Spokane fights for the puck in the 6-2 loss to Everett

The Everett Silvertips are not one of the top teams in the entire Canadian Hockey League for nothing. They play fast and physical and make their opponents pay for their mistakes.

The Spokane Chiefs matched Everett’s physical game, but it was the mistakes that undid them as the Chiefs dropped a 6-2 decision at the arena on Friday.

Three of Everett’s goals were the result of giveaways from Spokane on his own end. That kind of feat would be costly no matter who the Chiefs were playing, let alone one of the best junior hockey teams.

The Chiefs could only net 20 shots and lost defensemen Graham Sward and Saige Weinstein before the third period, shortening the bench and even forcing head coach Adam Maglio to rotate some forwards on the blue line.

The Chiefs also played their first game since Jan. 1 due to a COVID break.

“If you played 4 ‘D’ for a while and 5 ‘D’ for most of the game and you came back from a long break, you could tell the guys were rusty,” Maglio said.

The Chiefs did themselves a disservice with eight penalties. Spokane gave Everett two 5-on-3 powerplays.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead early at 15:24 thanks to a goal from Bear Hughes. Hughes was able to step over the shoulder of Everett goalie Koen MacInnes for his 11th of the season.

But the Silvertips scored with 55 seconds left in the first half of Spokane’s first giveaway in their own zone. Weinstein had a chance to clear the zone but huffed and allowed Everett to hold the zone and feed Ronan Seeley at that point.

Everett scored twice in the first 4:39 of the second. Jacob Wright batted first after Hughes failed to clear the zone. Jackson Berezowski scored in front of Spokane goalie Mason Beaupit with an odd bounce to give Everett a 3-1 lead.

Ryan Hofer got a wraparound at 12:03 thanks to another Spokane turnover.

“Those sales were killers,” Maglio said.

The Chiefs got one back when Raegan Wiles scored his second of the season in the rush at 13:13 of the second to cut Everett’s lead to 4-2.

From then on it was all Everett. The Chiefs gave Everett his second 5-on-3 of the game to start the third period, and it took Niko Huuhtanen just 27 seconds to make Spokane pay. Beau Courtney kept the tide going when he scored at 5:38 to make it 6-2.

With the Chiefs scheduled to play back home Saturday night, Maglio had to get creative to keep the boys fresh with a short blueline.

“We’re just trying to keep the guys’ ice age down to save some energy,” he said. “We wanted to give them an extra break before (Saturday).”

Maglio added he doesn’t expect to get Sward or Weinstein back for the game.

Maglio found his team’s physical play positive as both teams scored big.

“I thought our guys had a pushback, which was good to see,” Maglio said. “I thought the momentum started to change as we pushed back. Killing penalties kind of drained us and some momentum shifted in their direction.

The Chiefs got some relief with the return of forwards Grady Lane and Michael Cicek, both struggling with injuries. Lane has been out since October 29 and Cicek has been out since November 5.

“You could tell a little bit that they hadn’t played in a while,” Maglio said. “I thought Grady brought good energy. It will only take a little while. (Cicek) is a centre, so he’s got a little bit more responsibility and a little bit more fighting, so he’ll need time to get back into shape.”

The Chiefs return to the arena Saturday night to take on the Kamloops Blazers.