WHL Spokane Chiefs

Cowen Ranked, Tokarski Named Goaltender of Week

Published on April 14, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


Spokane Chief defenseman Jared Cowen is ranked ninth overall for North American based skaters by NHL's Central Scouting for this summer's Entry Draft. Forward Levko Koper is ranked 84th overall and defenseman Stefan Ulmer is ranked 199th.

Over the past two seasons, Cowen has played 116 games with 11 goals, 39 points and a combined +43. Cowen was the number one overall selection in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft and was named the Chiefs Rookie of the Year and the WHL's Western Conference Scholastic Player of the Year in 2008.

Cowen had never missed a game due to injury prior to suffering one to his knee at the end of January that ended his season. Cowen played in 153 of 158 WHL games, including playoffs and Memorial Cup prior to the injury. Cowen missed four games in 2007-08 to play at the 2008 under-17 World Hockey Challenge and one this season while he was away at the Top Prospects game.

Koper scored a career high 23 goals and 59 points in 71 games in 2008-09. Eight of his goals were on the power play, second on the Chiefs, and he finished the season +31. The 18-year-old missed just one game while participating, and scoring a goal, in the Top Prospects Game. The Edmonton, Alberta native entered the WHL as an undrafted 16-year-old and just completed his third season as a Chief.

Ulmer played 63 games in his second season in Spokane with eight goals, 40 points and a +14. The Chiefs first round selection in the 2007 Import Draft has played all 32 playoff games for Spokane the last two years. Over the holidays, Ulmer was named the Best Defenseman of the 2009 IIHF Group B World Junior Hockey Championships after leading Austria to the gold. He also led the tournament in scoring with five goals and 11 points in helping Austria win the tournament.

The NHL Entry Draft will be held on Saturday, June 27th in Montreal.

TOKARSKI NAMED CHL GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK tokarski 3 Toronto, ON - The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs is the ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending April 12. With a record of 3-0-1-0, Tokarski posted a goals-against-average of 1.27 and a save percentage of .956 in four games.

Trailing 2-0 to the Vancouver Giants in the Kal Tire WHL Western Conference semi-final, Tokarski and the Chiefs hosted the Giants for game three Tuesday night. He made 16 saves in the 5-2 win and was named third star of the game. On Wednesday night he stopped all 41 shots he faced in the 1-0 shutout win as first star of the game to tie the series 2-2. 41 saves is the most Tokarski has recorded in regulation time this season. Tokarski was again named first star of the game Friday night in the second longest game in WHL playoff history. After 126 minutes and five seconds of hockey and 60 saves for Tokarski, the Chiefs prevailed 3-2 in the fourth overtime period to take the series lead. In another lengthy battle Sunday, Tokarski made 37 saves in the double-overtime loss to the Giants. The best-of-seven series is now tied 3- 3 with game seven Tuesday night in Vancouver with the winner to face the Kelowna Rockets.

Tokarski, a 19-year-old from Watson, SK, is in his third WHL season with the Chiefs. The 2008 Memorial Cup MVP led all WHL goaltenders with a regular season goals-against-average of 1.97 and save percentage of .937. His seven shutouts were tied for a league-high. Tokarski, a 2008 fifth round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, backstopped Team Canada to gold at the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Also considered was Maxim Gougeon of the Rimouski Oceanic who won all three of his games this week including a 1-0 shutout win Friday night over the Moncton Wildcats making 24 saves in the fifth and final game of the series. He posted a goals-against- average of 1.00 with a .957 save percentage to help the Oceanic advance to the league semi-finals where they will now play the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Mike Murphy of the OHL's Belleville Bulls made 69 saves and won two games with a goals-against-average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .945 to help lead the Bulls to a series win over the Niagara IceDogs and onto the Rogers OHL Eastern Conference Championship series where they will face the Brampton Battalion.

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 14, 2009


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