WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

Published on January 17, 2012 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Chiefs will travel to Tri-City for the seventh meeting of the season. The Americans lead the season series 4-2 after the Chiefs earned a 5-3 win on January 14th in Spokane. The game was 3-3 through two periods before Dylan Walchuk scored a go ahead goal at 7:05 of the third. Dominik Uher scored his second goal of the game, this one into an empty net, for the final tally. The Chiefs went 2-4 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill. The last game in Tri-City was an Americans 4-1 victory in the annual New Year's Eve game. Marek Kalus scored the Chiefs' lone goal. There were just a combined 37 shots on goal, 17 by Spokane. In the American's last trip to Spokane they picked up another 4-1 win on November 5th. Mike Aviani scored the Chiefs' lone goal. Tri-City earned a 3-1 win on October 29th.. Blake Gal scored the Chiefs' only goal as Spokane was 1-6 on the power play and 7-7 on the penalty kill. Each team defended their home ice in their respective home openers. Tri-City earned a 4-1 win over Spokane on September 24th. One week later, Steven Kuhn scored twice as Spokane picked up a 7-2 victory. The Chiefs were 4-12 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill. Spokane is 8-37 (21.6%) on the power play and 26-30 (86.6%) on the penalty kill in six games. In its 23rd year of existence the Chiefs lead the regular season series 141-122-1-5 with 13 ties.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21ST vs. PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS GAME-7:00 RADIO-790 KJRB TV-NONE

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22ND vs. PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS GAME-6:00 RADIO-1510 KGA TV-NONE

On Saturday, the Chiefs will host Portland in back-to-back games and for the first of three straight at home versus Portland. Spokane will host Portland on Sunday and then again on Friday, January 27th with a trip to Everett in between. It will be Portland's last visit to Spokane in the regular season. Portland comes to the Arena for the first time since Saturday, December 17th, an 8-6 Portland victory. Mark Kalus had a goal and assist for Spokane. The Chiefs have travelled to Portland three times. Spokane played back-to-back games in Portland on November 11th and 12th, losing once in a shootout and another in overtime, and dropped a 5-3 decision on November 25th. Five different players scored goals on November 11th in a 6-5 shootout loss. Spokane trailed 2-0 on November 12th and came back to send the game into overtime. On November 25th, Connor Chartier added a single in the loss. Spokane outshot the Winterhawks 49-39. Spokane and Portland will play each other eight times, four times in each other's building. Brenden Kichton has one goal and three assists in four games and Darren Kramer has two goals and two assists in four games. Portland's Assistant GM/Assistant Coach Travis Green appeared in 258 career games in Spokane and is third all-time in franchise history with 303 career points. He was named as one of the Top 25 Chiefs in 25 Years in 2009-10. The Winterhawks won a six game playoff series in the Western Conference Finals last season.

NEWS AND NOTES

THE NACHBAUR 500 ...Don Nachbaur became the sixth coach in the history of the WHL to win 500 games as a head coach when Spokane defeated the Everett Silvertips on January 11th. Nachbaur is the reigning WHL Coach of the Year and is in his second season on the Chiefs' bench. Nachbaur won 202 in Seattle, 229 in Tri-City and has 70 in Spokane. He assisted on Canada's National Men's Summer Under-18 Team that won the gold medal at the 2011 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament over the summer.

CHIEFS ADD WALCHUK ... Dylan Walchuk has two goals in four games as a Chief. He scored his first goal as a Chief on January 13th in Everett in just his second game. Walchuk made his Spokane debut on January 11th versus Everett one day after being added to the roster. The British Columbia native was originally added to the Chiefs 50-player protected list in December, 2008. Last season Walchuk led the Vernon Vipers of the British Columbia Hockey League in points with 56, including 24 goals and 32 assists. He added another 13 goals and 20 points in 24 playoff games as Vernon finished as a runner-up in the Royal Bank Cup Championship, the Canadian Junior A National Title, one year after winning it. As a 17-year-old in 2009-10, Walchuk had 19 goals and 47 points in 56 games and was a member of the Vipers' 2010 Royal Bank Cup Championship. Walchuk split time this season at Northern Michigan University and Vernon. In 19 games at Northern Michigan he had two goals and eight points and in six games in Vernon he scored one goal and six points.

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER ...When Spokane scores three or more goals in a game they are 22-5-1-2. When scoring two or fewer goals, Spokane is 0-10-1-1.

CENTRAL SCOUTING ...Two Chiefs, Cole Wedman (142nd) and Reid Gow (185th), appeared on the NHL's Mid-Season Ranking of eligible North American Skaters for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

SCHEDULE ...The Chiefs are 5-2-1-0 in January. They play 15 games during the month, eight at home and seven on the road. Prior to the holiday break the Chiefs played 34 games in 99 days. In the second half of the season Spokane will play the final 38 games in 73 days.

SPOKANE CHIEFS DEFENSEMEN - ALL-TIME LEADERS

CAREER GOALS CAREER ASSISTS CAREER POINTS

1-Sean Gillam - 40 1- Frank Evans - 146 1- Bryan McCabe - 184

2-Bryan McCabe-39 2- Bryan McCabe - 145 2- Sean Gillam - 182

3-Jared Spurgeon-37 3- Sean Gillam - 142 3- Frank Evans - 177

Jared Cowen-37 4- Jared Spurgeon - 133 4- Jared Spurgeon - 170

5-Brenden Kichton-35 5- Hugh Hamilton - 123 5- Brenden Kichton - 152

6- Jon Klemm - 120 Hugh Hamilton - 152

7- Brenden Kichton - 117

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2012


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