WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Weekly Report

Published on January 8, 2013 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9TH

vs. SEATTLE THUNDERBIRDS

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:05

RADIO-1510 KGA

The Chiefs will play the second game of a three game series against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Spokane earned a 5-2 win over the Thunderbirds on Saturday night. The Chiefs will host the Thunderbirds tomorrow night. The Chiefs and Thunderbirds will play each other just one more time after the three game set as Spokane will host Seattle on Wednesday, March 6th. Spokane is 5-1 on the season versus the Thunderbirds including last Saturday's game. Five different Chiefs scored goals as Spokane outshot the T-Birds 50-36. The Chiefs had a season high nine power play chances. Spokane also posted a 7-6 shootout victory at home on December 14th. Spokane trailed 6-2 with 11:51 remaining in the game. Mitch Holmberg scored three straight and Mike Aviani tied it up with 55-seconds left. The Chiefs scored twice in the shootout while Garret Hughson held Seattle to one goal on three chances. Spokane outshot the Thunderbirds 46-25. Overall, Holmberg has four goals and eight points in five games. Todd Fiddler has five goals, including a hat trick on November 17th in a 3-1 win, and eight points in six games. Mike Aviani has four goals and eight points in the series. On average, Spokane has outshot Seattle 38.8-26.7.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11TH

at PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:05

RADIO-1510 KGA

The Chiefs will travel to Portland for the first time this season in their third match-up of the year with the Winterhawks. Portland has won both games in Spokane, including a 4-3 decision on December 18th. Both Blake Gal and Todd Fiddler had a goal and assist in the loss. Portland earned a 9-1 victory over Spokane on November 10th in the first other meeting of the season. Brenden Kichton scored the Chiefs' lone goal. Spokane outshot the Winterhawks 44-36. Spokane and Portland will play a total of eight times this season, including six in the second half of the season. The two will play three times in a row from January 21st through the 25th with two of them in the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs were 2-3-2-1 last season in their eight game series. Each team averaged 35 shots on goal. Mike Aviani had three goals and five assists in eight games and was a +6 in the series. Brenden Kichton had two goals and five assists.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12TH

vs. KOOTENAY ICE

AIR-6:30

GAME-7:05

RADIO-1510 KGA

The Chiefs will host Kootenay for the second time this season in their third meeting overall. The two traded wins on the opposition's home ice in late December, including a 1-0 win by Spokane in Cranbrook on December 28th. Todd Fiddler scored the game's only goal 18:17 into the second period. Eric Williams recorded his second shutout of the season with 29 saves and Spokane was 4-4 on the penalty kill. Kootenay skated to a 7-3 win in the Spokane Arena the following night. The Chiefs and Ice will play each other five times total, including three in Spokane. The Chiefs will travel to Kootenay on February 8th and host the Ice on Saturday, March 9th. Spokane finished last season 3-2-0-0 with a win in regulation, one in overtime and another in a shootout. The Ice led in four of the five games going into the third period.

NEWS AND NOTES

Text Box: SPOKANE CHIEFS ALL-TIME LEADERS ASSISTS 1 - Ray Whitney (1988-1991) 207 2 - Pat Falloon (1988-1991) 194 3 -Mitch Wahl (2005-2010) 186 4 - BRENDEN KICHTON (2008- ) 174 5 - Travis Green (1986-1990) 165 6 - Ryan Duthie (1991-1994) 164 Greg Leeb (1994-1998) 164 8 - Valeri Bure (1991-1994) 163 9 - Chad Klassen (2001-2006) 156 10 - Trent Whitfield (1993-1998) 155 BOLD - active IN YOUR KICHTON...Brenden Kichton's appeared in his 300th career game on Friday, January 4th at Everett becoming just the eight player in Spokane history to hit that mark. Kichton is also the franchise's all-time leader as a defenseman with 56 career goals, 174 career assists and 230 points. His 174 assists are fourth all-time in Spokane history. Kichton has two goals and 10 assists in his last nine games and is +16 in his last 15 games. He has seven goals, 31 points and is a +24 in his last 24 games. He leads all WHL defensemen in scoring with 11 goals and 47 points. 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.

