Submitted by Fox First at Ten on December 16th
The Tri-City Americans scored twice early in the third and held off a late rally from Spokane as they defeated the Chiefs 2-1 in front of 10,052 fans at the Spokane Arena Saturday night. Reid Gow scored the "Teddy Bear" goal as Spokane fell to 13-3-0-0 at home and 23-9-1-0 overall.Chiefs' fans tossed 6,560 teddy bears onto the ice for the Teddy Bear Toss presented by The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund. The teddy bears will be given to the community through The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund and the Gus Johnson Ford Christmas Caravan. The 6,560 is a franchise record for stuffed animals.Americans' goalie Eric Comrie stopped all 15 shots he faced in the first period as Spokane held the Americans to seven shots. The Americans went on the game's first power play at the 5:26 mark of the second but they couldn't find the back of the net against Eric Williams as the contest remained scoreless. Tri-City captain Justin Feser scored the game's first goal at 2:03 in the third as he caught a pass from behind the net and beat Williams glove side to put the Americans ahead 1-0. Malte Stromwall extended Tri-City's lead at 4:47 with an unassisted top shelf goal. Spokane finally broke through at 16:46 as Gow snuck a shot past Comrie with assists from Dylan Walchuk and Brenden Kichton. The Chiefs kept the pressure on Comrie down the stretch but couldn't light the lamp again. Williams was 18 of 20 on save opportunities for Spokane while Comrie was 36 of 37 for Tri-City. The Chiefs finished 0 for 2 on the power play and 1 for 1 on the penalty kill. The Chiefs are home again on Tuesday as they host the Portland Winterhawks for a TicketsWest Player Magnet Giveaway at 7:05 PM.
