WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

Published on January 10, 2011 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs enter the week of the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic in second place in the U.S. Division, third in the Western Conference. Spokane trails the first place Portland Winterhawks by four points with three games in hand. The two will face off on Wednesday night in Portland.

The Chiefs will practice at Avista Stadium, the home of the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic, on Thursday, January 13th at 1:00 pm. All media will be invited to attend.

THIS WEEK

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12TH

at PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS

RADIO- AM 1510 KGA

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:00

Spokane will play the Winterhawks in their sixth meeting of the season, just their second on the road. The two U.S. Division rivals will play nine times this season, five times in Spokane and four times in Portland. The Winterhawks won't be back in Spokane until February 8th. Spokane has won the last three meetings between the two, including a 9-3 win on December 8th. Brenden Kichton led eight different goal scorers as Spokane was 4-7 on the power play. Spokane also won a 4-3 decision on December 4th in the Arena. Spokane outshot the Hawks 49-29 as Steven Kuhn had two goals. Kichton had a pair of assists. The Chiefs scored three first period goals en route to a 3-1 win on November 21st in Portland. Blake Gal, Anthony Bardaro and Kenton Miller all had goals for the Chiefs. Gal and Bardaro scored seven seconds apart to tie a record for fastest goals in franchise history. Portland won the first two meetings this year by one goal, 3-2 on October 8th and 2-1 on the 9th. On average, the Chiefs are outshooting Portland 41.0-27.2.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14TH

at KOOTENAY ICE

RADIO- AM 1510 KGA

TV-NONE

GAME-6:30

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15TH

vs. KOOTENAY ICE

RADIO - AM 1510 KGA

(THE RADIO BROADCAST WILL SWITCH TO AM 790 KJRB AT 3:00 PM)

TV-SWX (SPOKANE)

SHAW TV (CANADA)

FSN NORTHWEST (TAPE DELAY 10PM)

GAME-1:00

The Chiefs will play a home-and-home series with the Kootenay Ice on Friday and Saturday night, the second half taking place at Avista Stadium in the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic at 1:00 pm. It will be the second and third meetings of the year between the two and final trip to Cranbrook for the. Kootenay's first trip to the Spokane Arena will be on Friday, January 21st. Kootenay defeated the Chiefs 6-3 on October 1st in their first meeting of the year in Cranbrook. Mitch Holmberg, Steve Kuhn and Tyler Johnson scored for Spokane. The Chiefs were 2-6 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill. The Chiefs were 2-3 last year against Kootenay with a 1-1 record in Spokane and 1-2 mark in Cranbrook.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16TH

at EVERETT SILVERTIPS

RADIO- AM 1510 KGA

TV-NONE

GAME-5:00

The Chiefs and Silvertips will meet for their fourth of nine meetings on the year. It will be only the second trip this year to Everett for the Chiefs. The Chiefs earned a 3-1 win on October 16th. Kenton Miller, Blake Gal and Tyler Johnson had goals as Spokane went 2-7 on the power play and outshot the Silvertips 45-19. The Silvertips shutout the Chiefs on December 17th, the only time this year that Spokane has been held without a goal. Tyler Johnson scored two goals, including an empty netter with two seconds left, and added an assist on January 8th in the Chiefs 4-2 win in the Arena. In the three games, the Chiefs are 3-13 on the power play and 12-14 on the penalty kill. Spokane was 4-4-1-1 against the Silvertips last season with a 3-2-0-1 record at home.

NEWS AND NOTES

ROCKSTAR OUTDOOR HOCKEY CLASSIC...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.

ON THE OFFENSIVE...The Chiefs are the top scoring team in the WHL averaging 4.21 per game. They have scored five or more goals 11 times this year and have hit double digits three times, including December 11th's 10-5 win over Kamloops.

JOHNNY B GOOD...Tyler Johnson was named the WHL's Player of the Month for the month of December. Johnson had 11 goals and 11 assists in 11 games. He is currently on a six game point scoring streak with seven goals and five assists. He is now 12th all-time in franchise history in goals scored with 105. Johnson's hat trick on December 29th was the first of this season and third of his career. He is third in the WHL in scoring with 62 points. He is tied for the league lead with 30 goals. Johnson has 24 goals and 39 points in his last 22 games. Johnson has points in 30 of 38 games and multiple points in 19 of them. 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.

KILLER DUDE...Spokane is the number one penalty killing team in the WHL with a kill of 86.4%. In their last seven games the Chiefs are 30-31 on the penalty kill and have allowed just 11 power play goals in 93 chances (88.2%) in their last 22 games.

D-FENCE...In their 39 games Spokane has allowed just 2.64 goals per game, the lowest average in the Western Conference and second best in the WHL. After allowing six, six and five goals in their first three games of the season, Spokane has given up four or more goals in a game just six times in the next 36 outings.

