Chiefs make late push but fall short against Cougars Saturday, 4-3
Prince George, B.C. – A late-game push wasn’t enough for the Spokane Chiefs as they fell to the Prince George Cougars 4-3 Saturday night to cap their Canadian road trip.
The Cougars opened the scoring for the second night in a row when Brock Souch found the net at 7:56 in the first to give Prince George an early 1-0 lead.
The Chiefs were quick to answer, as defenseman Rhett Sather made good on a power play opportunity by firing a rocket to the twine at 11:32. Rookie Ossie McIntyre and overager Sam Oremba were credited with the assists. The teams kept things even at one goal apiece heading into the first break.
Prince George put the pedal to the medal in the second period, though, pulling away with three unanswered goals by Terik Parascak (8:38), Carson Carels (14:41) and Souch again (16:01) to go up 4-1 by the second intermission.
McIntyre turned goal-scorer about halfway through the third when he picked up his third goal of the year after cleaning up a rebound. Owen Schoettler and Cohen Harris earned the helpers on the play.
It looked like the Chiefs might mount a last-minute comeback when Tyus Sparks netted his 26th of the season with help from Logan Wormald and Dominik Petr to put Spokane within one at 18:54, but that’s as close as they’d get.
McIntyre’s two points on the night earned him third star honors. Spokane once again outshot Prince George 28-19 and went 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Chiefs return home this week to take on the Portland Winterhawks Wednesday and the Seattle Thunderbirds Friday.
Spokane is currently sixth in the Western Conference with 65 points and six games remaining as they make their final push for the playoffs. They are three points behind the Kamloops Blazers (68 points) and are just ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds (61 points), the Portland Winterhawks (60 points) and the Victoria Royals (60 points). Seattle and Victoria have seven games remaining, while Portland has eight.
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The Spokane Chiefs are a member of the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League, the world’s finest development league for junior hockey players. Since 1985 the Chiefs have been a pillar in the Spokane community, offering family-friendly entertainment and a winning tradition, which includes: two Memorial Cup Championships in 1991 & 2008, two WHL Championships in 1991 & 2008 and five Western Conference Championships in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2008 & 2025. Over 60 alumni have gone on to play in the National Hockey League.
