Chiefs Begin Playoffs With A Win

SPOKANE — The Chiefs know they don’t have the easiest road to a repeat of last year’s Memorial Cup win, but that road became a little smoother with a 2-1 playoff win against Seattle on Friday.

With Friday’s win the Chiefs have a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with the Thunderbirds.

Seattle would strike first as Charles Wells put one up on the board at 9:32 in the first, the product of a rebound on a breakaway play.

Both the Chiefs and the Thunderbirds would tally 13 shots in the first period.

Drayson Bowman scored at 4:21 in the second period with an assist from Brady Calla and Ondrej Roman.

Things would go silent scoring wise until the action picked up again in the second half of the third period. That’s when Brady Calla set up a charging Bowman to score the game-winning goal at 11:44 in the third.

Bowman, who’s 47 regular season goals are a career high, was the only scorer for the Chiefs and undoubtedly the games MVP.

Spokane’s win comes with a little help in the net. Dustin Tokarski stopped 31 shots on the night, 12 in the first, 13 in the second and just six shots in the third.

Game two between the Chiefs and the Thunderbirds will take place Saturday night at 7:00 in the arena. The series will then move to Seattle on Tuesday and Wednesday for games three and four.