LETHBRIDGE, Alberta -- Tyler Johnson broke a 1-1 tie with a goal 3:37 into the second period as the Spokane Chiefs completed a sweep of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL finals with a 4-1 road win.

The Tri-City Americans had a historic season with 52 wins, 108 points, a U.S. Division banner and the Scotty Munro Trophy.

SPOKANE -- Drayson Bowman scored a pair of goals to lift the Spokane Chiefs to a 4-1 home win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Western Hockey League championship series.

Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory added a nice mix of players to the team's protected list during Thursday's Western Hockey League bantam draft with a pair of defensemen, five forwards and one goalie.

The Tri-City Americans selected Zachary Yuen, a 6-foot, 200-pound defenseman from Vancouver, British Columbia, with its first pick -- 22nd overall -- in the Western Hockey League bantam draft.

Chet Pickard was a virtual unknown in the hockey world when he took over as the Tri-City Americans starting goalie at the beginning of the season.

A handshake can mean a lot of things. It closes deals, it opens relationships and solidifies friendships.

The Tri-City Americans' record-setting season did not come with a happy ending.

SPOKANE -- Spokane fans were handed a rally towel emblazoned with 'Go Chiefs Go' as they walked into the Spokane Arena on Monday night, but the only place the Chiefs are going is back down Highway 395 to Toyota Center.

Impressed.

If the Western Conference finals follows the path it has taken the last five games, the Tri-City Americans should be on tap to win Game 6 tonight in Spokane and bring the series back to Toyota Center on Tuesday for Game 7.

If something is worth having, it's worth fighting for.

The two biggest rivals in the U.S. Division have a love-hate relationship, but within the next few days, the feud will lose the love.

Tri-City Americans goalie Chet Pickard was named the CHL Goaltender of the Week after going 1-1 with a 0.36 goals against average and .988 save percentage in the first two games of the Western Conference finals.

WASHINGTON -- When the Washington Capitals emerged from a meeting early Wednesday afternoon at their Arlington, Va., headquarters, just hours after an excruciating overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, one absence was conspicuous.

SPOKANE -- The Tri-City Americans scored a league-high 262 goals during the regular season, but in the Western Conference finals against the Spokane Chiefs and goalie Dustin Tokarski, the Americans had scored just one goal in three games and had been shut out twice.

SPOKANE -- There are no excuses, even after playing more than 220 minutes of hockey in four days.

It's a good thing the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs don't pay for ice time by the hour.

If you like epic battles, then you had to love Games 1 and 2 of the Western Hockey League Western Conference finals between the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs.

It's not uncommon for players from opposing teams in the WHL to be from the same hometown.

Colton Yellow Horn is not a man of many words. His acceptance speech Friday afternoon for Western Conference player of the year was kept to under 30 seconds.

Eighty minutes and 49 seconds. That's how long the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs duked it out Friday night in the first game of the Western Conference finals before Spokane's Ondrej Roman put an end to the madness.

Seth Compton was born in West Richland in 1988, the same year the Tri-City Americans first made their home in Kennewick.

When the Tri-City Americans played host to Spokane on March 15 for the game that determined the U.S. Division champion, the 5,969 fans at Toyota Center were deafening before, during and after the game.

When Don Nachbaur was hired five years ago as coach of the Tri-City Americans, he told the audience at Toyota Center, "We will compete each and every night, win or lose. We will compete for 60 minutes and give the fans what they came to see. We will make this community proud."

With just one point separating the Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs for the U.S. Division title last month, it may seem hard to pinpoint what could be the difference in their upcoming Western Conference finals.

The Tri-City Americans earned their first-ever U.S. Division banner with a 2-1 victory over rival Spokane on March 15 at Toyota Center, putting the finishing touches on their 20th regular season in the Western Hockey League.

SPOKANE -- The Spokane Chiefs beat the visiting Vancouver Giants 3-1 in Game 6 on Monday to win their best-of-7 series in the Western Hockey League.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Dustin Tokarski turned away all 22 Vancouver shots and the Spokane Chiefs shut out the Vancouver Giants 4-0 in Game 5 of the Western Hockey League's Western Conference semifinals.

The last time the Tri-City Americans beat Seattle in the Western Hockey League playoffs was 1999 and it earned them a trip to the Western Conference finals.

The name will remain the same, but when the Seattle Thunderbirds open the 2008-09 season this fall, their address will change.

One game. That's all the Tri-City Americans need to win to advance to the Western Hockey League's Western Conference finals for the first time since the 1998-99 season.

SEATTLE - When the game is on the line, you can't go wrong putting the puck on Colton Yellow Horn's stick.

SEATTLE -- Special teams can make or break a team in the playoffs.

A 7-1 loss is no way to start a playoff series, but getting a shutout from your goaltender and a hat trick by your leading scorer in the next game soothes the wounds.

Tri-Cities' Taylor Procyshen and Seattle's Ian McKenzie grew up 77 miles from each other in the southeast region of Saskatchewan, but the two never played against each other until they reached the Western Hockey League.

Turner Stevenson is a first-year coach in the Western Hockey League, but the relationship the Seattle Thunderbirds assistant has with the Tri-City Americans goes beyond the nine regular-season games they have played or the Western Conference semifinal series that is heating up between the two teams.

Chet Pickard skated slowly toward the Tri-City Americans' bench Saturday at Toyota Center following a 4-0 shutout of Seattle in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals, taking in the applause for a job well done.

Now that's more like it.

Before this season, Colton Yellow Horn had never tasted success in the Western Hockey League playoffs.

The last two winters, hockey players in Manor, Saskatchewan, had to scrape the snow off the pond before they could drop the puck.

The Seattle Thunderbirds had to work late Tuesday night to polish off the Kelowna Rockets and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. Their reward is a best-of-7 series against the U.S. Division champion Tri-City Americans.

Prince George Cougars coach Drew Schoneck, who played defense for the Tri-City Americans during the 1993-94 season, will be doing a little local radio work during the Western Hockey League playoffs.

It took 20 years for the Tri-City Americans to hang a U.S. Division championship banner at Toyota Center.

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia -- The Tri-City Americans won their first opening-round playoff series since 2004 and their first-ever playoff series over the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday night.