and the heading can be improved for next year. Top scorer Adam Beckman would get the Chiefs back to finish the game at one with his 16th of the year in the middle of the period. Defender Graham Sward scored his first goal of the year just under two minutes later and Spokane took the first 2-1 lead. Tri City countered with the power play two minutes later and the game went to third place, which was tied at two o’clock.

The Chiefs would regain the lead in Luke Toporowski’s first goal since rejoining the club last week, and Spokane took a 3-2 lead in the middle of the third half. The Chiefs held the lead for only 3 minutes, however, as America’s top scorer Samuel Huo brought home a net front feed to level the competition at three o’clock and send the game into overtime. Spokane has played 6 OT games this season, twice as many as any other team in the division. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, overtime wasn’t their friend that year … nor that night when Huo scored his second straight goal in just 23 seconds to give Tri a 4-3 win and the Chiefs a second to give straight overtime defeat. Spokane would only finish 4-1 in overtime and 1-0 in the shootouts this season and only score 7 out of a possible 12 points in overtime this year. The defeat also meant the Chiefs lost the season series to the Americans when Tri won the two clubs’ rubber game in five games.

Now Spokane was going to end the year exactly as they had started when they took to the streets to play three games in three nights on the west side of the state and in Oregon. The Chiefs didn’t do as well early in the season as they only earned one point with a shootout loss in Seattle and had regular losses to Everett and Portland. That trip would begin in Everett against the U.S. division champions as Spokane was hoping for their second straight win at the Silvertips barn. The teams played an even first period but the tips broke through with a goal in the last 17 seconds of the period and took a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Everett extended the lead to 2-0 in the second minute, but Spokane bounced back when captain Eli Zummack scored a power play goal to cut the 2-1 lead in half. The Chiefs collapsed defensively in the next shift, however, and the Silvertips scored 54 seconds after Zummack’s goal to take a 3-1 lead and kill the Chiefs’ future momentum.

Everett scored a power play goal just under 6 minutes later to move up 4-1 and finished the game with a goal in less than 3 minutes to claim a 5-1 win and the US Division crown with a trophy to celebrate presentation after the game. The Chiefs were offensively overtaken as they were outbid 45-15 overall, including a staggering 34-12 in the last 2 periods. The hope was that the team would bounce back the next evening against a Portland team they had beaten in extra time the last time the two clubs played in Rose City. However, it would turn out early in the matchup against Portland that the malaise that had plagued the team offensively followed the Chiefs on I-5 South.

Portland would strike twice in the first half as they overtook the Chiefs 11-4 in the first 20 minutes. The Winterhawks gift classes scored their second straight goal in the middle of the second round when the Hawks led the Chiefs 13-5 to 3-0 into the third round. Spokane would finally find the scoreboard when Adam Beckman scored his 17th of the year on power play 3:35 in the third to reduce the Portland lead to 3-1. Rather than building on that goal, the Chiefs saw the Winterhawks recapture the game when they hit a 4-1 power play record midway through the period. Classes would then complete his first hat trick and Portland win with a goal in the last 40 seconds to score a second 5-1 straight defeat for the Chiefs. Spokane was knocked out 37:18 despite having 7 power play chances to just 2 for Portland. The loss, coupled with a win in Seattle, allowed the Thunderbirds to take a 2-point lead over the Chiefs in third place in the division, forcing Spokane to win their last game of the year against Seattle on the final evening in Kent win.

The Chiefs were eliminated 14-9 in the first half, but goalkeeper Mason Beaupit kept the Thunderbirds off the scoreboard as the two teams were goalless after one. All hopes of a strong end to the game and season for Spokane were dashed in the second phase as the Chiefs may have played one of their worst periods of the season. Seattle dominated the middle frame, beating Spokane 24-5. The Thunderbirds finished the first phase of the power game and began the second with manpower. In the second round they scored just 33 seconds and took a 1-0 lead. Spokane went downhill for the rest of the period as the T-Birds scored two goals from the 4th line, one on power play, only to take control of the game 3-0 after two. A quick start to round three would get Spokane back into the game, but that wasn’t the case when Seattle shot down the Chiefs 20-7 in the third game, leaving Spokane 58-21 in the game. The final tension in the game was Beaupit clashing with Seattle goalkeeper Jackson Berry 30 seconds before the end of the competition. Beaupit was the only bright spot on the night as he set aside a staggering 55 Seattle shots for a career high.

Spokane ended the season on a thud, losing the last five games and the last three with a combined score of 13-2. It wasn’t exactly the way the team’s 20-year-olds saw the end of their junior hockey careers . Eli Zummack, Matt Leduc and Bobby Russell will now graduate when their careers as Chiefs come to an end. Nineteen-year-old Adam Beckman also played his last game as chief as he will play in the American Hockey League for the Minnesota Wild in Iowa next year. This means that three of the 19-year-olds this season are returning for the next season. Strikers Cordel Larson and Luke Toporowski and defenders Jordan Chudley. The club will have many key 18-year-olds starting their 19-year-old campaign this fall, led by goalkeeper Campbell Arnold. Forwards Erik Atchison, Reed Jacobson and Jack Finley will take the lead for Spokane along with Larson and Toporowski. Bear Hughes will also be back after playing in the USHL during the shortened 2021 season. A number of other young strikers are back this fall, including Owen MacNeil, Copeland Fricker, Ben Thornton, Grady Lane and Brandon Reller, all of whom had long stints and valuable experiences in the 2021 season. We hope the group will continue to take steps in their games next fall to give Spokane a very deep striker.

The defensive group will be young as Mac Gross and Raegan Wiles will be the only 19-year-olds on the blue line. Graham Sward is one of two 18-year-olds and Chase Friedt-Mohr. Logan Cunningham and Sage Weinstein will also be back after gaining some very valuable backend experience. Goalkeepers Mason Beaupit and Manny Panghli will also be back, battling with Arnold for the two goalkeeper spots on the roster. All three have shown they can play well, so the future between the pipes is bright for the Chiefs. Defense will be a question mark for Spokane, especially how the season ended for the team, but I’m excited to see who will bring their games to the level it takes to get the Chiefs to do the Head of Division to Fight Conference.

The camp is currently scheduled to begin in early September. The preparatory games take place in September. The regular season is scheduled for the opening weekend in October. The season ends around April 1st. It should be a full 68-game season of trips to Canada, but there’s still a chance things will be curtailed if Covid raises its ugly head in the fall. I just hope people get vaccinated and push this deadly virus to the side of the road so we can travel, play and enjoy the hockey game in the seats again like we did through March 2020. Have a safe summer and we’ll see you on the ice rink in October!