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WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

March 17, 2004 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Chiefs will travel to Everett for the first game of their best-of-seven series with the Silvertips. Everett set a league record for expansion franchises with 35 wins and became the first first-year team to win a division championship.

Spokane and Everett split an eight game series with five of the games being decided by two goals or less. The Chiefs won all four games that they scored the first goal, as did Everett. The Chiefs won three of the first four games, and the final game of the regular season. Spokane outscored Everett 20-15 (2.50 to 1.88 on average). On average, Everett outshot the Chiefs 26.4 to 26.0. Jim Watt played five games versus the Silvertips and finished with a 3-2 record and 1.42 GAA and .948 save percentage. One of Watt's four shutouts this season was against Everett, February 29th in a 2-0 win. Chad Klassen had two four point games versus the Silvertips (10/24 and 12/28) including his first career hat-trick on November 19th in a 4-2 win. Klassen led the Chiefs in scoring versus Everett with five goals and 12 points. Brad Schell finished with two goals and seven assists while Joff Kehler had two goals and six points. The Chiefs earned a 6-1 win in their initial meeting on October 24th. Five different players scored goals for the Chiefs. The Chiefs won 4-1 on January 9th as four different players scored goals. In all, 12 different players have scored goals versus the Silvertips.

FIRST ROUND FACTS...The Spokane Chiefs have advanced to the first round of the WHL playoff for the 17th time in franchise history. Spokane has earned a first round victory in 12 of the 16 previous first round series they have played; including the last eight times they have made the playoffs. Dating back to games six and seven in the 1998 first round versus Kelowna, the Chiefs are 17-4 in first round games. Spokane came from a three games to one deficit last season to earn a seven game series victory over the Portland Winter Hawks.

LITTLE DIVISION IN US DIVISION...Just five points separated the top four spots in the US Division with Everett winning the regular season with 80 points, and the Chiefs finishing with 75 points, 13 more than a year ago. Portland and Tri-City, second and third respectively, had 77 and 76 points.

.500 CLUB...The Chiefs finished above .500 for the seventh time in the last nine years. Spokane has played above .500 11 times in franchise history. All four playoff teams from the US Division were above .500.

GOALS AGAINST...The Chiefs allowed 214 goals this season, third fewest in franchise history. Spokane allowed a franchise record 191 goals against in 1999-2000 and 206 in 2001-02.

SLIM ON THE PIMs...Spokane also set a franchise record for fewest penalty minutes in one season. The Chiefs spent 1,479 minutes in WHL penalty boxes this season, just 15 minutes fewer than the 1999-2000 version of the Chiefs. Spokane was the sixth least penalized team in the WHL this year at 20.5 minutes per game. Spokane did not have a player in the top 40 in penalty minutes and the 134 penalty minutes by Andy Schenn were the fewest for any team leader in franchise history. Kerry Toporowski holds the single season penalty minute mark at 505 PIMs in one season.

SCHELL'S BELLS...After leading the team in scoring with 35 goals, 57 assists and 92 points Brad Schell was named the Chiefs Player of the Year. Schell was also named the Most Sportsmanlike Player and tied with Chad Klassen for the team high with a +17. Schell finished fourth in the WHL in scoring and was the highest scoring player in the Western Conference. The 19-year-old had 28 multiple point games this season, including three four-point games, and registered a point in 47 games this season. The only game Schell missed this season was due to his commitment to Team WHL. In his last five games, Schell was a +8. The Atlanta Thrashers pick led the Chiefs with 19 power play goals and 40 power play points. Schell had multiple points in five straight games from October 24th through the 31st. Schell and Klassen were the first two Chiefs to finish in the top six in scoring and with 90-plus points since the 1993-94 season. Schell, who has played in 239 career games, doubled his career goal and point totals this season.

KLASSEN SESSION...Chad Klassen was the second leading scorer on the Chiefs with a career high 35 goals, 53 assists and 90 points. Klassen finished sixth overall in the WHL in scoring. The 18-year-old had 22 multiple point games including five four-point games and three four-point games. Klassen registered a point in 55 of 72 games this season. Klassen ended the season with points in 15 of the last 18 games and was +8 in his last six. His +17 was tied with Brad Schell for team high. With 12 goals and 26 assists points on the power play, Klassen was second on the team with 38 power play points. Klassen recorded his 100th career point on December 28th versus Portland and now has 140 career points (53-87-140). Klassen was named the WHL's Player of the Week on March 8th after recording his second career hat trick and fifth four-point night of the season on March 7th in a 6-3 win over Portland. Klassen had a team high nine game point streak from October 11th through the 31st and a seven game goal-scoring streak from October 15th through the 29th.

CAPTAIN KEHLER...Chiefs captain Joff Kehler has played 278 career games, sixth all-time in franchise history, and has scored 75 career goals and 127 career assist (22nd all-time) for 202 points (17th all-time). In his first 35 games, Kehler had 6-13-19 and was -8. Kehler registered points in 15 of 35 games with one game-winning goal. In his next 35 games, Kehler had 14-23-37 and was +7. The 20-year-old recorded points in 22 of his last 35 games. Kehler was +8 in his last five games. Kehler has become the 27th player in franchise history with 100 career assists.

