WHL Spokane Chiefs

Playoff Report

Published on March 16, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


As the fourth seed in the Western Conference, the Chiefs will play the Portland Winterhawks, the fifth seed, in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. Spokane holds home-ice advantage and will host games three, four and, if necessary, five next week. The Chiefs finished the regular season with a 3-5 mark while the Winterhawks were 5-2-0-1. All three of Spokane's wins came in Portland. The Winterhawks were 4-0 in Spokane. Seven of the eight match-ups were in the first 36 games of the season with just one, March 5th, taking place in the second half. The two played four games in December, with all of them being one goal decisions. Spokane was 5-36 (13.9%) on the power play, Portland was 4-28 (12.5%). On average, the Chiefs outshot the Winterhawks 33.1-31.1. The two traded shutouts on the other's home ice in back-to-back games on October 31st in Spokane and November 1st in Portland. The Chiefs also had a 4-0 shutout on March 5th, their last meeting of the year. Each team scored 23 goals in regulation. Mitch Wahl led all scorers in the series with six goals and 13 points. Kyle Beach had five goals and nine points. Kenton Miller had 3-3-6 and Blake Gal had 1-5-6.

DATE SCORE GWG W/GOALIE L/GOALIE PP PK SHOTS

10.02.09 vs. Portland 3-5 L Boychuk Curtis Reid 1-6 3-4 26-36

10.31.09 vs. Portland 0-2 L Bennett Mucha Tadjdeh 0-1 3-3 35-26

11.01.09 at Portland 3-0 W Ulmer Reid Mucha 1-7 4-4 35-34

12.06.09 at Portland 5-4SO W Beach (so) Reid Curtis 2-6 3-3 35-23

12.16.09 vs. Portland 2-3 L Niederreiter Curtis Reid 0-5 2-3 33-22

12.27.09 vs. Portland 4-5 L Schneider Curtis Reid 0-4 4-5 33-41

12.29.09 at Portland 3-4 L Johansen Curtis Reid 1-4 4-5 33-41

03.05.10 at Portland 4-0 W Wahl Reid Curtis 0-3 5-5 35-28

PLAYOFF HISTORY

The first round match-up between Spokane and Portland will be the seventh time the two franchises have met in the post-season. Four series, including their last three against each other, have gone the distance. The Winterhawks won a nine game series in 1985-86 while the Chiefs won in 1996 after they came from a 0-3 deficit. Portland won in 1998 and went on to win the Memorial Cup in Spokane. The Chiefs took game seven in 2003. In each of the last three series, the Chiefs had to win game six to force a seventh game. In 1996 and 2003, Spokane won game six in overtime.

1985-86 - Portland wins a best-of-nine, 5-4

1991-92 - Spokane wins a best-of-seven, 4-2

1995-96 - Spokane wins a best-of-seven, 4-3

1997-98 - Portland wins a best-of-seven, 4-3

2002-03 - Spokane wins a best-of-seven, 4-3

NEWS AND NOTES

AWARD WINNERS RECOGNIZED... Mitch Wahl was named the Spokane Chiefs Player of the Year and Jared Spurgeon won a pair of awards, the Player's Player and the Ken Rabel Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year, in a pre-game ceremony the Chiefs Regular Season Finale. Jared Cowen was named the John "Hitman" Hern Defenseman of the Year and Tyler Johnson won the Humanitarian of the Year for the second straight season. Brady Brassart took home a pair of awards, Rookie of the Year and Scholastic Player of the year.

JOHNSON IS WHL PLAYER OF MONTH...Tyler Johnson has been named the February WHL Player of the Month. He led the WHL in scoring in February with 10 goals and 14 assists. In his last eight games of the regular season, Johnson had seven goals and six assists. He had points in 18 of the last 21 games with multiple points in 13 of them. Johnson had a nine game point scoring streak snapped on December 12th. Johnson scored 13 goals and 21 points in that span. The three-year veteran has scored 75 goals in his career, 25th in franchise history, and 167 points. Johnson attended the Minnesota Wild's camp this year and was named the 2008 WHL Finals MVP against Lethbridge. He also participated in the Phoenix Coyotes camp in 2008. Johnson has played 33 career playoff games.

