Sports stats



WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

December 7, 2011 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Chiefs will play their season high sixth straight road game on Friday night when they travel to play the Everett Silvertips. Spokane is coming off a five game swing through the Central Division where they posted a 2-2-1-0 record.

The Chiefs will return home for the first time since November 26th when they host the Prince George Cougars on Saturday night, the Annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund. Spokane has five games remaining before the holiday break

NEXT GAME:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9TH at EVERETT SILVERTIPS AIR-6:30 STATION-1510

Spokane will travel to play the Everett Silvertips for the first time this season after playing host to their U.S. Division rival three times already. The Chiefs are 3-0. Spokane began their 10 game season series against Everett on October 15th with a three goal third period and finished with a 3-1 win. Darren Kramer, Mitch Holmberg and Dominik Uher all scored in the final frame. Spokane was 1-3 on the power play and 1-2 on the penalty kill while outshooting the 'Tips 38-21. Steven Kuhn, Liam Stewart and Uher scored for Spokane in a 3-2 victory on October 22nd. The Chiefs were down 2-0 in the first 5:43 of the game and outshot the 'Tips 43-22. Spokane then outshot the Silvertips 56-18 on November 6th in an 8-1 win. Mike Aviani's two goals led seven different scorers. Marek Kalus had three assists and Anthony Bardaro had a goal and two assists. Tanner Mort was +4. Spokane earned a 7-1-0-0 record last season versus Everett, including a 4-0 record at home.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10TH vs. PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS AIR-6:30 STATION-790 AM

Spokane will play their second straight home game versus the Prince George Cougars 14 days and six road games since their first match-up on November 26th. Despite outshooting the Cougars 30-17 in the game, Spokane dropped a 5-4 decision in the first game. Four different players scored goals for Spokane; Marek Kalus, Anthony Bardaro, Blake Gal, shorthanded, and Dominik Uher. The Chiefs were 1-4 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill. Spokane will play back-to-back games in Prince George on Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3rd. The Chiefs went 4-0 last year versus the Cougars outscoring Prince George 6.00-2.25, on average, per game. Spokane was 10-20 (50%) on the power play and 14-17 (82.4%) on the penalty kill. Mac Engel made two starts and stopped 44 of 46 shots (.957 save percentage), had one shutout and a 1.00 GAA. Brenden Kichton had three goals and six assists, Dominik Uher had one goal and seven assists and Anthony Bardaro had five goals.

NEWS AND NOTES

QUICK START...Dominik Uher scored 10-seconds into the third period on November 26th in a 5-4 loss to Prince George. It missed the Chiefs fastest goal to start a period by two-seconds, a mark that has been in place since October 14th, 1988 when Tony Horacek scored eight seconds into the second period versus the Saskatoon Blades. The fastest goal to start a game is 11-seconds when Brad Schell did it on March 17th, 2002 at Portland.

IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton has been invited to Team Canada's selection camp for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships. Kichton will attend the camp beginning on December 10th. Kichton had an assist in Team WHL's 5-2 win over Team Russia in the in the Canadian Hockey League's SUBWAY Super Series versus Team Russia on Wednesday, November 16th in Regina, SK. As a Chief, Kichton has five goals and 16 assists through 17 games. He now has 102 career assists. Only six other defensemen have had over 100 career assists. He is the league's second leading defensive scorer in the WHL. Kichton was named the Chiefs John "Hitman" Hern Defenseman of the Year in 2010-11 after recording 81 points, the second most all-time by a Spokane blueliner (Bryan McCabe, 82 points, 1993-94). Kichton was selected by the New York Islanders in the fifth round in 2011. His 23 goals in 2010-11 were the third most by a defenseman. He is the first Chief defenseman since '93-'94 and just the fourth in franchise history to score 20 goals in a single season. Kichton finished tied for the league lead in scoring amongst defensemen. He was third in the league with a +55. Kichton scored two goals in a game six times in 2010-11.

HOLM COOKIN...Mitch Holmberg recorded his first career hat trick in a 6-3 win over Medicine Hat on December 3rd. It was his third multi-goal game of the season. He has six points in his last four games. In 58 games last season, Holmberg had 15 goals and 33 points.

MORT REPORT...In his third season as a Chief, Tanner Mort is a +6. The 18-year-old from Post Falls has appeared in 114 career WHL games. Last season he had three goals and 16 points. This season Mort has four assists in 18 games. Mort was Spokane's fourth round selection in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft.

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL...Twenty-year-old Corbin Baldwin has one goal and two assists in his last six games. Baldwin played in his 200th career game on December 29th at Edmonton. He has 296 career penalty minutes as a Chief.

HOLDING VALCOURT...Collin Valcourt recorded his first career two goal game in a 6-3 win over Medicine Hat on December 3rd. In his second season as a Chief, Collin Valcourt has seven goals and 13 points. In his last 11 games Valcourt has four goals and eight points. As a rookie last season, Valcourt had eight goals, 25 points, was a +18 and had 95 penalty minutes in 53 games.

