A double-dose of news from the Spokane Chiefs today. Before the Chiefs ended Everett’s 14-game winning streak with a solid 2-1 win, story below, captain Jared Cowen signed with the Ottawa Senators.

Continue reading Cowen signs, Chiefs win »

The Spokane Chiefs face Everett tonight in what can be considered a huge game. No, the Chiefs don’t have to win to make the Western Hockey League playoffs. But that was never the goal. The goal has always been to make noise in the playoffs.

The way the Chiefs have played, especially at home, their only consistency has been inconsistency, so tonight’s game starts the post-season, at least if they really want to be considered a contender. As we have mentioned, eight of 13 February games are at home but the Chiefs have lost seven of eight home games since mid-December, five by one goal.

Oops, Alan Caldwell’s blog left off Spokane as he looked at what was needed to earn a playoff berth, but as he said, making the playoffs isn’t big in the West. Eight of 10 teams make it and Prince George and Seattle are all but officially eliminated. … Despite a WHL-best record, attendance is a little off in Tri-City. Back after tonight’s game.

The Spokane Chiefs continue to struggle at home, losing to Kootenay 4-3. The unedited game story is below.

Here is last night’s Chiefs’ win, covered for top-notch correspondent Jason Shoot while I was courtside in Pullman. My mistake.

Continue reading Chiefs’ win Friday »

There have been quite a few distractions lately, but we’ll play catchup on the Western Hocke League now.

The Chiefs return home Friday night after a strange sequence of eight games on the road. They finished their swing through the Central Division by winning two of three. If memory serves, that’s four wins in six games. Then after a week off the Chiefs win at Tri-City (3-2), which has the best record in the league, only to lose at Everett (3-2) and Kamloops (8-1), with a nice feature on Spokane’s Tyler Johnson. The Chiefs bounced back with a 4-1 at Chilliwack on Wednesday (game story below).

A couple of interesting notes from Alan Caldwell’s blog. The big one is the stretch run, which points out in the West the Chiefs have the toughest remaining schedule but the most home games. The other is how teams have fared since the trade deadline.

Continue reading Big hockey post »

I didn’t think it would be that hard to keep up - but I didn’t know a virus was going to claim my computer during the figure skating competition. I lost everything, including book marks and passwords. I lost so much stuff I don’t know what I lost.

But, back to reality. While watching novice pairs skating and trying to keep up, I found a great tale about the Tri-City Americans’ goalie and his one-day trip to the NHL, which I pasted below, courtesy of Gregg Drinnan’s blog. I haven’t found a link to the Chiefs’ 4-3 loss, although I’m still searching - and bingo, here it is and it wasn’t that hard when you remember what team they played (Did I lose a day, a team, a game somewhere during this figure skating competition?). One other thing to check out is Alan Caldwell’s blog and a comment/link to an incident involving the captain of Team Canada’s World Junior team.

Now, back to the the skaters who don’t check.

Continue reading Catching up with hockey »

The Spokane Chiefs won their second straight game at a Central Division opponent as Mitch Wahl scored a hat trick in a 6-4 win at Lethbridge.

Dale Woodward of the Lethbridge Herald provided a story below.

Continue reading Wahl hat trick sparks Chiefs »

Former Chief Drayson Bowman, pictured above, gets called up to the NHL, the second player from the 2008 Memorial Cup to make it to The Show this week.

Just moments before the figure skating starts, I also wanted to share a story from Darren Steinke in the Medicine Hat News on Spokane defenseman Brett Bartman, who played his last WHL in his hometown of Medicine Hat on Wednesday.

The Chiefs play Lethbridge tonight, enjoy, and don’t hesitate to post scores, I can’t pick up the radio station in the Arena.

Continue reading Bowman called up »

Wednesday was a great day for the Spokane Chiefs, who won in Medicine Hat, which leads the Central Division, and former star goalie Dustin Tokarski was called up to the NHL.

Keep reading for a little trivia game.

Continue reading Tokarski in NHL »

I don’t run into the same cast of characters each time I enter the Arena for a Spokane Chiefs’ hockey game but there is only one I dread seeing.

I mean it in a nice way but each time I see this gentleman he asks how my investigation into the junior hockey scholarship program is coming along. With everything I have to do, the truth is it’s moving along like a glacier.

But it doesn’t look like it’s going to need a boost from me to percolate into public. Keep reading, just some information to tide you over while the Chiefs are one the road for seven more games, starting tonight in Medicine Hat.

Continue reading Junior hockey comes under fire »

The Chiefs stood pat and then fell flat on Sunday.

