Wenatchee wraps up Spokane season set with 6-1 loss Sunday

WENATCHEE – Two days ago, the Wenatchee Wild were the ones to strike early, building a three-goal lead against the Spokane Chiefs on the way to a 3-1 win at Town Toyota Center. The finale to the season series Sunday hinged on an eight-and-a-half-minute stretch around the first intermission, and Spokane was the team to grab control in a 6-1 win over the Wild at Veterans Memorial Arena.

Spokane scored two of those goals in a 68-second span in the first, with Ben Bonni finding Ty Cheveldayoff to tuck in a backhand shot at 16:02 of the period, and Shea Van Olm scoring on a second chance with 2:50 showing on the clock. The Chiefs heated up to open the second period as well, starting with a backhand wraparound from Brayden Crampton 1:17 in.

They added onto their run with Conner Roulette’s power play one-timer from the right faceoff dot at the 3:54 mark, and Lukas Kral’s deflection on a right-wing toss from Chase Harrington with 4:29 off the clock. Wenatchee broke into Spokane’s five-goal lead with a power play tally of its own, thanks to Karter Prosofsky’s left-point one-timer off a pass from Jonas Woo at 13:21, giving the Wild a foothold in a 5-1 contest.

The Chiefs built the lead back to five goals with 2:38 remaining in the period, when Berkly Catton found Roulette for another one-timer deep in the right-wing circle. The Wild were limited to just three shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, and were not able to cut further into the Spokane advantage.

“We didn’t have enough bodies going tonight,” said head coach Roy Sommer. “It just wasn’t a very good performance from us. I was expecting a lot more.”

Roulette had two goals and an assist, while Van Olm finished with a goal and two helpers. 12 Chiefs skaters earned points in the game, while Cooper Michaluk finished with 20 saves to earn his 11th win of the season. Brendan Gee made 29 saves in the loss, but the Wild were able to tack on another power play goal in a 1-for-3 performance. Spokane finished 1-for-4 on the power play thanks to Roulette’s first goal of the night.

The Spokane victory moved them to 29-31-5-1 for the season, while the Wild dipped to 33-28-4-0 on the year. Though Wenatchee lost Sunday’s affair against the Chiefs, they did get a boost from the Prince George Cougars, who defeated the fifth-place Vancouver Giants by a 6-3 margin Sunday evening. That dropped Wenatchee’s magic number to just three points to clinch home-ice advantage to start postseason play.