GOOD TO BE UHER...Dominik Uher has scored eight goals in his last eight games. After scoring one point in his first nine games Uher has nine goals and 26 points in his next 23 games. Uher has eight goals and 20 points in his last 15 games. Uher recorded his first career hat trick in a 10-5 win over the Kamloops Blazers on December 11th.

REID REPORTS...James Reid is second in the WHL in goals against average at 2.39. He has three shutouts in his last six games, including back-to-back shutouts on December 18th and 28th. He became just the fourth goaltender in franchise history to accomplish that feat. Reid is second in franchise history with 74 career wins. His 13 shutouts are also second all-time. Reid had an eight game winning streak snapped on December 15th in overtime against Seattle. 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. Reid was named the WHL Player of the Month for November, 2009.

CAPTAIN COWEN...Chiefs' Captain Jared Cowen became the second Chief to win two medals at the World Junior Hockey Championships when Canada won their second straight silver medal on Wednesday night. Bryan McCabe won two gold medals in the early '90's. Cowen missed 11 games while with Team Canada. In seven games at the tournament, Cowen was +4 with one goal. He became just the third defenseman in franchise history to record three goals in a game when he had a hat-trick against Kamloops in a 10-1 win on November 24th. Mitch Cornett did it in 1986, also versus Kamloops, and McCabe did it twice in the same season, 1993-94, against Victoria and Tri-City. He 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 five goals and five assists in his last 10 games in Spokane. Ottawa made Cowen their first round pick, 10th overall, in 2009. Cowen is a former first overall selection in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft.

GOW WEST, YOUNG MAN...Sixteen-year-old Reid Gow and Team West finished in fifth place at under-17 World Hockey Challenge. Gow had one goal and three points in five games and was named the Player of the Game in a 5-2 loss to Pacific on December 29th. He was the Chiefs first round pick in 2009 and has appeared in 27 games this season for the Chiefs, scoring two goals and eight points. He is also +5.

THIS IS VANSCOURT...Tyler Vanscourt registered a career high four points, one goal and three assists, in a 9-3 win over the Portland Winterhawks on December 8th. The 18-year-old has two goals and 11 points in his last 13 games.

CHIEFS SET RECORD... Blake Gal and Anthony Bardaro equaled the Chiefs franchise record for fastest two goals when they scored seven seconds apart in a 3-1 win at Portland on November 21st. The mark had not been matched since 1987 when Travis Green and Darcy Loewen did it at Portland in an 8-4 win. Gal scored at 4:41 of the first and Bardaro tallied at 4:48. In their next game the Chiefs scored goals eight seconds apart when Jared Cowen scored at :59 of the first and Bardaro scored at 1:07 in a 10-1 win over Kamloops.

MARANTZ MENTIONS...Matt Marantz has seven goals and 15 points in his last 16 games. The second year forward has nine goals and 21 points this season in 37 games. In 40 games last year he had two goals and five points.

IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton is second in the league in scoring amongst defensemen with eight goals and 39 points in 32 games. Kichton has four goals and 14 assists in his last 13 games. He is also +15 in his last nine games. Kichton has scored two goals in a game three times this season, the last time on December 15th versus Seattle. Kichton attended the Detroit Red Wings at their Prospect's Camp. The three-year veteran has played 159 career games. In 70 games last year he had 4-15-19 and was +14.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...The Chiefs recorded a season high 64 shots on December 11th, a 10-5 win over Kamloops. The Chiefs have had more than 50 shots on goal four times, including 56 on December 29th versus Seattle. On average, Spokane has outshot the opponent 37.6-26.1.

HOLDING VALCOURT...Collin Valcourt recorded a career high one goal and two assists in an 8-2 win on December 14th at Seattle. Since making his Chiefs debut on October 23rd against Red Deer he has registered a point in 11 of 22 games by scoring four goals and helping on 10 others. Valcourt, a Red Deer, Alberta native, was listed by the Chiefs in December, 2009.

KOPER'S CORNER...Levko Koper recorded his first hat trick of the season in a 5-2 win at Kelowna on January 1st. Koper now has 17 goals and 40 points in his last 31 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 83 career goals, 24th in franchise history. He has played 297 career games, seventh 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 162 penalty minutes lead 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. Kramer has played the past two seasons with the Grande Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

KUHN IT UP...Steve Kuhn has seven goals and 15 points in his last 17 games. Kuhn has played in 183 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.

NHL DRAFT...Jared Cowen (1st Round, Ottawa, 2009), Levko Koper (7th round, Atlanta, 2009)

INJURY REPORT...Collin Valcourt (shoulder, day-to-day)

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2011


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