The Western Hockey League trade deadline came and went Sunday afternoon and the only move Spokane made was to reassign excess defenseman, 18-year old rookie defenseman Grant Leedahl. Then, in a battle with Everett, which is tied with the Chiefs in the standings, fell 4-3 in a shootout.

(Just for fun you might want to read this story out of Russia, discovered by my colleague John Blanchette, who also wrote a column out of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Tri-Cities.

 There were a flurry of trades, but since they didn’t involve Spokane we’ll let the blogs of Gregg Drinnan and Alan Caldwell wrap them up for you with some analysis.

So, the question is, did the Chiefs do the right thing? Do you think the Chiefs can be contenders with the way they are configured now? What would you have done, who would you have moved?

We have two weeks to ponder those questions before the Chiefs return home, so feel free to share your thoughts. Meanwhile, I found a nice story on the Chiefs’ world junior participants, posted below.

Continue reading No deal for Chiefs »

The Spokane Chiefs showed what a little pride can do, upending the Tri-City Americans 2-1 before more than 10,000 fans at the Arena Saturday night, one day after a dimsal performance.

There was no magic, just effort.

The unedited game story is below. As for the looming trade deadline, there’s nothing to report, not even a good rumor but that doesn’t mean something won’t happen before 2 p.m. Sunday. Be sure to check back.

Continue reading Chiefs rebound to beat Tri-City »

Same ol’ story, same ol’ song and dance, my friends.

That’s the best we can do after a dismal performance by the Spokane Chiefs Friday night resulted in a 3-0 loss to Chilliwack, the Bruins’ first-ever win at the Arena.

One string continued and another ended - while the Chiefs lost their sixth straight home game, this was the first of those not to be decided by one goal. That isn’t good news.

With the trade deadline looming Sunday afternoon will the Chiefs do something? What are your thoughts? What would you do.

The unedited game story and one trade of a former Chief follow.

Continue reading Chiefs struggles continue »

All is quiet on the Western Hockey League trade front. Guru Gregg Drinnan tries to sort through the rumors and the Spokane Chiefs get a mention about discussions with Kamloops. What is just as interesting to me is the fact the Blazers haven’t made it past the first round in 10 years. It seemed to me when I got this beat the first time a few years back, Kamloops was a model franchise - then while I had the beat the franchise fell apart and was sold. It has taken the new ownership three years to chose a course.

We’ll be back after tonight’s game or if any big trades break.

Caught up with gold medal winner Tyler Johnson, a couple of hours of Team USA beat Canada for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

The unedited story I filed for Thursday’s paper is below.

A roundup of World Junior stories: Calgary Sun game story; column, review and Jordan Eberle sidebar; Saskatoon Star-Phoenix game story and sidebar on heart-broken Team Canada; Regina Leader-Post story  and Greg Harder’s blog; and Alan Caldwelll’s blog about some Canadian players not faring well against tough competition and a post-mortem that includes how Spokane’s Jared Cowen was used.

A couple of quick notes: after the Chiefs play at home Friday and Saturday they play eight games on the road because of the U.S. Figure Skating championships. That’s nothing compared to the Vanvouver Giants, who have had to vacate their premises for the Olympics. In all they play 27 games away from home, include six that are in a different Vancouver arena. … The WHL trade deadline is Sunday at 2 p.m. They was a deal today, Seattle sending 17 year defenseman Ryan Aasman to Prince Albert for RW Jonathan Parker, 18, and a 2010 fifth-round bantam pick.

Continue reading Chiefs’ Johnson savors gold »

First, congratuations to Chiefs Tyler Johnson and Jared Cowen for their medals at the World Junior Tournament. Johnson and Team USA ended Canada’s five-year gold streak with a wild 6-5 win in the championship game Tuesday night in Saskatoon.

“It feels pretty good,” said Johnson, who was dinged up in the first period and missed most of the game. “I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be wondering what the heck I just did but it’s pretty cool.”

Hopefully we’ll have more from both players soon. Johnson returns Wednesday night and Cowen Thursday night and should be in uniform at the Arena on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs had their hands full against Saskatoon, which sports the best record in the Western Hockey League. The two best defensive teams got into a shoot out before a Blades won 5-4 despite a scoreless third period.

Continue reading Same ol’ story for Chiefs »

Can anyone figure out the Spokane Chiefs?

Playing short-handed, they run their Western Hockey League losing streak to five games, including a New Year’s Eve loss at Tri-City, before beating Vancover (with this nice blog item) and Seattle back-to-back on the road with backup Michael Tadjedeh in goal.

