Spokane Chiefs Slay Belleville Bulls 5-4 in OT - CHL Mastercard Memorial Cup

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Levko Koper spent most of the Chiefs opening game of the MasterCard Memorial Cup providing Spokane style stingy defense against the top line of the Belleville Bulls but it was his goal at 4:46 that made him a hero and gave Spokane a 5-4 win in their first game of the tournament.

Drayson Bowman had a hat-trick, including a goal that sent the game into overtime with less than three minutes remaining, and an assist to earn the game's first star award.

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"They did a great job against the (Shawn) Matthias line and it was icing on the cake to get the game winner," Chiefs Head Coach Bill Peters said about the Koper, Tyler Johnson and Justin McCrae line.

"Spurgeon took a shot from the point and the puck rebounded to McCrae and it bounced back out to me and I buried it," the Chiefs 17-year-old forward succinctly summarized.

Matthias, a world junior performer for Team Canada, had 32 goals and 79 points in 53 games this season, was held to one power play goal on the night.

The Chiefs and Kitchener Rangers, both 1-0 after overtime victories, will face off on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pacific time to see who will take a strangle hold on the round robin portion of the tournament. Mike Boyle will go on the air at 1:00 with Comcast Hockey Tonight on 1510 KGA and Comcast Channel 78 will air the game live.

Before Koper and company crashed the party, it was the Bowman, Mitch Wahl and Chris Bruton line that helped Spokane take early command. Bowman's first was helped by Bruton at 9:52 as the 20-year-old captain sent a breakout feed at the Belleville blueline to the Chiefs regular season leading scorer. With little room to move between the circles, Bowman shifted to the backhand and tallied the Chiefs first goal of the Memorial Cup tournament.

A Bull turnover landed on the stick of Wahl at 12:12 and he went top shelf with a backhand for a 2-0 lead.

George Burnett, the head coach of the Belleville Bulls credited his team with "at least 11 to 12 turnovers in the first period" which led to the big Chiefs lead through one.

Bowman's second of the period came at 17:05 when Bruton's initial shot was stopped and the 18-year-old jumped on top of it and slammed it home.

"I thought we worked a little harder in the second and created some turnovers of our own," Burnett said.

Belleville fought back with three in the second, including their first of the game at 2:27 by Bryan Cameron. Shawn Matthias brought the Bulls within one at 13:56 with a power play goal coming off the right wall. The goal came on the game's first penalty 12:31 into the period. Belleville knotted it at 19:03 of the second.

The Bulls took their first lead of the game with their fourth unanswered goal at 7:35 of the third by Cory Tanaka. Adam Perry fed the puck from the right circle across the puck to the waiting Tanaka, who earned his second of the night.

"We have to do a better job with the puck," Peters said about the breakdowns in the Spokane zone. "You have to make quick plays and better decisions this time of year."

"It was very similar to game three of the WHL Finals with Lethbridge, we're down one and the game is clicking away," Peters said. "I think we're a mature group and can handle situations like that."

Bowman evened it up with less than three minutes remaining by picking up a loose puck from out in front of the net and snapping it home. It was a Bruton shot that was stopped by Mike Murphy that allowed Bowman to get what would be his fourth hat trick of the season, the first in the playoffs.

"The goal that tied it up was an uncharacteristic one for us to give up," Bulls Head Coach George Burnett said about the scramble in front of the Belleville net. Spokane outshot the Bulls 54-36 on the night giving Murphy 49 saves. Dustin Tokarski had 31 stops for his first career Memorial Cup win.

Peters erred on the side of optimism when it came to allowing Belleville back into the game when the Chiefs had a three goal lead through 20 minutes, "We gave it up but it doesn't cost us in the end, I'm going to look at it that way," he smirked.

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