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WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs News and Notes

November 23, 2010 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Chiefs are one of four teams within two points of each other in the U.S. Division. Portland leads everyone with 41 points while Seattle, Tri-City and Everett are tied with 26 points. Spokane has 24 points in 22 games.

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

Portland Winterhawks 25 20 4 0 1 41 0.820 103 65 0-1-0-0 8-2-0-0 545

Seattle Thunderbirds 21 10 5 3 3 26 0.619 60 56 0-1-0-0 5-2-2-1 394

Tri-City Americans 23 12 9 1 1 26 0.565 83 81 0-1-0-0 3-6-0-1 372

Everett Silvertips 23 11 8 1 3 26 0.565 61 63 3-0-0-0 6-4-0-0 362

Spokane Chiefs 22 11 9 1 1 24 0.545 79 65 1-0-0-0 6-2-1-1 447

THIS WEEK

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH vs. KAMLOOPS BLAZERS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-6:30 GAME-7:00

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26TH at KAMLOOPS BLAZERS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-6:30 GAME-7:00

The Chiefs will take on the Kamloops Blazers in their second of four match-ups on the season. All four games will be played before the holiday break with Wednesday's match-up the first of a home-and-home series. The Chiefs will travel to play the Blazers in their second and final trip to Kamloops on Friday night. The Chiefs will host Kamloops on December 11th. The Chiefs won the first game of the year on October 6th 4-3 in a shootout. Reid Gow, Matt Marantz and Darren Kramer, in his first career WHL game, scored for Spokane. James Reid made 43 saves and Mitch Holmberg scored the only goal in the shootout. Each team was 0-5 on the power play. Last year, Spokane was 3-1 in the four game series outscoring the Blazers 19-10. Eight of the Blazer's goals came in one game. Spokane was 9-22 (40.9%) on the power play and 14-16 (87.5%) on the penalty kill. James Reid was 3-0 with a 1.39 GAA and .941 save percentage.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27TH vs. KELOWNA ROCKETS RADIO- AM 1510 KGA AIR-6:30 GAME-7:00

Spokane will play Kelowna for the first of four meetings on the season when the Rockets visit the Spokane Arena on Saturday, November 27th. The Chiefs will play at Kelowna on January 1st and February 18th and the Rockets will travel to Spokane one more time, January 22nd. The Chiefs were 3-0-0-1 last season versus Kelowna with two wins in Spokane and a 1-0-0-1 record in Kelowna. One of the wins, November 15th, 2009, Brady Brassart scored the game's only goal and James Reid stopped 26 shots and Spokane earned a 1-0 win. The Chiefs were outshot 26-21. It was the second 1-0 game the two have played over the past two years. In the four games, Spokane was 3-13 (23.1%) on the power play and 16-17 (94.1%) on the penalty kill. Tyler Johnson had three goals and five points in four games. Blake Gal was +5. Reid made three starts and posted a 1.30 goals against average and .956 save percentage.

NEWS AND NOTES

CAPTAIN COWEN...Chiefs' Captain Jared Cowen 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 assists in his last four games and in six of his last seven. 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 200 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 has three assists in his last three games. Kichton scored two goals on November 2nd in a 3-2 win at Saskatoon in his first career multi-goal game. He has three goals and 13 assists, seven on the power play, in 15 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 142 career games. In 70 games last year he had 4-15-19 and was +14.

BARDARO IN BUNCHES...Anthony Bardaro has points in nine of his last 13 games with seven goals and 10 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 22 games, Bardaro has seven goals and 12 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 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.

CHIEFS ADD KRZYZANIAK...The Chiefs added defenseman Kyle Krzyzaniak (kriz-AN-ee-ak) to their roster on November 15th. He made his Chiefs debut on Friday night at Seattle. The 18-year-old appeared in two games, one in each of the last two seasons, with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Krzyzaniak played 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 18 games and have finished tied once. On average, Spokane has outshot the opponent 36.7-27.2.

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 seven of 11 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 25 penalty minutes this season.

JOHNNY B GOOD...Tyler 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 15 of 21 games and multiple points in seven of them. Johnson is playing his fourth season in a Chiefs jersey. His 87 career goals are 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.

MILLER TIME...Kenton Miller has five goals and nine points in his last 11 games. Miller finished last year with 12 goals and 31 points in 71 games.

KOPER'S CORNER...Levko Koper has 10 goals and 17 points in his last 13 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, including a career high 27 last season when he had 54 points in 68 games. He has played 280 career games, ninth 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 85 penalty minutes are fourth 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 17 games James Reid has a 2.19 GAA, .923 save percentage, 10-5-1-1 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 61 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 166 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 442 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. 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)

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