WHL Spokane Chiefs

News and Notes - Chiefs Acquire Goaltender

Published on October 13, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


NEWS AND NOTES

CHIEFS ACQUIRE GOALTENDER... The Spokane Chiefs have acquired goaltender Michael Tadjdeh from the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for an eighth round bantam selection in the 2011 WHL draft. Tadjdeh is in his second season in the WHL after appearing in 21 games last season with the Hurricanes. The Calgary product had a 10-10-0-0 record and a 3.52 GAA and .873 save percentage. The 18-year-old has appeared in three games this season and is 0-2. The move gives the Chiefs three goaltenders; starter James Reid, Chase Martin and Tadjdeh.

WAHL SIGNS WITH CALGARY... Spokane Chief forward Mitch Wahl has signed a three-year-entry contract with the Calgary Flames. Wahl was a second-round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and registered 32 goals and 67 points last season with Spokane, both second on the team. The 19-year-old is back in a Chiefs' sweater for his fourth season and has two goals and eight points in seven games this year. Wahl is also a +6. The Seal Beach, CA native has 126 career regular season assists, 20th all-time in franchise history. The 19-year-old led the Chiefs last year with a +42. In 2007-08, he Wahl led the club with 53 assists as a 17-year-old, seventh in the WHL, and finished second on the team in scoring with 73 points. Wahl also finished tied for fifth in the WHL with a +33. Wahl played for the U.S. at last year's World Junior Championships and attended the United States evaluation camp this fall.

COWEN'S CONTRIBUTION...Chief Captain Jared Cowen has points in four of his last four games, including two goals and four assists. Cowen also has two game winning goals. Cowen was named team captain on October 1st. The 18-year-old was the Ottawa Senators first round pick in the 2009 NHL Draft and Canada's World Junior Evaluation Camp, but did not skate in any of the scrimmages. The World Junior Hockey Championships will be played in Regina, SK and Saskatoon, SK beginning on December 26th.

KOPER'S COLLECTION...Levko Koper has seven goals and 11 points in the first seven games of the season, including a hat-trick on September 18th at Prince George. It was his second hat-trick of his career. His first career hat-trick came on November 1st, 2008 in a 5-1 win over Kootenay. Koper has points in six of seven games this year. Last season he set a career high with 23 goals. The Atlanta Thrashers selected Koper in the seventh round of last summer's NHL Entry Draft. The 19-year-old played at the 2009 CHL Top Prospects game. Koper is in his fourth season in Spokane with 197 games played. Koper scored two goals in the 2008 Memorial Cup, including an overtime game winner against Belleville.

JOHNNY B GOOD...Spokane native Tyler Johnson has points in five of the last seven games and has four goals and nine points during the span. Johnson is in his third season in Spokane after he tallied 26 goals last year. Johnson is the first Spokane product to play for the United States at the World Junior Hockey Championships when he took part in their fifth place finish last year. Johnson attended the Minnesota Wild's camp in the pre-season and was named the 2008 Western Hockey League Finals MVP against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The 19-year-old also participated in the Phoenix Coyotes camp in 2008.

ULMER FUDD...Stefan Ulmer had a four game point streak snapped on October 10th versus Seattle. During the span Ulmer had one goal and seven points. The 19-year-old is the Chiefs leading scorer from the blueline and has played 107 games in Spokane. Ulmer was named the Best Defenseman of the 2009 IIHF Group B World Junior Hockey Championships after leading his native country Austria to the gold. Ulmer also led the tournament in scoring with five goals and 11 points in helping Austria win the tournament.

BEACH PARTY...Kyle Beach has points in four of five games this season and has totaled four goals and six points. Beach is also +3. The Chiefs the forward from the Lethbridge Hurricanes on September 23rd. Beach was the Chicago Blackhawks first round draft selection, 11th overall, in 2008. As a 16-year-old with the Everett Silvertips in 2006-07 Beach was named the WHL Rookie of the Year after scoring 29 goals and 61 points in 65 games. He also led the Silvertips with 196 penalty minutes. In 2007-08 he recorded 27 goals and 60 points in 60 games with a team leading 222 penalty minutes. In 54 games split between Everett and Lethbridge last year Beach scored 24 goals and 66 points with 165 penalty minutes.

INJURY UPDATE...The Chiefs welcomed back two players to their lineup last weekend when Corbin Baldwin (hand) and Anthony Bardaro (foot) made their season debuts following injuries. Both had missed the first five games of the season.

SHOOTING PAINS...Spokane had 52 shots on net in the season opener versus Prince George accomplishing a feat they achieved twice last year. Spokane's season high during the regular season was 52 shots on net on January 28th in a 9-1 win at Everett. The Chiefs had 54 shots in a four overtime playoff game versus Vancouver in the second round of the playoffs. Spokane has outshot the opposition in five of seven games this season.

CAREER FIRSTS...Post Falls native Tanner Mort recorded his first career WHL point with an assist on September 26th in a 5-2 win over the Tri-City Americans. Mort was the Chiefs fourth round bantam selection in 2008. Mitch Holmberg, the Chiefs first round pick in 2008, had an assist on the Chiefs second goal on October 2nd for his first career WHL point. Matt Marantz had his first career WHL goal and point on October 9th in a 5-2 win over Prince Albert.

REID BETWEEN THE LINES...James Reid finished his rookie season last year with four shutouts in 17 starts. Reid also had a 1.72 goals against average and .937 save percentage. The Calgary native posted a 11-5-0-1 record on the season.

