Ice blast Chiefs

The Score – Kootenay 6 – Spokane 2

What Happened – Kootenay was deadly on the power play, going 3-5 against the WHL's second-best PK, and with superstar acquisition Cody Eakin still sidelined the Ice buried the red-hot Chiefs.

The Turning Point – At the beginning of the second Chief Captain Jared Cowen laid out Jesse Ismond and Kevin King with devastating hits but on the same shift Cowen was crunched against the boards by James Martin. WHL Penalty minute leader Darren Kramer came to his captain’s rescue but took an instigator. The Chiefs took another penalty 23 seconds and the Ice scored on the five-on-three to make it 3-1.

The Goals – After a dazzling display of back-and-forth, firewagon hockey the Ice opened the scoring when Brayden McNabb sent a beautiful slap-pass right onto the stick of Joe Antilla who deposited his 12th into the open net past Chiefs starter James Reid… Before I finished writing the above, 11 seconds later Reinhart got his 23rd of the season to make it 2-0 after burying a rebound following Drew Czerwonkas… Four minutes and a timeout later the Chiefs captain Tyler Johnson used Dominik Uher as a decoy and wired his 32nd over Nathan Liewen’s shoulder to make it 2-1… In the second on a five-on-three power play the Ice threw the puck around and looked much better than their 13th ranked power play suggests, generating four shots in the first minute before King buried a Reinhart rebound that rung off the post and dropped to King’s stick for his 19th on the season… King got his 20th just over two minutes later on another beauty of a play. A three-way passing play starting with Reinhart, who dished to McNabb streaking into the slot who then found King at the side of the net to make it 4-1… With Rintoul getting the extra two for instigating the Chiefs got that one back when Steve Kuhn sent the puck in front of the net that Lieuwen looked to have stopped but Kuhn, or an Ice defender from my angle, poked the puck past him to make it 4-2… In the third Jared Cowen got his stick too high on a rushing Steele Boomer and was fingered for a double minor. In the MacDonald’s-sponsored ‘Big Mac Minute’ Matt Fraser streaked in on a short 2-on-1 and deked Reid for his 20th of the season, a 5-2 Ice lead and Big Mac’s for all of the 2535 in attendance. There was no word on whether the Media get any… Following a slew of fights and with former Ice D Tyler Vanscourt in the box Steele Boomer neatly deflected his ninth at 8:24 of the third past Reid that chased the 20-year-old from the nets in favour of Mac Engel.

The Influence of ‘Snack’ – They used to say Brent Sutter and Kevin Constantine had it but you can also bet Snack has it too. After an incidental knee-on-knee in the Chiefs zone between Ice forward Brendan Hurley and Chiefs forward Anthony Bardero, Chief coach Don Nachbaur – a veteran a few WHL contests – ripped into back ref Ryan Bonnett for the non-call as the play went down the ice, Bonnett made up for a weak boarding call on James Martin behind Lieuwen’s net from 100 feet away.

Old time hockey – Because of a Semi-truck that flipped just West of Moyie Lake about 30 minutes out of Cranbrook the Chiefs got stuck with Hwy 3 closed and the game started an hour late. When I was a kid all hockey games started at 8PM.

Old time hockey II – This was indeed a bit of a throwback to the Cranbrook-Spokane rivalry of old with no less than eight fights on the night. At the 7:30 mark of the third there were nine players in the sin bins. Top WHL pugilist and penalty-minute leader Darren Kramer got into two of them.

The Crowd – 2535

Rec Plex Three Stars

1. Matt Fraser – Goal, two assists
2. Brayden McNabb – Three assists
3. Max Reinhart – Goal, two assists


What it means – Kootenay improves to 29-12-1-2 and 61 points. Having won two straight and four of their last five the club gets on the bus tonight to head to Spokane to take part in the WHL’s first-ever outdoor game at Avista Stadium against the Chiefs.


Summary:

Chiefs 2 @ Ice 6

CRANBROOK, B.C. - Western Hockey League summary for regular season game between the Spokane Chiefs and the Kootenay Ice. January 14, 2011

The Kootenay Ice got three-point efforts from Matt Fraser, Brayden McNabb and Max Reinhart as well as a two-goal effort from Kevin King as the Ice waxed the Spokane Chiefs 6-2 in WHL action Friday night.
Kootenay jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Joe Antilla and Reinhart before the Chiefs got on the board at the nine minute mark of the first period. Kootenay did the same thing in the second period and got two goals from King, the first on the power play, to give the Calgary product 20 on the season while Steve Kuhn kept it close for the Chiefs for a 4-2 Ice lead after two periods. In the third the Ice put the game away on goals by Matt Fraser, with his 20th, and Steele Boomer with his 9th for the 6-2 win.
Nathan Lieuwen got his 20th win of the season stopping 30 of 32 shots while James Reid, who was pulled after the sixth Ice goal, stopped 23 of 29 in taking the loss.
Newly acquired forward Cody Eakin missed his second straight game after being acquired at the trade with a hand injury. The 19-year-old is expected to play next weekend.
The two team now travel to Spokane for the WHL's first-ever outdoor game at Avista Stadium on Saturday.


First Period
1. Kootenay, Antilla 12 (McNabb, Paulsen) 5:38
2. Kootenay, Reinhart 23 (Fraser, Czerwonka) 5:49
3. Spokane, Johnson 32 (Uher) 9:00

Penalties -- Montgomery Ktn (interference) 9:57, Martin Ktn (boarding) 13:39, Uher Spo Leach Ktn (fighting) 15:33.

Second Period
4. Kootenay, King 19 (Reinhart, Fraser) 2:43 (pp)
5. Kootenay, King 20 (Reinhart, McNabb) 4:55
6. Spokane, Kuhn 11 (Gal, Uher) 10:52 (pp)

Penalties -- Kramer Spo (instigator - served by Brassart, fighting, misconduct) Martin Ktn (fighting) 0:39, Kichton Spo (hooking) 2:02, Rintoul Ktn (instigator - served by Hurley - fighting, misconduct) Brassart Spo (fighting) 9:14, Ismond Ktn (charging) 13:41.

Third Period
6. Kootenay, Fraser 20 (Czerwonka, McNabb) 2:44 (pp)
7. Kootenay, Boomer 9 (Leach, Martin) 8:24 (pp)

Penalties -- Cowen Spo (dbl high-sticking) 2:04, McNabb Ktn Valcourt Spo (fighting) 5:31, Czerwonka Ktn Cowen Spo (fighting) 5:32, Hurley Ktn Aviani Spo (fighting) 6:02, Vanscourt Spo (dbl roughing) King Ktn (roughing) 7:30, Pearce Ktn (instigator - served by Hurley, fighting, misconduct) Kramer Spo (fighting) 12:29, Ismond Ktn (unsportsmanlike conduct) 14:09, Hurley Ktn Uher Spo (fighting) 14:38.

Shots on goal by
Kootenay: 9 16 7 - 32
Spokane: 12 9 11 - 32

Goal -- Kootenay: Nathan Lieuwen (W, 20-9-1-1) Spokane: James Reid (Mac Engel - 8:24 of third; 23 of 29 shots; L, 25-8-2-1)

Power Plays -- (goals-chances)
Kootenay: 3-5
Spokane: 1-6

Referee -- Tyler Adair, Ryan Bonnett. Linesman -- Aiden Henderson, Michael Roberts.

Attendance -- 2535 (4264)

Scratches --
Kootenay: Cody Eakin (hand - day-to-day), John Niebrandt (healthy).
Spokane: Tanner Mort, Cole Hamblin, Kenton Miller, Marek Kalus.

Summary courtesy Jeff Bromley of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman.