WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs News and Notes

November 17, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs will travel three times this weekend when they play at Seattle on Friday, at Tri-City on Saturday and at Portland on Sunday. Spokane, winners of three in a row, will play the two U.S. Division opponents that they trail by three points in the standings in Tri-City and Seattle. The Chiefs 21 points are good for fourth in the division, just one point on top of the Everett Silvertips. Portland leads the U.S. Division with 39 points, 15 more than second place.

The weekend will end a string of nine road games in 11 outings for the Chiefs. Beginning with next Wednesday's home game against Kamloops, Spokane will play eight of 12 games in the Spokane Arena before the holiday break.

Mike Boyle will have the call on Everything Sports 1510 KGA with Comcast Hockey Tonight beginning a half-an-hour prior to each puck drop this weekend.

U.S. Division GP W L OTL SL PTS PCT GF GA STK P10 PIM

Portland Winterhawks 23 19 3 0 1 39 0.848 96 58 3-0-0-0 9-1-0-0 486

Seattle Thunderbirds 19 9 4 3 3 24 0.632 56 52 3-0-1-1 4-2-2-2 370

Tri-City Americans 20 11 7 1 1 24 0.600 70 70 0-3-0-1 4-5-0-1 319

Spokane Chiefs 19 10 8 1 0 21 0.553 72 54 3-0-1-0 6-3-1-0 412

Everett Silvertips 20 8 8 1 3 20 0.500 50 57 0-1-0-0 3-5-0-2 314

THIS WEEK

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH at SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-7:00 GAME-7:35

The Seattle Thunderbirds will be the final team from the U.S. Division that the Chiefs will face this season when Spokane travels to the ShoWare Center on Friday night. It will be the first of nine meetings between the two. They will play a pair of home-and-home series on back-to-back nights in December, starting on the 14th in Seattle. They will also play their first two games after the holiday break against each other on the 28th and 29th. The Chiefs were 7-0-1-0 in eight games last year versus the Thunderbirds. Spokane was 3-0-1-0 at home and 4-0 on the road. Levko Koper recorded two goals and six points in seven games and Tyler Johnson had two goals and five points in six games. James Reid was 6-0-1 with a 1.55 goals against average and .942 save percentage.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH at TRI-CITY AMERICANS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-6:30 GAME-7:05

The Spokane Chiefs will travel to play the Tri-City Americans in their fourth meeting of the year, second in Tri-City. The Americans defeated Spokane on September 25th in the first game of the regular season 6-3. Matt Marantz, Levko Koper and Reid Gow scored for the Chiefs. Both teams finished with 28 shots. Mitch Holmberg scored an overtime winner for Spokane on October 2nd in the Chiefs home opener. The final was 6-5 as Holmberg and Blake Gal both had two goals. Tyler Johnson had a goal and two assists and Levko Koper had a goal and assist. Spokane was 2-5 on the power play and 3-5 on the penalty kill. Spokane also earned a win on November 13th in the Arena with a 5-0 decision. James Reid stopped 20 shots and five different players scored goals. Kenton Miller had a goal and two assists. Spokane was 2-10 on the power play and 8-8 on the penalty kill. Levko Koper has three goals and four assists in three games to lead all scorers in the series. In its 22nd year of existence the Chiefs lead the series 134-115-1-5 with 13 ties.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST at PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-4:30 GAME-5:05

Spokane will play the Winterhawks for the third time this year after hosting them twice in as many days in early October. The two U.S. Division rivals will play nine times this season, five times in the Spokane Arena and four times in Portland. It will be the first time Spokane has been in Spokane since a seven-game first round playoff series last year. The series became the first in WHL history to have the road team win every game. In the regular season the Chiefs finished 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. Portland has won both 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 in Spokane on both December 4th and December 8th.

NEWS AND NOTES

CAPTAIN COWEN...Captain Jared Cowen has been named the Captain of Team WHL for Wednesday night's Subway Super Series in Kamloops. Team WHL will play the fifth and sixth games of a six game series against Team Russia. Cowen will play in just the fifth game. It will be the third year in a row that Cowen will have represented Team WHL. Cowen has points in nine of his last 12 games with two goals and eight points in that span. Cowen is playing his fourth full season in Spokane. The Senators made Cowen their first round pick, 10th overall, in 2009. Cowen is the former first round 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 197 career games in a Chiefs jersey. He also won a silver medal with the Canadian National Junior team in 2010. Cowen has appeared in 35 playoff games, including all 21 in the 2008 run to the WHL and Memorial Cup titles.

IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton scored two goals on November 2nd in a 3-2 win at Saskatoon in his first career multi-goal game. Kichton has three goals and 10 assists, five on the power play, in 12 games. Kichton returned to the Chiefs lineup on Saturday, October 16th with a pair of assists on the power play in a 3-1 win over the Everett Silvertips. Kichton missed the first seven games of the season with a hand injury suffered while with the Detroit Red Wings at their Prospect's Camp. The three-year veteran has played 139 career games. In 70 games last year he had 4-15-19 and was +14.

BARDARO IN BUNCHES...Anthony Bardaro has points in eight of his last 10 games with six goals and nine 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 19 games, Bardaro has six goals and 11 points. In 63 games last year, Bardaro had five goals and 11 points.

TOOTHPICKS...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.

GAL-EE...Blake Gal recorded his first career hat-trick on October 20th in an 8-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen. He had his four game goal scoring streak snapped on October 23rd. The 18-year-old had six goals during that span. He was also +6. Gal is third on the team with nine 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.

CHIEFS ADD KRZYZANIAK...The Chiefs added defenseman Kyle Krzyzaniak (kriz-AN-ee-ak) to their roster on November 15th. The 18-year-old has appeared in two games, one in each of the last two seasons, with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Krzyzaniak has appeared in 12 games this season with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, scoring one goal, three points and recording eight penalty minutes. Last year, he had played 50 games with the Portage Terriers and scored six goals and 20 points.

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 14 games and have finished tied once. On average, Spokane has outshot the opponent 36.5-26.9.

NICE SPREAD...The Chiefs have had 20 different players score goals and 23 players register a point.

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

JOHNNY B GOOD...Tyler Johnson has four goals and five points in his last three games and points in eight of 10 games. 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 13 of 18 games and multiple points in seven of them. Johnson is playing his fourth season in a Chiefs jersey. His 85 career goals are tied for 22nd 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.

U-HER WE GO...Dominik Uher has one goal and six assists in his last eight games. Uher was a season high +4 in an 11-1 win at Regina on October 30th.

MILLER TIME...Kenton Miller has five goals and nine points in his last nine games. Miller finished last year with 12 goals and 31 points in 71 games.

KOPER'S CORNER...Levko Koper has nine goals and 16 points in his last 10 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 76 career goals, including a career high 27 last season when he had 54 points in 68 games. He has played 277 career games, 10th 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 78 penalty minutes are third in 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 and recorded 19 goals, 30 points and 311 penalty minutes in 58 games last season. He added another two goals, four points and 23 penalty minutes in nine playoff games.

REID REPORTS...In his last 14 games James Reid has a 2.08 GAA, .923 save percentage, 9-4-1 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 19-year-old 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 60 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 scored a point in 11 of 19 games this year. Kuhn has played in 163 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.

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.

NACHBAUR'S NUMBERS... Don Nachbaur is ninth on the WHL's all-time coaching win list. He has won 441 games and is in his 13th season in the league after spending six each in Seattle and Tri-City. As a player, Nachbaur spent two seasons in the WHL, both with the Billings Bighorns, and scored 67 goals and 146 points in 137 games from 1977-79. He still shares the WHL record with five goals in one playoff game helping lead Billings to a 7-4 win over New Westminster in 1978. Nachbaur's career included 223 games in the NHL with Hartford, Edmonton and Philadelphia.

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, week-to-week)

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from November 17, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central