GAL GAB...Blake Gal has goals in three straight games and four points in his last four games. Gal has played 292 career games as a Chief, ninth in franchise history. Originally a second round selection in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft, Gal joined the Chiefs at the end of the 2008 WHL season but did not appear in any regular season or playoff games in Spokane's run to the Memorial Cup. The Lethbridge, Alberta Text Box: SPOKANE CHIEFS ALL-TIME LEADERS GAMES PLAYED 1 - Brandin Cote (1996-2002) 352 2 - Tim Krymusa (1998-2003) 332 3 - Levko Koper (2006-2011) 330 4 - Derek Schutz (1994-2000) 322 5 - Mason Wallin (1998-2003) 319 6 - Jeff Lynch (2001-2006) 313 7 - Jevon Desautels (2000-2005) 301 8 - BRENDEN KICHTON (2008- ) 301 9 - BLAKE GAL (2008- ) 292 10 - Steven Kuhn (2008-2012) 288 BOLD - active native has scored 64 career goals and 142 career points in five seasons. He has seven goals, 12 points and is +9 in 16 games after returning to the line-up from injury. He had missed 14 games with a lower body injury.

CHIEFS ADD SMITH... The Spokane Chiefs have announced that Adam Smith, an 18-year-old from Nanamaio, B.C., has been added to the roster on a tryout basis. Smith, a 6'2", 190 pound forward, has played 22 games in the WHL, two with the Portland Winterhawks in 2010-11 and 20 with the Swift Current Broncos in 2011-12. He has accumulated 39 penalty minutes in his WHL career. Smith was originally a ninth round selection in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft by Portland. Smith has split time this season between the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL and Nanaimo Buccaneers of the VIJHL. He had 19 penalty minutes in eight games with Cowichan Valley and two goals, 16 points and 98 penalty minutes in 16 games with Nanaimo.

SWINGERS...Spokane had a 5-1 record on a six game road trip in late November/early December. Prior to this season, the most wins Spokane had earned on an Eastern swing was four in 1994-95. On average this year the Chiefs outscored the opposition 5.33-3.00. 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.

NACHBAUR'S 1,000TH...Spokane Chief Head Coach Don Nachbaur will return to the bench for the first time since December 8th. Nachbaur was an assistant for Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. He had 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 to 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. The Chiefs average 34.2 shots, fourth in the WHL, and allow 27.9, fifth overall.

ROOFTOPS...Todd Fiddler has 15 goals, 24 points and is +11 in his last 18 games. He recorded his first career hat-trick in a 3-2 win at the Seattle Thunderbirds on November 17th. Fiddler is tied for second in the WHL with 27 goals, including a league leading three shorthanded, and now has 26 goals and 37 points in his last 28 games. Between Spokane and Prince Albert last year Fiddler played 73 games.

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 nine goals, including the game tying goal with 55-seconds left in a 7-6 shootout win over Seattle on December 14th, 19 points and is +11 in his last 15 games. Aviani now has 14 goals, 36 points and is +22 in his last 28 games.

HOLM-SCHOOL...Mitch Holmberg recorded a career high five points, three goals and two assists, in a 7-6 shootout win over Seattle on December 14th. Holmberg has nine goals and 14 points in his last 11 games and 12 goals and 19 points in his last 16 games. Holmberg played both games of the Subway SuperSeries. Holmberg has seven three point nights this season.

GOW SCHOLASTIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR...Reid Gow has two goals and 10 points in his last eight games. He is +11 in his last 13 games. Gow has five goals, 19 points and is a +12 in his last 17. 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 24 assists in 38 games are 10 better than he had in 34 games last season as a rookie. Walchuk had 10-14-24 last season. He has 11-24-35 in 38 games this year. In 2010-11 he helped the Vernon Vipers finish as a runner-up in the Royal Bank Cup Championship, the Canadian Junior A National Title, one year after winning it.

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

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

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2013


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