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WHL Spokane Chiefs

Mendelson Named Assistant Coach

September 2, 2008 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs have announced that Leigh Mendelson has been named Assistant Coach. Mendelson served in the same capacity for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) last year and helped them win the Anderson Cup as regular season champions and Clark Cup as playoff champions.

"This is a great opportunity," Mendelson said. "Its exciting to get the chance to not only work in the WHL but to be in a successful environment like the Chiefs organization," Mendelson said.

"We're thrilled to have Lee in place as our assistant coach," Chiefs Head Coach Hardy Sauter said. "One of the perks of having his experience from different junior to pro leagues is that we should get a fresh perspective on things, which we already have seen."

Mendelson has extensive coaching experience at different levels of the game, from junior to pro to international. Mendelson has coached in the USHL and the North American Hockey League (NAHL) as well as the East Coast Hockey League with the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies as an Assistant Coach.

Mendelson also spent two seasons in Europe coaching in both the Dutch EreDivisie with the Heereveen Flyers and the Finnish SM-Liiga with the Pelicans Lahti.

"Because of my varied experience with junior, minor pro and over in Europe, I hope to provide a different viewpoint for Hardy and help keep the success going," Mendelson added.

His post in Omaha last season was a return to the Lancers where he had spent the 2000-01 season as their Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator for their Clark Cup and Junior A National Championship team.

Mendelson has also coached with USA Hockey with the National Team Development Program as the Assistant Coach for the under-18 team in 2002-03 and the under-18 silver medal winning team at the 1999 IIHF Four Nations tournament held in the Czech Republic.

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS ON SALE TUESDAY

Individual game tickets for the Memorial Cup Champion Spokane Chiefs will go on sale on Thursday, September 4th at the Chiefs office on the southeast corner of the Spokane Arena and at all TicketsWest outlets. Fans can charge with their Visa, MasterCard and American Express by calling the Chiefs box office at (509) 535-PUCK or TicketsWest at 1-800-325-SEAT.

Single game seats will remain the same price for the second season in a row; $9, $11.50, $14.50, $16 and $17.

The home portion of the regular season will begin on Saturday, September 27th when the Chiefs host the Tri-City Americans on Bud Light Opening Night. The Chiefs and The Black Book by Hagadone Directories will be handing out replica banners to the first 3,000 fans through the gates as well as full season ticket holders.

Of the 36 home games 27 will be played on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. The Chiefs will play eight games on Wednesdays and one on a Tuesday.

With the exception of Sundays, Chiefs games will begin at 7:00 in the Spokane Arena with the gates opening at 6:00. Sunday nights will start an hour earlier, 6:00, with gates opening at 5:00.

For more information on Spokane Chiefs ticket packages, contact a Chiefs account executive at (509) 535-PUCK.

ROSTER UPDATE

The Spokane Chiefs reassigned three players to their respective midget teams, all 1993 born players; Mitch Holmberg, Spokane's first round pick this year (21st overall), Brady Brassart, the Chiefs second round selection, and Mike Aviani, the fifth round choice.

All three appeared in two pre-season games over the weekend with Holmberg scoring a goal in a 4-2 win over Everett on Friday and Aviani recording a goal and an assist against Portland on Sunday.

Post Falls native Tanner Mort remains on the Chiefs roster for the week. Spokane's fourth round pick this past spring is not eligible to play full-time in the WHL this year.

The moves leave Spokane with 29 players on its roster including three goaltenders, 12 defensemen and 14 forwards. By age, the Chiefs are carrying one 15-year-old, five 16-year-olds, five 17-year-olds, seven 19-year-olds and four 20-year-olds.

Spokane will travel on Thursday to Kennewick to play the Everett Silvertips in their fourth game of the pre-season.

FORWARDS

Bardaro, Anthony*

Betz, Michael*

Bowman, Drayson

Compton, Seth

Conrad, David*

Cratsenberg, T.C.*

Donaghy, Dustin

Gal, Blake*

Johnson, Tyler

Kuhn, Steve*

Koper, Levko

Letts, Ryan

McCrae, Justin

Roman, Ondrej

Wahl, Mitch

DEFENSE

Baldwin, Cory*

Bartman, Brett

Cowen, Jared

Falk, Justin

Glass, Trevor

Kichton, Brenden*

Leedahl, Garrett*

Mort, Tanner*

Reddington, Mike

Spurgeon, Jared

Ulmer, Stefan

GOALTENDERS

Reid, James*

Tokarski, Dustin

Wright, Alex*

* - Indicates rookie

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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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.

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