LYNCH #1...In the first 33 games of the season, Scott Lynch had recorded two goals and 13 assists, no power play goals and seven power play assists. In his next 38, Lynch recorded 15 goals, 12 assists and eight power play points. The 19-year-old had also posted six multiple point games. Lynch led all Chiefs defenseman in goals scored with 17 and points with 40. Lynch posted one goal and two assists on February 10th and recorded his first career two-goal game on January 14th in a 4-3 otl at Prince George. Lynch's 17 goals were the most by a Spokane defenseman since Bryan McCabe had 22 in the 1993-94 season.

RYAN JOINS CHIEFS...Spokane native Derek Ryan scored a goal in his first career WHL game when he netted the game winner early into the third period on march 13th versus Kootenay. Ryan, a Shadle Park High School student, was the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League's leading scorer this season with 70 goals, 58 assists and 128 points while playing for the Spokane Braves. Ryan was named the Murdoch Division's Most Valuable Player. Ryan is the first Chief to score a goal in his first career game since Ned Lukacevic accomplished the feat in the 2001-02 season as a 15-year-old.

WATTS AND BAGELS...Jim Watt set a single season franchise record with a .915 save percentage, bettering the .912 save percentage of Barry Brust set in the 2001-02 season. Watt also tied a franchise mark with four shutouts in one season. The 17-year-old Edmonton native became just the second goaltender in Chiefs history to post back-to-back shutouts.

GLADUE COULD MAKE IT...Defenseman Gary Gladue has played 243 career games in the WHL between Prince George, Calgary and Spokane. Gladue is +11 in his last 18 games. Gladue had a seven game point scoring streak from October 24th through November 2nd.

MCCUE CALLED UP...Matthew McCue, the Chiefs second round selection (27th overall) in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft, has been added to the roster and played his first WHL game on March 6th at Seattle. The 15-year-old played this past season with Medicine Hat's AAA Midget team that lost in the first round of the Alberta AAA Midget playoffs.

SENSEMAN ADDED TO ROSTER...Michael Senseman has been added to the Chiefs roster for the post-season. Senseman was a teammate of Derek Ryan with the Spokane Braves and appeared in seven games in December and January.

ZZZZ'S...Sean Zimmerman led all Chiefs defenseman and rookies with a +1, and was +4 in his last two games of the regular season. Zimmerman, who had only 14 penalty minutes this season, recorded his first career multiple point night on Saturday, January 10th versus Tri-City. Zimmerman has four goals, four assists in 66 games this season. Zimmerman, from Littleton, Colorado, was the Chiefs seventh round selection in 2003 by Spokane.

GOOSE CUTS LOOSE...Gustav Engman's empty-net goal on February 29th was his second goal of the season. Engman scored the first goal in his WHL career on February 18th. Engman's goal came on the power play. The Chiefs lone selection in last summer's Import Draft was +11 in his last 16 games. The 18-year-old has two goals and three assists in 58 games this season.

NED NEEDLELANDER...Ned Lukacevic had four goals and six points in his last nine regular season games and 10 goals and 15 points in his last 29 games. The 17-year-old had 19 goals and 13 assists on the season in 72 games. Lukacevic was second on the team with five game winning goals.

AUCHENBERG ...Doug Auchenberg returned to the lineup for the first time since a December 6th shoulder injury and assisted on both of Spokane's goals on January 30th versus Vancouver. Auchenberg has 10 goals and 39 points in 44 games this season and 2-10-12 since his return.

SHOT CLOCK...The Chiefs tied a season high with 44 shots on February 28th versus Tri-City. The Chiefs also had 44 shots on net on February 10th versus Brandon. Twenty-one shots in the third period, where the Chiefs scored three times, were also a season high. The Chiefs had 17 shots in the first period versus Everett on February 27th.

200 CLUB...Joel Rupprecht played his 200th career WHL game on Friday, February 13th versus the Seattle Thunderbirds. Rupprecht has appeared in 213 WHL games, 160 as a Spokane Chief. Spokane has seven players who have played over 200 career games, with one more approaching the milestone.

LYNCH #2...Jeff Lynch has missed just eight games the last three seasons, including two this year. The 18-year-old has played 204 career WHL games.

GP...Two players have appeared in all 72 games this season; Chad Klassen, and Ned Lukacevic. The only game that Brad Schell has missed was due to his commitment with Team WHL.

DRAFTED PLAYERS... Jevon Desautels (Washington, 4th round, 2002), Brad Schell (Atlanta, 6th round, 2002)

INJURY REPORT... Jevon Desautels (leg, two weeks), Jeff Lucky (abdominal, one week), Steven Gillen (head, day-to-day)

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2004


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