BANTAM DRAFT...16 players on the Chiefs roster were products of their Bantam Draft, including four former first round selections; Mitch Wahl (2005), Jared Cowen (2006), Mike Betz (2007) and Mitch Holmberg (2008). Of the eight defensemen on the roster, Spokane selected six of them in the bantam draft, one of them in the Import Draft (Stefan Ulmer) and listed another (Brett Bartman).

DEFENSE...The Chiefs allowed zero or one goal 23 times in the regular season last year and 145 goals in 72 games for an average of 2.01 goals against per game to lead the WHL. Only eight other teams in league history allowed fewer goals in a 72 game season and it breaks the Chiefs franchise record of 160 goals against the team set last year. Spokane also allowed just 65 goals (1.81) in 36 home games and 80 (2.22) on the road, both franchise records. The 42 power play goals they allowed were 15 fewer than their previous record in '99-'00.

SAUTER'S MILESTONE...Hardy Sauter returns to the bench for his second season after winning 46 games last year, the most for any first year head coach in franchise history. Sauter was a defenseman for the Chiefs in the 1991-92 season.

KLEMM DIGGING...Former Spokane Chief Captain Jon Klemm has returned to the organization and will serve as the Assistant Coach. Klemm wore the captain's 'C' in 1991 in Spokane's first Memorial Cup Championship. In a 17-year pro career the Cranbrook, BC native won a pair of Stanley Cups, both with the Colorado Avalanche (1996 and 2001).

USA AND CANADA CAMPS...Tyler Johnson and Mitch Wahl spent the early part of August in Lake Placid, NY attending the United States Junior Evaluation Camp while

AMERICAN HISTORY...Five players on the Chiefs roster are from the USA; Mitch Wahl (Seal Beach, CA), Tyler Johnson (Spokane, WA), T.C. Cratsenberg (Federal Way, WA), Ryan Letts (Newport Beach, CA) and Tanner Mort (Post Falls, ID).

NHL DRAFT...Kyle Beach (1st round, Chicago, 2008), Mitch Wahl (2nd round, Calgary, 2008), Jared Spurgeon (6th round, New York Islanders, 2008), Jared Cowen (Ottawa, 1st round, 2009), Levko Koper (7th round, Atlanta, 2009)

INJURY REPORT...Ryan Letts (ankle, indefinite), Jared Spurgeon (shoulder, indefinite), Dustin Donaghy (knee, day-to-day)

THIS WEEK

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16TH at KOOTENAY ICE AIR-5:30 GAME-6:00

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH vs. KOOTENAY ICE AIR-6:30 GAME-7:00

The Chiefs will travel to take on Kootenay for the first game of a home-and-home series with the Ice. Spokane and Kootenay will face off a total of five times this season, two in Spokane and three in Cranbrook. After the Ice won the opening game of the 2008-09 season, the Chiefs won the next four, outscoring Kootenay 20-5 during that span. Spokane won a 3-2 shootout on February 7th in their final match-up of the season, a game started by James Reid. Reid had 36 saves in the win. Levko Koper scored three goals and seven points in five games last year. Mitch Wahl had five goals and six points in five games. Spokane scored the first goal of the game in four of the five games, winning each time they did that. Overall, the Chiefs were 7-27 (25.9%) on the power play and 22-25 (88.0%) on the penalty kill. The Chiefs and Ice will play again on January 16th in Cranbrook and January 30th in Spokane.

LAST WEEK

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9TH SPOKANE-5 vs. PRINCE ALBERT-2

James Reid stopped 24 shots, including 12 in the second period, and the Spokane Chiefs dropped the Prince Albert Raiders 5-2 on Friday night in the Spokane Arena. The Chiefs were 2-5 on the power play. Spokane scored the first goal of the game for the first time in seven games this season with a power play goal from Levko Koper at 6:01 of the first. Tyler Johnson and Brett Bartman assisted on the play. The Raiders tied it up at 15:59, but Spokane's Stefan Ulmer tallied another on the man advantage at 18:59 to put the Chiefs up 2-1 through 20-minutes. Prince Albert controlled the second period, outshooting the Chiefs 13-6 and scoring the frame's lone goal at 14:51 to even it after two. The third period was Spokane's with the final three goals coming off Chiefs sticks, including Matt Marantz's first career WHL goal at 1:24, a deflection of a Stefan Ulmer shot just 1:24 in. Steve Kuhn scored his first of the season at 7:09 and Johnson finished the scoring at 18:37 with an empty netter. Spokane was 6-6 on the penalty kill and ended up outshooting the Raiders 39-26 after a 23 shot third period.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10TH SPOKANE-4 vs. SEATTLE-1

Kyle Beach, Jared Cowen, Blake Gal and Tyler Johnson all had goals for Spokane in their 4-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night in the Spokane Arena. Beach hit the board first with his fourth goal in five games giving the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 2:39. The marker came on a goal mouth scramble off a rebound of a Levko Koper shot. Mitch Wahl also had an assist. Just 37-seconds into the second Jared Cowen slid in his second of the year, unassisted, for a 2-0 lead. The Thunderbirds tallied their only goal at 4:33 with a goal by Colin Jacobs. Blake Gal's second of the season, from Cowen and Levko Koper, at 12:31 gave the Chiefs a 3-1 lead after two. Tyler Johnson scored the third period's only goal at 10:27. Blake Gal and Kenton Miller helped. James Reid won his fourth game of the year with a 23 save effort. The Chiefs were 2-2 on the penalty kill and 0-5 on the power play.

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