WAHL-LY'S WORLD...Mitch Wahl had points in 18 of the last 19 games in the regular season. In the stretch, he had seven goals and 32 points. He finished the year in seventh place in the WHL in scoring with 30 goals and 66 assists, which was third in the league. Wahl is third all-time in Chiefs history for career assists with 186. Wahl trails Ray Whitney (207) and Pat Falloon (194) on the all-time list. In his last 29 games, Wahl had 14 goals and 47 points, including a hat-trick against Lethbridge on January 15th, and six goals and 25 points in his last 16. Wahl has climbed up to the following spots on the franchise's all-time list; goals (98-14th), assists (186- third), points (284- 6th) and games played (273- 11th). In October, Wahl has signed a three-year-entry level contract with the Calgary Flames. Wahl was their second-round pick in the 2008 Draft. Wahl has played 37 career playoff games and is 14th in franchise history in scoring in the post-season with eight goals and 20 assists.

BEACH PARTY...Kyle Beach became the first Chief since the 1993-94 season and 10th overall to score 50 goals in a single season. Beach had a team high 12 game point scoring streak snapped on February 20th at Tri-City. Beach had 17 goals and 25 points in the stretch and he had points in 20 of his last 22 games. Beach scored a career high 52 goals, first in the WHL, and a career high 86 points, 11th in the WHL. Beach had four hat-tricks this season. His 12 game winning goals led the WHL and are a Spokane single season record. Spokane acquired the forward from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on September 23rd. Beach was the Chicago Blackhawks first round draft selection, 11th overall, in 2008. Beach has 134 goals, 273 career points and 773penalty minutes in 251 career games. In 2006-07 he was named the WHL Rookie of the Year.

KILLER DUDE...The Chiefs were 43-49 (87.8%) on the penalty kill in the last 13 games of the regular season. Overall, the Chiefs allowed 48 power play goals, the second fewest in the WHL and the fewest in the Western Conference. Spokane was third overall in the WHL at 84.4%.

GETTING DEFENSIVE...The Chiefs finished with the third fewest goals allowed in the WHL, 179, just four more than the Everett Silvertips allowed and two more than the Calgary Hitmen. It is the third season in a row the Chiefs have finished in the top three in goals allowed; 2007-08 Spokane was second with 160. Last year Spokane led the WHL with a franchise record 145 goals allowed, the ninth lowest total in WHL history.

I AM IRON MAN...Three Chiefs played all 72 games, two of them for the second year in a row. Brett Bartman and Steve Kuhn have played 144 straight games. Mitch Wahl also played 72 games this season. Blake Gal and Kenton Miller both played 71 games.

THE BARTMAN...Twenty-year-old Brett Bartman appeared in 192 career regular season games. Half of his 12 points, one goal and five assists, came in the last six games of the year.

PROJECT POWER PLAY...The Chiefs are 28-70 (40%) on the power play in the last 18 games of the regular season. Spokane finished the year at 24.9%, fifth in the WHL.

JOHNSON WINS GOLD, COWEN SILVER... Tyler Johnson helped the U.S.A. win gold at the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships. Chiefs' captain Jared Cowen won a silver medal with Team Canada. Stefan Ulmer played for Team Austria.

REID-ING IS FUNDAMENTAL...James Reid led the WHL with 38 wins, was fourth in goals against average at 2.41 average and third with a.920 save percentage. He played 3,514 minutes, the second most in the WHL. Reid was named the WHL Player of the Month for November. The 19-year-old goaltender went unbeaten in regulation time through the month of November posting 10 wins and one over-time loss, which included an eight game win streak and three shut-outs. Reid recorded a 1.09 goals-against average and a.964 save percentage, allowing just 12 goals on 335 shots-against in 662 minutes played. He now has nine career shutouts, five this season. Last year Reid finished his rookie season with four shutouts in 17 starts.

