WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

Published on December 12, 2012 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


THIS WEEK

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14TH

vs. SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:05

RADIO-1510 KGA

TV-NONE

The Chiefs will host the Seattle Thunderbirds for the third time in their fifth overall meeting of the season. Spokane is 3-1 on the season versus the Thunderbirds. Seattle won the first half of a home-and-home series on October 16th with a 6-4 decision at the ShoWare center. Brenden Kichton had two assists. Spokane outshot the Thunderbirds 32-23. Spokane earned a 2-1 win on October 19th as Adam Helewka scored twice. The Chiefs outshot Seattle 36-15. On October 30th in the Arena, Spokane picked up an 8-2 win as Mike Aviani and Todd Fiddler each scored two goals. In their last meeting, Fiddler recorded a hat trick on November 17th in a 3-1 Spokane victory. Spokane outshot the Thunderbirds 35-34. Fiddler has five goals and six points in the series while Aviani has two goals and three assists. Helewka has three goals and an assist. Tyler King is +6. Eric Williams has posted a 2.07 GAA and .915 save percentage. Spokane and Seattle will play nine times this season, including five home games. The two will play three straight games from January 5th through the 9th, twice in Seattle and once in Spokane.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15TH

vs. TRI-CITY AMERICANS

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:05

RADIO-790 KJRB

TV-SWX

The Chiefs will host the Tri-City Americans for the third time this season. Spokane is 4-0-1-0 on the season versus Tri-City. The Chiefs and Americans split a home-and-home series on November 23rd and 24th with Tri-City winning 5-4 in overtime in the first game. The Americans tied the game with 17-seconds remaining and scored 43-seconds into overtime. Four Chiefs scored; Cole Wedman, Blake Gal, Brenden Kichton and Collin Valcourt. The following night, Spokane scored three goals in the third period to earn a 5-2 victory. Gal, Todd Fiddler, Mitch Holmberg and Liam Stewart, with two, scored for the Chiefs. Prior to the home-and-home series Spokane earned a 3-2 win on Saturday, October 27th in Tri-City. Jackson Playfair, Mike Aviani and Todd Fiddler all scored for Spokane and Eric Williams made 35 saves, including 16 in the third. Spokane won both halves of the season opening series with a 5-2 win in Kennewick on September 22nd and a 5-3 victory at home on September 29th. In the first game, Spokane got five goals from five players, including a goal and assist from Holmberg, Stewart and Carter Proft. The following week Holmberg had a hat-trick and Dylan Walchuk three assists in Spokane's home opener. Holmberg has five goals and eight points in four games while Aviani has three goals and seven points. Overall, the Chiefs are 3-18 on the power play and 14-14 on the penalty kill. Spokane and Tri-City are coming off their second straight season of facing each other in the playoffs and their sixth ever meeting in the post-season. In 2011, the Chiefs earned a six game series win while the Americans won last year's series in seven games. In its 25th year of existence the Chiefs lead the regular season series 147-126-2-5 with 13 ties.

NEWS AND NOTES

SWINGERS...Spokane is coming off a 5-1 record on a six game road trip through the East Division. The five wins are the most they have had in any one swing to the Eastern Conference. Prior to this season, the most wins Spokane had earned on a trip was four in 1994-95 when they beat Medicine Hat, Swift Current, Red Deer and Lethbridge. In this year's trip, on average, the Chiefs outscored the opposition 5.33-3.00 and outshot them 34.0-28.0. Spokane scored the first goal of the game in five times. Three different players scored five or more goals; Mike Aviani and Mitch Holmberg had six while Todd Fiddler scored five. Eleven Chiefs scored goals and 20 had at least one point. Seven players averaged a point per game. Brenden Kichton finished the road trip with seven assists in six games and was +13. Reid Gow had three goals and seven points and was +12.

KOACH KLEMM... Chiefs' Assistant Coach Jon Klemm will be the acting Head Coach while Don Nachbaur is away serving as an Assistant for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. The tournament will be held in Ufa, Russia and begin on Wednesday, December 26th. Klemm is in his fourth season on the Chiefs' bench. As a player, he won a Memorial Cup in Spokane (1991) and a pair of Stanley Cups (1996, 2001) with the Colorado Avalanche. Klemm will be joined by another former Chief captain as Kevin Sawyer will be on the bench as a Coaching Assistant. Sawyer was a three year member of the Chiefs, captaining the 1994-95 team as a 20-year-old. After an eight-year professional career, Sawyer returned to the organization in 2004 and served as an assistant coach for two seasons

NACHBAUR'S 1,000TH...Spokane Chief Head Coach Don Nachbaur picked up a 5-2 win over Tri-City in his 1,000th WHL game on November 30th at home. He became just the fourth man in the history of the league coach in 1,000 games. To this point of his career Nachbaur is 539-382 with 84 games finishing in a tie, overtime loss or shootout loss. Nachbaur coached 408 games in Seattle winning 202 times and 423 games in Tri-City with 229 wins. Nachbaur was the head coach of Team WHL for the Subway Super Series and went 1-1 in the two games versus Team Russia.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...Spokane set a season high with 60 shots on December 1st in a 6-5 overtime win at Regina. It's the most shots they have had since putting 56 up on November 6th, 2011 in an 8-1 win over Everett. The last time Spokane topped 60 was against Chilliwack in the 2010-11 season when they did it twice in an 11 day span. They had a franchise record 78 on March 16th, 2011 at home in a 2-1 shootout win and 63 in game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs in a 3-2 OT win on March 25th.

