Tri-City began their home-in-home New Year’s Eve weekend series against the Spokane Chiefs Saturday Night with a 6-2 loss. It ultimately came down to a handful of mistakes that cost them. Chase Bertholet got the 10,000th goal in Spokane Chiefs history as well.
Rasmus Ekstrom got the Veterans Memorial Arena bumping early. 1:46 into the game, Ekstrom nabbed a rebound off Chase Bertholet’s shot and got his seventh goal of the season.
Chase Bertholet got his first goal of the night after a cross-crease pass that left Kyle Kelsey helpless to make it 2-0 Spokane just under nine minutes into the game.
Cash Koch provided some of the only life out of the Americans that night, scoring at the fourteen-minute mark of the first period to get his fourth goal of the season. Jackson Smith also picked up an assist for his eighth point of the season.
After one period of play, the score was 2-1 Spokane, with shots being 18-9 in favor of Spokane.
Just under two minutes into the second period, Chase Bertholet put himself into Spokane Chief’s history books. After Jackson Smith skated behind the net and missed the puck on the powerplay lying there for him, Berkly Catton gladly took the gift. Catton backhanded it across the net to Chase Bertholet, who would net the 10,000th goal in Spokane Chiefs’ history. That was Bertholet’s 10th goal of the season and second goal of the night.
After two periods of play, Spokane led 3-1, with shots being 30-20 in favor of Spokane.
Lukas Dragicevic made it a one-goal game 4:30 into the third period after a simple wrister from the point took a weird bounce off of Dawson Cowan’s pad and into the net.
However, this goal would be a short-lived thrill for Tri-City. Thirteen seconds after Lukas Dragicevic’s goal, Ben Bonni of the Spokane Chiefs got his fifth goal of the season. Saige Weinstein fired a wrister from the point and tipped in through the five-hole of Kyle Kelsey by Ben Bonni.
Seven minutes into the third period, Connor Roulette got his own goal. The Spokane Chiefs crashed the net, and the puck fell to Connor Roulette’s stick, where Roulette eventually shelved the puck over Kyle Kelsey’s pad to make it 5-2 Spokane.
Sage Weinstein would scratch one more goal across the board for Spokane. Just over the halfway point of the third period, Weinstein received a saucer pass from Berkly Catton and was left alone with Kyle Kelsey. Weinstein would go backhand and shoot it by the glove of Kyle Kelsey to seal the deal and make it 6-2 Spokane.
Carter MacAdams and Ty Chevelydayoff would decide to have some fun with five minutes left in the game, dropping the gloves at center ice. Chevelydayoff dominated the fight and sent the Coliseum into a frenzy.
With that loss, Tri-City is now 15-16-2 on the season. Tri-City will look to end their five-game losing streak and the year with a win against Spokane on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 6:05 p.m. at the Toyota Center.
Northwest Sports Desk 