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Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Add Five Names for Top 30 in 30 Years

February 17, 2015 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


SPOKANE, Wash. - As a part of their 30th Anniversary celebration, the Spokane Chiefs have added five players to their list of the Top 25 Chiefs in 25 Years, originally named in 2010, to create the Top 30 in 30. New inductees Mick Vukota (1985-87), Steve Junker (1988-92), Barry Brust (2000-04), Michael Grabner (2004-07) and Brenden Kichton (2008-13) will be honored on Friday in a pair of ceremonies.

The Chiefs will hold a press conference in the Spokane Arena's Absolut Grill to formally induct the five to the list on Friday, February 20 at 1 p.m. All media is invited to attend. Vukota and Junker will both be in attendance and available for interviews, with the remaining three unable to travel because of commitments with their current professional clubs.

Vukota and Junker will also be recognized at center ice in a pre-game ceremony on Friday night.

The Chiefs will host the Calgary Hitmen at 7:05 p.m. on their 30th Season Anniversary and Jersey-Off-The-Back Night Auction presented by KIX 96.1.

2014-15 is the 30th season the Chiefs are skating as a WHL franchise in Spokane after moving from Kelowna prior to the 1985-86 season. 470 players have worn a Chiefs jersey in those three decades. The new "Top 30 Chiefs in 30 Years" list now includes three goaltenders, eight defensemen and 19 forwards.

The Top 30 in 30 will now include one more member of the original team from 1985-86, a Memorial Cup Champion, just its' third goaltender, an Olympian and the organization's top scoring defenseman of all time.

The list now includes 14 Memorial Cup Champions, with six from 1991 and eight from 2008. Three honored players went on to win the Stanley Cup as a professional and three were named NHL All-Stars. Twenty-three of the 30 players have played in the NHL, including seven this season.

Chiefs fans had the opportunity to help select the next five Chiefs to be inducted through on-line balloting last fall. Other factors in the selection process included career achievements, personal honors and team success.

Tickets for all home games are available by calling the Chiefs office at (509) 535-PUCK, TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT or by logging onto www.ticketswest.com .

MICK VUKOTA (1985-1987)

Regular Season Playoffs

Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM

1985-86 64 19 14 33 369 9 6 4 10 68

1986-87 61 25 28 53 337 4 0 0 0 40

TOTALS 125 44 42 86 706 13 6 4 10 108

If Spokane's second transition from senior amateur hockey to the WHL was to be successful, they needed crowd favorites and a style of play that fans became accustomed to with the Comets, Jets and Flyers. Enter Mick Vukota. Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Vukota played for the Chiefs in their first two seasons, from 1985 to 1987. Twenty-eight years later, he still sits in fourth place in franchise history with 706 career penalty minutes. A hard-nosed right winger, Vukota piled up penalty minutes in 125 games as a Chief. He and Kerry Toporowski (889) are the only two Chiefs in the top 15 in penalty minutes to accrue their totals in only two seasons. His 369 penalty minutes in 1985-86 are the 3rd-most by a Chief in any single season. He scored 44 goals and 42 assists with Spokane, adding 6 goals and 4 assists in the playoffs. Including a year with the Kelowna Wings and 10 games with the Winnipeg Warriors, Vukota finished his WHL career with 64 goals, 65 assists and 963 penalty minutes in 246 games.

Undrafted out of junior hockey, Vukota singed a free-agent contract with the New York Islanders in 1986 and went on to make an impact in the NHL, playing 574 games over 11 years. He holds the Islanders' franchise record for penalty minutes with 1,879 and is one of just 55 NHL players to ever eclipse 2,000 in their career.

Vukota now lives on the east coast and is a partner in a company that deals with waste management on Martha's Vineyard. He is married with five sons ranging in age from six months to 17 years old and has coached hockey from the youth to high school level.

STEVE JUNKER (1988-1992)

Regular Season Playoffs

Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM

1988-89 68 19 15 34 40 -- -- -- -- --

1989-90 69 20 36 56 76 6 0 4 4 2

1990-91 71 39 38 77 86 15 5 13 18 6

1991-92 58 28 32 60 110 10 6 7 13 18

TOTALS 266 106 121 227 312 31 11 24 35 26

When Steve Junker's career as a Spokane Chief was over, following his 19-year-old season in 1991-92, the team captain's name was listed in the top five in franchise history in games played (266, 1st), goals (106, 5th), assists (121, 5th) and points (227, 4th). He remains in the top 30 in all of those categories as he is currently tied for 20th in games played, 12th in goals, 26th in assists and 17th in total career points. He is the sixth member of the 1990-91 Memorial Cup championship team to be named to the Top 30 in 30; he enjoyed his best season as a Chief with 39 goals and 38 assists during that championship year and added 5 goals and 13 assists during the playoffs. In 1991-92, Junker represented Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Junker went on to play professionally for 17 years, including 280 games in the AHL/IHL, five games in the NHL with the New York Islanders and well over 600 games overseas, primarily in Germany's top-tier DEL. He was the Islanders' 5th Round selection in the 1991 NHL Draft.

After retiring Steve returned to his hometown of Castlegar, British Columbia and was the General Manager/Coach of the KIJHL's Rebels for three years, winning the league title in 2012-13. He is currently employed at Teck Metals and coaches his son's Midget Rep team. He and his wife, Sunny, have two sons: 14-year-old Gabriel and 16-year-old Ellis.