ROOFTOPS...Todd Fiddler has 11 goals, 15 points and is +8 in his last 10 games. He had five game goal scoring streak snapped on December 7th at Brandon. He recorded his first career hat-trick in a 3-2 win at the Seattle Thunderbirds on November 17th. Fiddler is tied for first in the WHL with 23 goals, including a league leading three shorthanded, and now has 22 goals and 30 points in his last 21 games. Between Spokane and Prince Albert last year Fiddler played 73 games. Overall he had 12 goals and 28 points after tallying 8-10-18 in 38 games with Spokane.

AVIANI FLEW...Mike Aviani had his third four point night with a hat trick, his first career, and an assist in a 7-4 win at Prince Albert on December 4th. He also had two goals and two assists in a 7-2 win at Swift Current on November 30th. He has six goals, 13 points and is +7 in his last seven games. Aviani now has 11 goals, 29 points and is +17 in his last 21 games.

KING ME...Tyler King recorded an overtime winner on December 1st at Regina. In his last six games, King has two goals, three points and is +3. King has five goals and 13 points this season after posting one goal and two assists last year as a rookie.

BACK-TO-BACK...The Chiefs posted back-to-back shutouts for the seventh time in franchise history and for just the second time with two different goaltenders. Eric Williams made 26 saves in a 5-0 win over Everett on November 3rd and Garret Hughson stopped 22 in a 4-0 win over the Silvertips on November 6th. It is the first time since Kevin Opshal and Jim Watt stopped 31 and 25 shots, respectively, in November, 2004 versus Portland and Everett that two separate goaltenders had shutouts. James Reid is the last Chief goaltender to have back-to-back shutouts, doing it in December, 2010 versus Vancouver and Seattle.

GAL GAB...Blake Gal has played 284 career games as a Chief, 10th in franchise history. Gal has three goals, six points and is +8 in the eight games after returning to the line-up from injury. Gal had missed 14 games with a lower body injury.

HOLM-SCHOOL...Mitch Holmberg has seven goals and 11 points in his last nine games. Holmberg played both games of the Subway SuperSeries. Holmberg has six three point nights this season including two goals and one assist in a 5-2 win at Brandon on December 7th. Holmberg led Spokane with 11 goals in the playoffs, last season including two in overtime.

IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton is +16 in his last seven games. He has five goals, 20 points and is a +24 in his last 16 games. Kichton recorded his 50th career goal and 200th career point on October 30th in an 8-2 win over Seattle. Kichton recorded two goals and two assists in a 5-3 win over the Victoria Royals on October 5th. Kichton has become the all-time leading scorer as a defenseman in Chiefs history and now has 219 points, which is 20th overall. He has 165 career assists, fifth in franchise history. His 293 career games are eighth in franchise history. Kichton was named Captain of the Chiefs in a pre-game ceremony prior to their home opener on September 29th, 2012. Last season Kichton was named the WHL's Western Conference Defenseman of the Year as he led all blueliners with 74 points, including 17 goals and 57 assists. Kichton was selected in the fifth round in 2011 by the New York Islanders.

GOW SCHOLASTIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR...Reid Gow is +15 in his last seven games. Gow has four goals, 11 points and is a +16 in his last nine. Gow has points in 18 of 27 games this season with six goals and 19 assists. Gow was selected as the winner of the WHL's Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Trophy for the Scholastic Player of the Year last season. Gow earned a cumulative 95% in his core classes. The defenseman from Killarney, Manitoba scored 22 points, including 20 assists, in 54 games last year. Gow recorded a career high four assists, in a 7-2 win over Tri-City on October 1st, 2011.

WALLY'S WORLD...Dylan Walchuk's 23 assists in 30 games are already nine better than he had in 34 games last season as a rookie. Walchuk had 10-14-24 last season. He has 8-23-31 in 30 games this year. Walchuk scored the game winning goal versus Prince George on October 20th with just 24-seconds remaining to preserve a 3-2 victory. In 2010-11 he led the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL in points with 24-32-56. He added another 13-7-20 in 24 playoff games as Vernon finished as a runner-up in the Royal Bank Cup Championship, the Canadian Junior A National Title, one year after winning it.

IN THE CREASE...Eric Williams recorded his first shutout as a Chief with a 26 save effort on November 3rd, 2012 in a 5-0 win over Everett. In his last 14 games Williams is 10-3-1-0. Williams was acquired in a trade in December, 2011 from Prince Albert. Williams finished last post-season with the league's third best goals against average at 2.22. He won his first five playoff starts and had a .927 post season save percentage.

HUGH-G EFFORT...Garret Hughson earned a shutout with 22 saves in just his third career start in a 4-0 win over Everett on November 6th. Hughson won his first career start with 14 saves in a 6-4 win over Prince George on October 20th.

INJURY REPORT...Tanner Mort (upper body, indefinite), Adam Power (upper body, week-to-week), Cole Wedman (upper body, day-to-day)

NHL DRAFT...Brenden Kichton (New York Islanders, 5th round, 2011)

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