Despite a late rally, a Kootenay Ice comeback fell short against the Spokane Chiefs with a 7-4 loss on Friday night at Western Financial Place.
Spokane scored three unanswered goals from Riley Woods, Eli Hummock and Jake McGrew before Brett Davis put the Ice on the board in the second period.
“We can’t dig ourselves a hole; you can’t expect to win games when you let in five goals, let alone seven, so it’s something we’ve got to clean up, mistakes that are costing us big.” said Ice forward Cam Hausinger. “We bring a couple of those back and it’s a different game.”
The Chiefs tallied twice more on efforts from Adam Beckman and Matt Leduc for a four goal lead early in the third period.
Kootenay’s offence came to life, sparking a desperate comeback.
Brad Ginnell got the ball rolling for his first goal of the season, followed by Nolan Orzeck, who got a timely deflection off his skate from a centring pass. Davis earned his second of the night on the powerplay with just under three minutes left in the game.
However Luke Toporowski and McGrew sealed the deal with empty net goals for Spokane to secure the win.
Ice goaltender Duncan McGovern made 25 saves in defeat, while Kootenay put 28 shots on Chiefs’ netminder Dawson Weatherill.
The Ice will hit the road for their first excursion of the regular season, heading down for a rematch against the Chiefs in Spokane Saturday night.