BARRY BRUST (2000-2004)

Regular Season

Season GP Min GA EN SO GAA W L T Svs Pct

2000-01 16 777 42 0 0 3.24 4 6 1 342 0.891

2001-02 60 3540 152 0 1 2.58 28 21 10 1582 0.912

2002-03 59 3385 194 0 0 3.44 22 31 4 1464 0.883

2003-04 27 1505 75 0 0 2.99 10 13 2 700 0.903

TOTALS 162 9207 463 0 1 3.06 64 71 17 4088 0.897

Barry Brust, just the third goaltender selected to the Chiefs' Top 30 in 30, is the franchise's all-time leader in games played by a goaltender (169), minutes (9,150) and saves (4,088), and ranks sixth in franchise history with 64 wins. During Brust's 2001-02 campaign, he set a (then) franchise record with a 2.58 goals against average (currently 7th all-time) and had a .912 save percentage (currently fifth all-time). Brust was named the WHL's Western Conference Goaltender of the Year, just one of five Chiefs netminders to earn that award.

A 3rd Round NHL Draft selection by Minnesota in 2002, Brust appeared in 11 games for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2006-07 season. He played seven seasons between the AHL and ECHL before moving overseas for one season in the German DEL and three in the Russian KHL, where he currently plays for Khanty-Mansiysk Yugra.

MICHAEL GRABNER (2004-2007)

Regular Season Playoffs

Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM

2004-05 58 13 11 24 18 -- -- -- -- --

2005-06 67 36 14 50 28 -- -- -- -- --

2006-07 55 39 16 55 34 6 0 1 1 2

TOTALS 180 88 41 129 80 6 0 1 1 2

Just the second European player on the Top 30 in 30 (Valeri Bure), Michael Grabner is also just the third 1st Round NHL pick on the list, joining Pat Falloon and Jared Cowen. Grabner was Vancouver's 1st Round selection (14th overall) in 2006 after scoring 36 goals and 50 points in his second season in Spokane. The following year, Grabner recorded a point a game, including 39 goals, in 55 games. He is one of four players to lead the team in goals scored in back-to-back seasons. His 88 goals are 25th in franchise history. He was originally Spokane's 1st Round pick, 22nd overall, in the 2004 CHL Import Draft. Grabner also played in the CHL's 2006 Top Prospect Game. Three seasons with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL witnessed him score 68 goals before a call up to the Canucks in 2009-10. His first full NHL season came the following year with the New York Islanders where he would score 34 goals and 52 points in 76 games to become a finalist for the NHL's Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. That same year, he won the NHL's Fastest Skater competition at the NHL All-Star Weekend. He represented Austria at the 2014 Olympic Games where he tied for the tournament lead with five goals.

Grabner is currently on injured reserve with the New York Islanders and has appeared in 300 career NHL games, scoring 93 goals and 150 points.

He and his wife Heather have a four-year-old son, Aiden.

BRENDEN KICHTON (2008-2013)

Regular Season Playoffs

Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM

2008-09 57 1 8 9 12 8 0 0 0 0

2009-10 70 4 15 19 21 7 0 0 0 4

2010-11 64 23 58 81 31 17 1 10 11 2

2011-12 71 17 57 74 49 1 0 1 1 0

2012-13 71 22 63 85 30 9 2 5 7 6

TOTALS 333 67 201 268 143 42 3 16 19 12

Any way you look at it, Brenden Kichton is the best offensive defenseman in the 30-year history of the Spokane Chiefs. Not only does Kichton hold the single season record for points by a defenseman, he is also second and third on the list as he put together consecutive seasons of 81, 74 and 85 points in 2011, '12 and "˜13. He is 12th in franchise history in scoring with 268 points - the highest mark for a defenseman - and is only one of two players with over 200 career assists as a Chief with 201 (Ray Whitney, 207). Only one other player (Brandin Cote, 352) appeared in more games as a Chief than his 333. He was named as the Chiefs' John "Hitman" Hern Defenseman of the Year for three straight years (2011, '12 and '13) and the WHL's Bill Hunter Trophy winner as the league's top defenseman in 2013. He was Chiefs' Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and is the only defenseman to lead the team in scoring (2012, '13). Kichton is a former third round selection in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft.

Following his career as a Chief, Kichton was selected by the Winnipeg Jets in the 7th Round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and is currently in his second season with their American Hockey League team, the St. John's Ice Caps. Kichton was named the IceCaps' Rookie of the Year and nominated to the AHL All-Rookie Team in 2014.

TOP 30 CHIEFS IN 30 YEARS (BOLD) NAMED TO THE LIST IN 2015

Brent Gilchrist (1985-1987)

Mick Vukota (1985-1987)

Travis Green (1986-1990)

Pat Falloon (1988-1991)

Jon Klemm (1988-1991)

Ray Whitney (1988-1991)

Steve Junker (1988-1992)

Kerry Toporowski (1989-1991)

Trevor Kidd (1990-1991)

Valeri Bure (1991-1994)

Jason Podollan (1991-1996)

Bryan McCabe (1992-1995)

Kevin Sawyer (1992-1995)

Trent Whitfield (1993-1998)

Greg Leeb (1994-1998)

Derek Schutz (1994-2000)

Brandin Cote (1996-2002)

Kurt Sauer (1999-2002)

Barry Brust (2000-2004)

Derek Ryan (2003-2007)

Michael Grabner (2004-2007)

Chris Bruton (2004-2008)

Drayson Bowman (2004-2009)

Justin Falk (2005-2008)

Jared Spurgeon (2005-2010)

Mitch Wahl (2005-2010)

Dustin Tokarski (2006-2009)

Jared Cowen (2006-2011)

Tyler Johnson (2007-2011)

Brenden Kichton (2008-2013)

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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