Helewka Scores Four as Chiefs Defeat Giants

Adam Helewka scored four goals to lead the Spokane Chiefs to a 6-4 win over the Vancouver Giants at the Pacific Coliseum on Friday night. Jackson Houck, Travis McEvoy, Brett Kulak and Cain Franson had the Vancouver goals in a losing cause.

Giants goalie Jared Rathjen was forced to make a couple of big saves early in the game for Vancouver on a 5-on-3 penalty kill after Mason Geertsen and Travis McEvoy took minor penalties on the same play, but he was equal to the task, keeping the game scoreless. The Chiefs found the opening goal later in the frame when Dominic Zwerger pounced on a loose puck in the slot and wired it off the left post and into the net. Houck would equalize for the Giants before the end of the period when he deflected a Geertsen point shot past Chiefs goalie Eric Williams to extend his goal scoring streak to four games.

Spokane retook the lead at 7:13 of the middle frame when Mike Aviani tapped the puck across the goal line at the right post for his 15th of the season. He nearly scored again a few moments later when Rathjen turned the puck over in his own zone, giving Aviani a shorthanded break, but the Vancouver net minder recovered to make a nice left pad save. The Chiefs made it 3-1 in the latter half of the period when Helewka scored with a wrist shot from the slot.

Helewka netted his second of the evening early in the third with a shot from the high slot through traffic to give Spokane a three goal lead, but McEvoy made it a two-goal game once again when he knocked a Kulak centring feed past Williams off the rush. Kulak found the back of the net himself on the power play with 6:49 to go when his long slapper eluded Williams before Rathjen was called into action once again shortly after Kulak's goal when he stopped Adam Hascic on a breakaway. Helewka struck again on the power play to make it 5-3 and then scored his fourth of the night 30 seconds later to give the Chiefs the needed insurance. Franson picked up his fifth of the year with exactly a minute remaining, hammering a one-timer past Williams from the right circle, but it was too little, too late for Vancouver.

The Giants will head out on the road to face the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday evening. Hear the action on TEAM 1410 and teamradio.ca. The Pre-Game Show gets underway at 6:30pm, followed by the opening face-off at 7:00pm.

Game Summary

3 Stars:
1. Mitch Holmberg - Spokane
2. Adam Helewka - Spokane
3. Mike Aviani - Spokane