WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs News and Notes

Published on November 29, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Chiefs, who have earned points in nine of their last 10 games, will host a pair of games in the Spokane Arena this week with the Medicine Hat Tigers visiting on Friday and Portland Winterhawks in town on Saturday.

Spokane is currently in fourth place in the U.S Division, just four points out of second and two points in front of Everett for fifth place.

THIS WEEK

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3RD vs. MEDICINE HAT TIGERS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA TV-NONE GAME-7:00

Spokane will host the Medicine Hat Tigers in their only meeting of the season. The Chiefs are 2-1-0-0 on the year against the Central Division at home. In their only game last year, January 13th, 2010 , Spokane earned a 4-2 win in Medicine Hat. Kenton Miller, Dominik Uher and Levko Koper all scored for the Chiefs. The Chiefs were 1-2 on the penalty kill and 0-1 on the power play. Spokane outshot the Tigers 30-27. Medicine Hat beat the Chiefs 3-2 decision in the Spokane Arena on December 16th, 2008 in their last game in Spokane. Blake Gal scored for Spokane had goals. Koper had two assists.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4TH vs. PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA TV-SWX GAME-7:00

Spokane will play the Winterhawks for the fourth time this season, third in the Spokane Arena, on Saturday night in the Teddy Bear Toss presented by The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund. The two U.S. Division rivals will play nine times this season, five times in the Spokane Arena and four times in Portland. The Chiefs scored three first period goals en route to a 3-1 win on November 21st in Portland. Blake Gal, Anthony Bardaro and Kenton Miller all had goals for the Chiefs. Gal and Bardaro scored seven seconds apart to tie a record for fastest goals in franchise history. Portland won the first two meetings this year by one goal, 3-2 on October 8th and 2-1 on the 9th. Spokane outshot Portland 48-19 in the first game and 35-24 in the second game. The two will play again in Spokane on December 8th.

The game will be seen live on SWX beginning at 7:00 pm.

NEWS AND NOTES

CAPTAIN COWEN...Chiefs' Captain Jared Cowen has been invited to Canada's World Junior Selection Camp in Toronto December 12th through the 15th. Cowen won a silver medal with the Canadian National Junior team in 2010. He became just the third defenseman in franchise history to record three goals in a game when he had a hat-trick against Kamloops in a 10-1 win on November 24th. Mitch Cornett did it in 1986, also versus Kamloops, and Bryan McCabe did it twice in the same season, 1993-94, against Victoria and Tri-City. He assisted on a pair of goals for Team WHL in their 7-6 shootout loss to Team Russia in game five of the Subway Super Series on November 17th. He was named captain of the WHL squad. It was the third year in a row that Cowen represented Team WHL. Cowen has four goals and four assists in his last seven games. Ottawa made Cowen their first round pick, 10th overall, in 2009. Cowen is a former first overall selection in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft. Last season, he played 59 games, scored a career high eight goals and 30 points and led all Chiefs defensemen with a +23. He has played 203 career games in a Chiefs jersey. Cowen has appeared in 35 playoff games, including all 21 in the 2008 run to the WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

JOHNNY B GOOD...Tyler Johnson has 10 goals and 14 points in his last nine games. The 20-year-old has four goals and seven points in his last three games. Johnson had a five game goal scoring streak snapped on November 21st at Portland. In that stretch he had six goals and seven points. Johnson had a seven game point scoring streak snapped on November 3rd at Saskatoon. In the span, Johnson had four goals and 15 points, including season high two goals and four points on October 30th at Regina. Johnson has points in 18 of 24 games and multiple points in nine of them. Johnson is playing his fourth season in a Chiefs jersey. His 91 career goals are 19th in franchise history. The 20-year-old scored 36 goals last year, second on the team, and 71 points, third on the club. Johnson won a gold medal last year with the United States at the World Junior Hockey Championships and has attended the Minnesota Wild's camp the past two years.

OUTDOOR GAME...The Chiefs will host the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at Avista Stadium against the Kootenay Ice in the WHL's first ever outdoor game. Tickets are available by calling the Chiefs office at (509) 535-PUCK or TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT.

CHIEFS SET RECORD... Blake Gal and Anthony Bardaro equaled the Chiefs franchise record for fastest two goals when they scored seven seconds apart in a 3-1 win at Portland on November 21st. The mark had not been matched since November 4th, 1987 when Travis Green and Darcy Loewen did it at Portland in an 8-4 win. Gal scored at 4:41 of the first and Bardaro tallied at 4:48. In their next game the Chiefs scored goals eight seconds apart when Jared Cowen scored at :59 of the first and Bardaro scored at 1:07 in a 10-1 win over Kamloops.

IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton has one goal and six assists in his last six games. Kichton scored two goals on November 2nd in a 3-2 win at Saskatoon in his first career multi-goal game. He has four goals and 16 assists, eight on the power play, in 18 games. Kichton had two assists on Saturday, October 16th in his first game of the year, a 3-1 win over Everett. Kichton attended the Detroit Red Wings at their Prospect's Camp. The three-year veteran has played 145 career games. In 70 games last year he had 4-15-19 and was +14.

BARDARO IN BUNCHES...Anthony Bardaro has points in 10 of his last 15 games with eight goals and 12 points. He had a six game point scoring streak come to an end on November 5th at Brandon. Bardaro had four goals and seven assists in that span. In 24 games, Bardaro has eight goals and 15 points. In 63 games last year, Bardaro had five goals and 11 points.

DOUBLE DIGITS...The Chiefs scored 11 goals in an 11-1 win over the Regina Pats on October 30th, the most goals since the Chiefs defeated Edmonton 11-2 in February of 2009. Spokane also scored 10 goals in a game this season, a 10-1 win over Kamloops on November 24th in the Spokane Arena.

GAL-EE...Blake Gal recorded his first career hat-trick on October 20th in an 8-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen. Gal is third on the team with 10 goals. He attended the Philadelphia Flyers main camp after earning an invitation to their prospect's camp as a non-drafted free agent. Gal appeared in 71 games last year and scored 11 goals and 36 points. He finished the season last year with the team's top plus-minus at +26.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...The Chiefs have registered 50 shots in a game twice this season, including a season high 52 on October 20th in an 8-1 win over Calgary. It was their most shots since they had 55 on February 15th, 2008 against Everett. Spokane also put 50 on the board in a 3-1 win at Swift Current on November 6th. Spokane has outshot the opposition in 20 games and have finished tied once. On average, Spokane has outshot the opponent 36.7-26.9.

HOLDING VALCOURT...Since making his Chiefs debut on October 23rd against Red Deer, Collin Valcourt has registered a point in seven of 14 games by scoring two goals and helping on five others. Valcourt, a Red Deer, Alberta native, was listed by the Chiefs in December, 2009. He also has 29 penalty minutes this season.

MILLER TIME...Kenton Miller has six goals and 10 points in his last 14 games. Miller finished last year with 12 goals and 31 points in 71 games.

KOPER'S CORNER...Levko Koper has 10 goals and 21 points in his last 16 games. He recorded a career high six points, two goals and four assists, in an 11-1 win over Regina on October 30th. Koper has scored 77 career goals, tied for 26th in franchise history. He has played 283 career games, seventh in franchise history. The Edmonton product was a seventh round selection of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009. He also was named Team WHL's Player of the Game last year in the Subway Super Series after scoring a goal in a 2-1 win over Team Russia on November 25th, 2009.

KOSMO...Darren Kramer's 101 penalty minutes lead the WHL. Kramer scored a goal and had five penalty minutes in his first career game in a Chiefs sweater on October 6th in a 4-3 shootout win over Kamloops. The Chiefs added the 19-year-old from Peace River, Alberta to their roster that day. Kramer has played the past two seasons with the Grande Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

REID REPORTS...In his last 19 games James Reid has a 2.17 GAA, .921 save percentage, 11-5-1-1 record and one shutout. Reid is in his third full season as a Chief. In 2009-10, Reid led the WHL with 38 wins, was fourth in goals against average at 2.41 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, 2009. The goaltender went unbeaten in regulation time through the month of November posting 10 wins one overtime loss 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 has 10 career shutouts, second all-time in franchise history. His 62 career wins are fifth in franchise history.

HOLM-BOY...Mitch Holmberg scored an overtime game winner on Saturday, October 2nd in the Chiefs first win of the season, a 6-5 decision over the Tri-City Americans. Holmberg has scored five goals and nine points this season. The Sherwood Park, AB native was Spokane's first round pick in 2008 and scored four goals and 10 points in 52 games last season.

KUHN IT UP...Steve Kuhn has played in 169 consecutive games in his three year career. The 19-year-old has scored nine goals each of the past two years and added 20 assists last season.

NHL DRAFT...Jared Cowen (1st Round, Ottawa, 2009), Levko Koper (7th round, Atlanta, 2009)

INJURY REPORT...Garrett Leedahl (head, week-to-week), Dominik Uher (shoulder, day-to-day), Reid Gow (illness, day-to-day), James Reid (ankle, day-to-day)

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from November 29, 2010


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