GAL-EE...Blake Gal has three goals and seven points in his last 12 games. Gal has scored 45 career goals, which leads all active Chiefs, including a career high 23 last season. Gal recorded his 100th career WHL point, an assist, in a win over Swift Current on November 23rd. He has now played in 223 career WHL games. Gal recorded his first career hat-trick on October 20th, 2010 in an 8-3 win over Calgary. He also scored two goals and three points on January 15th, 2011 in the Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic in an 11-2 win over the Kootenay Ice. Gal scored an overtime winner in game five of 2011 Western Conference Semi-Finals versus the Tri-City Americans to give the Chiefs a 3-2 victory.

KUHN'S CORNER...Steven Kuhn recorded his 100th career point with an assist on October 29th at Tri-City in an 8-1 win over Everett. In his career Kuhn has 43 goals, 65 assists and 108 points. He has three goals, including the game tying goal with 1:01 remaining in a 6-5 shootout win on November 19th versus Regina, and 14 assists in his last 17 games. Last year he scored a career high 20 goals, 30 assists and 50 points in 2010-11. Kuhn has appeared in 242 straight games and is the only player in franchise history to play in all 72 games three straight seasons. Kuhn was third on the Chiefs' roster last year with 10 power play goals.

THE BARD'S TALE...Nineteen-year-old Anthony Bardaro had a six game point streak snapped on Tuesday, November 29th at Edmonton. He had five goals and nine points. He has four goals and four assists in his last eight games. He had a nine game point scoring streak to start the season. Bardaro is fourth in the WHL with eight power play goals. Bardaro had a four point night, two goals and two assists, in a 5-1 win over Kelowna on October 8th. He also registered a hat trick vs. Tri City on October 1st.

AVIANI IS ALRIGHT...Eighteen-year-old Mike Aviani has four goals and 13 points in his last 17 games. He is also +6 through the same stretch. He recorded a career high three points, which included his first career two goal game, in an 8-1 win over Everett on November 6th. Aviani scored seven goals and 12 points in 56 games in his first full season in Spokane last year.

NIGHT OF FIRSTS...The Chiefs had three players score their first goal for Spokane, including two who scored their first career WHL goal, in an 8-1 win versus Everett on November 6th. Jarid Hauptman and Tyler King each scored their first career goal while Carter Proft tallied his first as a Chief in just his second career game in Spokane.

MAKING HIS MAREK...Marek Kalus has six goals and four assists in his last 13 games. Kalus has six goals and 11 points this season in 22 games after scoring 4-4-8 in 22 games as a rookie in 2010-11.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...On average, the Chiefs have allowed the fewest shots on goal in the WHL at 24.9. Spokane has averaged 34.4 shots for, which is fourth in the WHL.

KAPTAIN KRAMER...Darren Kramer has points in 14 of 25 games with 11 goals and seven assists. He recorded his first career three point game, all assists, in a 5-1 win over Kelowna on October 8th in Spokane. He also had a goal, assist and a fight in a 3-1 win on October 15th against Everett. The 20-year-old has been named the Chiefs captain. Kramer was selected in the sixth round of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators. As a 19-year-old he was named the Chiefs' Rookie of the Year and the Players' Player. His 306 penalty minutes led the WHL. During the regular season last year, Kramer had had seven goals and 14 points.

GOOD TO BE UHER...Dominik Uher has five goals and six assists in his last 11 games. In his last 19 Uher has 10 goals and nine assists. Uher had his seven game point scoring streak snapped on November 5th versus Tri-City. Uher had five goals and eight assists. Uher scored the game winning goal with just over three minutes remaining on October 12th at home versus Brandon. He is tied with Mitch Holmberg for the team lead with four game winners. Uher was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft after scoring 21 goals, 39 assists and 60 points in 65 games as an 18-year-old in 2010-11.

ALL ENGELS...Mac Engel finished the 2010-11 regular season as the WHL's second leading goaltender with a 2.30 GAA. He had won his last eight starts. Engel was named the WHL's Goaltender of the Month for February as he posted a 9-2-0-0 record with two shut-outs, a 1.83 GAA and .930 save percentage. In his last 11 starts he was 10-1-0-0 with a 1.27 GAA, a .950 save percentage and three shutouts. His first career shutout came on January 26th, 2011 with 18 saves in a 3-0 win over the Everett Silvertips. His four shutouts equaled James Reid's franchise rookie record.

BOSS MAN...Don Nachbaur, the reigning WHL Coach of the Year, enters his second season on the Chiefs' bench. Nachbaur now has 493 career victories. He assisted on Canada's National Men's Summer Under-18 Team that won the gold medal at the 2011 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament over the summer.

JUST ONE MORE...The Chiefs' leading goal scorer has had more goals than the team leader the previous season for the last six years. Beginning in 2006 Michael Grabner's 36 was nine more than Chad Klassen's 27 the year before. Grabner then had 39 in 2007 followed by back-to-back seasons of 42 and 47 goals by Drayson Bowman. Kyle Beach scored 52 in 2010 and was bettered by Tyler Johnson's 53 last season.

NHL DRAFT...Brenden Kichton (New York Islanders, 5th round, 2011), Dominik Uher (Pittsburgh Penguins, 5th, 2011), Darren Kramer (Ottawa Senators, 6th, 2011)

INJURY REPORT...none to report

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from December 7, 2011


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