With Tyler Johnson and Jared Cowen playing against each other for World Junior gold Tuesday night, Spokane will still be shorthanded when league-leading Saskatoon, fresh off a win at Tri-City, comes to the Arena Tuesday night. The Blades (28-7-1-3) have won five in a row and are 4-0 in their swing through the U.S. Division.Saskatoon now is first overall, with 60 points, one more than the Americans (29-10-0-1), who are 7-1-0-1 in their last nine outings.

The Spokane Chiefs lost to Portland again, 4-3, in a game delayed several hours by the snowstorm that hit Portland. According to the Winterhawks blog, there was some game-end incidents that could cost Kyle Beach a game, which would be Thursday night in Tri-City. Just what the short-handed Chiefs need. Though we’re in no position to comment … no, I won’t say anything. There was also a game-ending linebrawl in Spokane on Sunday with many of the same participants. Nothing is up on the WHL site about suspensions but you can check back later.

By the way, Tuesday’s Chiefs’ game marked the halfway point of the season and the team seems to be going in the wrong direction. Are you worried? What’s wrong with the Chiefs? What do they have to do to right the ship? Keep reading for some more information.

Continue reading Struggling Chiefs lose again »

Same ol’ story at the Arena Sunday night - for the fourth (and final time) in four visits, Portland comes away with the win, rallying with three third-period goals to defeat the Spokane Chiefs 5-4.

The win came despite an amazing performance from Spokane goalie James Reid, who insisted there would be no ill affects when the teams square off in Portland Tuesday.

“The main thing is just winning,” said Reid, the leading goaltender in the Western Hockey League. “It was good building for me. For me personally it was a good first game after the break. I felt good out there. … I’ll be fine but as a team we have to have a good practice, go over some stuff, watch some video and be ready to go Tuesday.”

My unedited game story and some additional details on the goals follow, but first some World Juniors information.

Team USA wins its second game 3-0, but Spokane’s Tyler Johnson didn’t figure into the scoring. You can read more on what happened to Johnson on Saturday on the Team USA blog.

Despite 16 goals in Canada’s opening win, Spokane’s Jared Cowen didn’t pick up a point. Canada plays its second game today.

Spokane’s Stefan Ulmer didn’t score in the 6-2 loss to Russia but had an assist in the 7-3 loss to Sweden on Sunday.

Continue reading Portland rallies past Chiefs »

The Spokane Chiefs return from Christas break tonight and we welcome them back with a feature on goalie James Reid. The Chiefs face Portland in less than an hour are already behind 3-1 - three Spokane players absent playing in the World Juniors to just one for Portland. Also, Chief rookies Brady Brassart and Mitch Holmberg are off at a Canadian provencial tourney.

I missed all the World Junior action because of the holidays but just heard everything surrounding Tyler Johnson’s ejection for Team USA’s opening win on Saturday. I’ll endeavor to explain it in the next day or two but if any of you fans know of a link or saw what happened, please expound for your fellow fans. I will tell you, inspite of what the broadcasters were saying during the whole affair, Johnson did not receive a concussion during a pre-tournament game.

Check back later for the game story.

Spokane Chiefs forward Tyler Johnson made the USA Hockey 22-player roster the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team that will compete at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Dec. 26, 2009-Jan. 5, 2010, in Saskatoon and Regina, Sask. Click here for the press release.

Picked up from Gregg Drinnan’s blog.

F Luke Walker of the Portland Winterhawks and F Tyler Johnson of the Spokane Chiefs are two of 14 forwards still with the U.S. national junior team after six players were dropped from the selection camp roster Sunday. (They have been playing on the same line.)

Walker was a scratch Sunday as the U.S. national junior team beat the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux 4-2 in an exhibition game in Grand Forks, N.D.

The U.S. roster still includes eight defencemen and two goaltenders. The U.S. had 30 players in camp, now is down to 24 and will select 22 to its final roster.

The U.S. team is held its selection camp in Grand Forks, at Ralph Engelstad Arena and left for Regina Monday morning.

The U.S. team will head for Regina on Monday morning. The U.S. won’t name its final roster until Wednesday, following a Tuesday night exhibition game with the Czech Republic.

Walker is in the U.S. camp despite having had surgery to repair facial injuries after he was struck by a puck during a game Dec. 8.

The short-handed Spokane Chiefs head into the Christmas break after losing to the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 in overtime, their third straight one goal loss at home.

The Chiefs return to action Dec. 27 (Sunday) with a 6 p.m. game against Portland.

Before getting to the unedited game story I filed for Saturday’s paper, I have Mitch Wahl’s reaction to not being invited to the tryout game for the U.S. World Junior team after playing last year.

“I heard a lot of different things, U.S. hockey called me, for the most part I think the head coach didn’t like me so I think that’s why I got screwed out of a spot there,” