Chiefs Have No Problem With Hapless Hawks, Winning 7-1

SPOKANE — The Spokane Chiefs scored early and often on Wednesday night as they got past the Portland Winter Hawks 7-1 at the Spokane Arena.

The win was the Chiefs’ seventh straight at home. They haven’t lost in the Arena since November 9th.

Spokane got on the board just over three minutes into the game, when Ondrej Roman scored on a breakaway. They increased the lead to 2-0 just two minutes later when Mitch Wahl scored. Judd Blackwater scored a power play goal three minutes after that to make the score 3-0, and the Chiefs were on their way.

But Blackwater was called for a roughing penalty after he scored, and the Hawks took advantage. Jason Grecica tallied a power play goal to cut the lead to 3-1. But that was as close as Portland got, as Seth Compton took a wayward pass and scored a shorthanded goal with 2:30 remaining in the first to make the score 4-1 after the opening period.

The second period had only one goal, and Spokane got it. Roman got his second goal of the game off a great pass from David Rutherford with six minutes left in the second to make the score 5-1, where it stayed into the third period.

Spokane got their sixth goal when team captain Chris Bruton scored with 6:24 remaining in the game. They finished off the scoring with 2:50 left in the game when Wahl got his second of the game. That made the final 7-1.

Kevin Armstrong had another solid night between the pipes for Spokane, stopping 34 of Portland’s 35 shots.

The Chiefs are back on the ice Friday night as they host the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7 p.m.