(Everett, WA) Just about 14 hours after finishing up a preseason contest against the Everrett Silvertips, the Spokane Chiefs (0-2-0-1) took to the ice against the Vancouver Giants (2-1). It was the final game of the Everett preseason tournament for the Giants and Chiefs.
The game went the distance with the Giants prevailing in a seven-round shootout 2-1.
Defenseman Tanner Brown was the only one to find the net while David Tendeck turned away all seven Spokane shooters.
Spokane head coach Manny Viveiros was complimentary of his team’s first three preseason games where the result does not hurt you in the standings.
“I’m very happy with the way we played. Actually, in all three games I’ve been pretty happy. We’ve had such little time to work together that yesterday’s and today’s game we were getting better and better. It was very positive overall,” Viveiros said.
With 6:53 left in the second period, 2002-born goalie Campbell Arnold left the net and made room for 2003-born goalie Mason Beaupit to make his WHL debut. Beaupit was signed to a WHL education contract by the Chiefs just yesterday.
Arnold had stopped all 15 shots he faced from Vancouver, giving him 32 saves on 34 shots in a combined 61 minutes and 39 seconds over parts of two games. Beauput came in and turned away 22-of-23 shots in 31:53 of action and six of the seven Vancouver shooters in the shootout.
Viveiros thought the 16-year-old rookie played well.
“He came in and wasn’t nervous. He got some shots and made some big saves for us. If we could have just scored a goal in the shootout, it would have been nice to get him the win.”
The Chiefs opened the scoring in the game. For the sixth time in their three games at the tournament, it came on the power play,
“Filip Kral patiently picked a corner on Tendeck while the Giants were down two skaters.
Viveiros’ team has not had much of a chance to work on their power play, but he sees great signs that the Chiefs could once again be lethal when given the man advantage. Spokane led the league in the regular season and postseason last year on the power play.
They finished the Everett tournament converting on six of 17 chances for 35.3 percent.
“We are hoping that will be a weapon for us, that’s for sure. We’ve got a lot of the same guys back again, so I think we are hoping it will make a difference…Those guys just picked up where they left off last year,” Viveiros said.
Vancouver tied the game off a scramble in front with 2003-born forward Justin Lies putting it in.
That set the table for an overtime and a shootout where Tendeck guided his team to victory. Tendeck turned away 25-of-26 shots in his first preseason action.
The shootout is where Vancouver won both games at the tournament.
Spokane is off until Friday when they take on the Portland Winterhawks in Kennewick at the Tri-City preseason tournament. Vancouver hosts a preseason tournament of their own next weekend. Their first game will be against Victoria on Friday.
