WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

Published on December 29, 2011 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


Spokane is coming off a 4-1 win at Kelowna on Tuesday night in their return from a nine day layoff for the holidays. The Chiefs will play three more times on the road, including twice this weekend, before they skate again at home on Friday, January 6th versus the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Before their annual New Year's Eve date with the Tri-City Americans on Saturday night the Chiefs will play in Cranbrook. BC against the defending WHL Champion Kootenay Ice on Friday. Mike Boyle will go on the air at 5:30 with Xfinity Hockey Tonight on SportsRadio 1510 KGA, Everything Sports.

Saturday's 23rd edition of the Chiefs-Americans New Year's Eve game can be seen live on SWX, channel 6-2 over the air in Spokane and 115 on Comcast cable systems. Due to a scheduling conflict, the radio broadcast can be heard on 790 AM KJRB. Gametime is scheduled for 7:00.

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29TH PRACTICE 1:00 EAGLES ICE-A-RENA AVAILABILITY-2:30

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30TH at KOOTENAY ICE GAME-6:00 RADIO-1510 KGA TV-NONE

Spokane will travel to Cranbrook to play the Ice for their first of five meetings on the year. Spokane will host Kootenay for their first of two home games on Saturday, January 28th. The Chiefs will also host Kootenay on Saturday, March 10th. The Ice will host Spokane again on February 4th and 17th. Spokane finished last year's season series with a 3-1-1 record with wins in the last three, including a 4-3 shootout victory in their last game of the season on March 12th. Dominik Uher and Mike Aviani had goals. The Chiefs were 2-4 on the power play. Uher finished the five game series with five goals and eight points. Brenden Kichton had 2-6-8 and was a +6 in four games. The Chiefs hosted Kootenay in The Rockstar Outdoor Hockey Classic on January 15th at Avista Stadium, an 11-2 decision in favor of the Chiefs. Blake Gal had two goals. It was the second half of a home-and-home series after Kootenay won the previous night's match-up 6-2.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31ST at TRI-CITY AMERICANS GAME-7:00 RADIO-790 KJRB TV-SWX

The Chiefs will travel to Tri-City on New Year's Eve for the 22nd time in franchise history. It will also mark Spokane's third trip to Tri-City this season in their fifth meeting of the season. The Americans lead the season series 3-1 after a 4-1 win in Spokane on November 5th. Mike Aviani scored the Chiefs' lone goal. Tri-City earned a 3-1 win on October 29th.. Blake Gal scored the Chiefs' only goal as Spokane was 1-6 on the power play and 7-7 on the penalty kill. Each team defended their home ice in their respective home openers. Tri-City earned a 4-1 win over Spokane on September 24th. One week later, Steven Kuhn scored twice as Spokane picked up a 7-2 victory. The Chiefs were 4-12 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill. Spokane is 6-27 (22.2%) on the power play and 18-21 (85.7%) on the penalty kill in four games. In its 23rd year of existence the Chiefs lead the regular season series 140-121-1-5 with 13 ties.

NEWS AND NOTES

CHIEFS AND RAIDERS DEAL... The Chiefs acquired 18-year-old goaltender Eric Williams and 18-year-old forward Todd Fiddler from the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for 19-year-old forward Anthony Bardaro and 18-year-old goaltender Luke Lee-Knight on Wednesday. Williams was Prince Albert's fourth round selection in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft. Over the past two seasons he has appeared in 68 games and posted a 3.77 GAA. He finished last season 17-17-1-1 with a 3.71 GAA and .898 save percentage in 40 games. Williams is 8-15-1-2 with one shutout this season. Fiddler was originally a third round pick of the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2008 and was acquired by Prince Albert in the summer of 2010. He recorded 23 goals and 38 points in 70 games as a rookie last season. In 35 games this season, Fiddler has scored four goals and 10 points.

SCHEDULE...Friday's game will be the second of four straight road games and in the middle of a stretch where Spokane will play seven of nine away from the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs next home game will be Friday, January 6th versus Moose Jaw. Spokane will play 15 games in January, eight at home and seven on the road.

ROADIES... In their last seven road games the Chiefs are 4-2-1-0. The Chiefs capped off a season high six game road stretch with a 5-2 win on Friday, December 9th at Everett. The Chiefs went 3-2-1-0 through the span. The Chiefs were 2-2-1 in a five game in six night trip through the Central Division with wins over Red Deer and Medicine Hat.

UHER, NOT U-HERE...Dominik Uher is playing for the Czech Republic at the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships. Uher has six goals and seven assists in his last 15 games as a Chief. In his last 23 Uher has 11 goals and 10 assists. Uher had a 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.

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 five goals and 22 assists through 22 games. He now has 108 career assists. Only six other defensemen have had over 100 career assists. He is the league's second leading defensive scorer in the WHL and leads the league with 27 assists. Kichton attended Team Canada's selection camp. He had an assist in Team WHL's 5-2 win over Team Russia in the in the CHL's SUBWAY Super Series versus Team Russia on November 16th. 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.

HOLM COOKIN...Mitch Holmberg recorded his first career hat trick in a 6-3 win over Medicine Hat on December 3rd. After a two goal effort on December 27th in a 4-1 win at Kelowna he now has four multi-goal games. He has 13 points in his last 10 games. In 58 games last season, Holmberg had 15 goals and 33 points.

HOLDING VALCOURT...Collin Valcourt has goals in three straight games. He 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 11 goals and 17 points. In his last 17 games Valcourt has seven goals and 12 points.

GAL-EE...Blake Gal has four goals and nine points in his last 18 games. Gal has scored 46 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 228 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 scored the overtime game winner on December 14th versus Everett. Kuhn recorded his 100th career point with an assist on October 29th at Tri-City. In his career Kuhn has 45 goals, 67 assists and 112 points. He has five goals, including the game tying goal with 1:01 remaining in a 6-5 shootout win on November 19th versus Regina, and 16 assists in his last 23 games. Last year he scored a career high 20 goals, 30 assists and 50 points in 2010-11. Kuhn has appeared in 248 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.

AVIANI IS ALRIGHT...Eighteen-year-old Mike Aviani has four goals and 14 points in his last 23 games. 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.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...On average, the Chiefs have allowed the fewest shots on goal in the WHL at 24.5. Spokane has averaged 34.8 shots for, which is second in the WHL.

KAPTAIN KRAMER...Darren Kramer 12 goals and eight assists in 31 games. 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.

BOSS MAN...Don Nachbaur, the reigning WHL Coach of the Year, enters his second season on the Chiefs' bench. Nachbaur now has 495 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.

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

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2011


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