20-YEAR-OLD SPURGEON...In the last 10 games of the regular season, Jared Spurgeon had one goal and seven assists. Spurgeon had a seven game point streak snapped on February 19th at Kootenay. In the streak he had three goals and nine assists. Spurgeon had five goals and 26 assists in his last 36 games. In 54 games, Spurgeon had eight goals and 51 points. The 20-year-old played 266 career games in Spokane and finished his regular season career with 37 goals, 133 assists, tied for 15th in franchise history, the fourth most for defensemen and 170 points in his five seasons in Spokane. He won the Chiefs John "Hitman" Hern Defenseman of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 and the Player's Player award in 2009 and 2010. Spurgeon has played in 33 playoff games in his career.

CAPTAIN COWEN...Captain Jared Cowen scored a career high eight goals and 30 points in 59 games. Five of his eight goals acted as the game winner. Cowen finished his third full season in Spokane having played in181games with 19 goals and 71 points. On November 25th he served as an Assistant Captain for Team WHL's 2-1 win over Team Russia in the Subway Super Series. While away with Canada's National Junior Team Cowen had missed 10 games. Cowen was the Ottawa Senators first round selection, ninth overall, in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Cowen has appeared in 27 playoff games, including all 21 in the 2008 run to the WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

ULMER SIGNS CONTRACT...Defenseman Stefan Ulmer has signed a three-year contract with the Lugano Hockey Club in the Swiss National League. Ulmer will remain with the Chiefs through the end of the season and join HC Lugano next year. The Swiss National League is the top professional league in Switzerland. Six of his eight goals and 17 of his helpers were on the power play. In total, Ulmer has played 167 career games in Spokane including 63 last year. This year's 41 points, eight goals and 33 assists, were one point better than his eight goal and 32 assist effort last year. Ulmer played for Austria's entry at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Ulmer was named the Best Defenseman of the 2009 IIHF Group B World Junior Hockey Championships after leading Austria to the gold medal.

GAL-EE...Forward Blake Gal led the Chiefs with a +26 this season. Gal scored a goal 14-seconds into the game on March 6th at Seattle. The Spokane record for fastest goal to start a game is 11-seconds, set by Brad Schell in 2002 versus Portland. Gal had a five game point scoring streak snapped on February 24th versus Everett. Gal had one goal and four assists in the streak. Gal scored a goal in the fourth overtime of game five of Spokane's playoff series with Vancouver last year ending the second longest game in WHL history.

KOPER'S COLLECTION...Levko Koper has appeared in 38 playoff games for the Chiefs. In 2008 he scored an overtime winner in game one of the Memorial Cup versus the Belleville Bulls. Koper recorded a career high 27 goals this season and has tallied 50 of his 65 career goals the past two seasons. He had a pair of hat-tricks this year, September 18th at Prince George and December 11th at Chilliwack. Koper scored a goal and was named Team WHL's Player of the Game on November 25th in the Subway Super Series in a 2-1 win over Team Russia. Koper has played 258 career games in a Spokane sweater, tied for 15th in franchise history. The Atlanta Thrashers selected Koper in the seventh round of last summer's NHL Entry Draft. Koper played at the 2009 CHL Top Prospects game.

NHL DRAFT...Kyle Beach (1st round, Chicago, 2008), Mitch Wahl (2nd round, Calgary, 2008), Jared Spurgeon (6th round, New York Islanders, 2008), Jared Cowen (Ottawa, 1st round, 2009), Levko Koper (7th round, Atlanta, 2009)

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Wednesday, March 17th Day Off

Thursday, March 18th Practice 1:00 Eagles Ice-A-Rena

Friday, March 19th Practice 9:30 am Eagles Ice-A-Rena

FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF SERIES SCHEDULE

GAME 1 Spokane @ Portland Saturday, March 20 7:00 (Rose Garden)

GAME 2 Spokane @ Portland Sunday, March 21 5:00 (Rose Garden)

GAME 3 Portland @ Spokane Wednesday, March 24 7:00

GAME 4 Portland @ Spokane Friday, March 26 7:00

GAME 5* Portland @ Spokane Saturday, March 27 7:00

GAME 6* Spokane @ Portland Monday, March 29 7:00 (Rose Garden)

GAME 7* Portland @ Spokane Wednesday, March 31 7:00

*If necessary

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 16, 2010


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