WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs news and notes

Published on March 20, 2007 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


RYAN'S MARK...Derek Ryan appeared in 216 career games during the regular season in Spokane, including 198 consecutive. With one goal and two assists on March 18th versus Portland, the Spokane native scored his 67th career goal and handed out his 100th career assist. Ryan led the Chiefs in scoring the past two seasons, the first Chief to accomplish that since Greg Leeb did it in 1997 and 1998. Ryan set a franchise record on December 28th with two goals in 16-seconds as a part of 6-2 win at Prince George. Ryan's effort bests the previous mark by two seconds, originally set by Travis Green nearly 18-years ago to the day, December 27th, 1988 at Saskatoon. Ryan scored at 16:28 of the first period to give the Chiefs a 3-0 lead. The Spokane native broke the record at 16:44. Ryan finished the regular season with a four game goal scoring streak and six points in his last four. Ryan has 10 goals and 13 assists in his last 23 games.

GRABNER'S GARB...Chiefs forward Michael Grabner has recorded three hat tricks in a six game span from February 16th to February 28th. Grabner had 13 goals and 18 points in his last 12 games. Grabner's 39 goals were fourth in the WHL and are the most for a Chief since Daniel Bohac had 39 in 1999-00. Grabner was named the CHL's Player of the Week for the week ending February 18th after scoring six goals in three games. The Villach, Austria native was Vancouver's first round selection in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Grabner led the Chiefs in goals last season with 36 and is the first Chief with back-to-back seasons of 30 goals since 1997-98.

LENOSKI'S LINE...Twenty-year-old Stephane Lenoski has one goal and 17 assists, 11 on the power play, and is +9 in 36 games as a Chief. The defenseman was acquired from the Chilliwack Bruins in late December. Lenoski is in his fourth season in the WHL spending the previous three with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Lenoski leads the Chiefs in career playoff games with 33, all with Brandon. The Winnipeg native played 265 career WHL games between the Wheat Kings, Chilliwack Bruins and Spokane.

RUTHERFORD'S RUN...David Rutherford scored his 30th and 31st goals of the season on March 18th at Portland. Rutherford finished the regular season with seven goals and 20 points in his last 17 games. In his first 34 games of the season, Rutherford had 19 goals, eight assists and 27 points. In the last 35 games of the season, he had 12 goals, 19 assists and 31 points. The 19-year-old had a six game goal scoring streak come to an end on November 8th at Kelowna. The 19-year-old finished one point off the team lead in scoring with 31-27-58.

HAW, HAW...Twenty-year-old Defenseman Evan Haw was named the John "Hitman" Hern Defenseman of the year after playing in 62 games and leading the Chiefs with 138 penalty minutes. Haw finished his regular season career with 284 games and 614 penalty minutes.

J.P.S...J.P. Szaszkiewicz has four goals, 10 points and is a +9 in his last 16 games. Szaszkiewicz had a five game point scoring streak snapped on February 6th. Szaszkiewicz has played 169 career games in a Chiefs sweater.

COWEN JOINS CHIEFS... Jared Cowen, the first overall selection in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft, was +4 with two points in six games in a Spokane sweater. Cowen has joined the Chiefs for the end of the regular season and through the playoffs. In 41 regular season games with the Saskatoon Contacts of the SMAAAHL this year Cowen scored six goals, 22 assists and 28 points with 103 penalty minutes. Cowen played for the sixth place Team Saskatchewan at the Canadian Winter Games. Cowen, a 15-year-old defenseman from Allan, SK, debuted in a Spokane sweater on December 30th versus Tri-City and played the next night at the Americans.

HOBBY'S HOBBY...After missing 26 games due to injury Adam Hobson returned on January 24th with the game winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Saskatoon. Prior to the injury, Hobson had played in 194 consecutive games dating back to January, 2004. Hobson also has 11 goals and 22 points in his last 26 games. Hobson had a five game points streak from October 7th through the 15th with one goal and five assists.

WAHL-Y'S WORLD...Mitch Wahl had a career high four points, one goal and three assists, in the regular season finale on March 18th at Portland. Wahl finished the season with five goals and 16 points in his last 13 games. The 16-year-old was named the Chiefs Rookie of the Year. Wahl also had two goals and an assist in the Chiefs 5-2 win on March 9th versus Tri-City. He had two goals and seven points in a six game point scoring streak that was snapped on March 3rd at Everett. Wahl became the second 16-year-old in as many years to score 10 plus goals in a season. Drayson Bowman did it last year, the first 16-year-old since Brandin Cote in 1997-98 to accomplish the feat. Wahl is the third highest scoring 16-year-old in the league with 16 goals and 48 points in 69 games. Wahl was also +5. Wahl is fourth in franchise history in points scored by a 16-year-old (Pat Falloon (78 in '88), Jason Podollan (69 in '93) and Ray Whitney (50 in '89)).

ZIMMERMAN AND THE US NATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM...Sean Zimmerman won a bronze medal with the United States National Junior Team at the World Junior Hockey Championships. The 19-year-old Zimmerman, the first Chief in nine years to skate for the United States Junior team, was +1 with six PIMs in seven games. Zimmerman finished the season second on the Chiefs with a +9. In four seasons, Zimmerman has played 270 career games, 12th in franchise history, and has never finished a season with a minus rating.3

KOPER'S FIRST...Sixteen-year-old Levko Koper scored his first career goal on February 24th in a 3-0 win over Portland and had goals in back-to-back games on March 14th at Chilliwack and March 17th at Tri-City.

REDDINGTON'S FINISH...Mike Reddington and Team BC finished fourth place at the 2007 Canadian Winter Games. The 16-year-old Reddington, the Chiefs second round selection in the 2005 WHL Bantam Draft out of Port Coquitlam, BC has appeared in 64 games in his rookie season with 75 penalty minutes.

TOKARSKI'S TOTALS...Dustin Tokarski finished the regular season with the lowest GAA of any rookie goaltender in the WHL at 2.79. In his last four games, Tokarski was 3-1.

CENTRAL SCOUTING...Three Chiefs are ranked by the Central Scouting Bureau in their mid-term rankings. Drayson Bowman, who played in the CHL's Top Prospects Game, is 44th among North American skaters, while defenseman Justin Falk is 112th and Ondøej Roman is 136th. Bowman, the Chiefs rookie of the year in 2005-06, scored 24 goals and 43 points in 61 games this season. Falk led the Chiefs with a +11 and Roman led the Chiefs with 44 assists.

USA...With the addition of Curtis Kelner (Peoria, AZ), six Americans are on Spokane's roster, an all-time high for the Chiefs. Drayson Bowman (Littleton, CO), Seth Compton (West Richland, WA), Derek Ryan (Spokane, WA), Mitch Wahl (Seal Beach, CA) and Sean Zimmerman (Spokane, WA) are all Americans.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 20, 2007


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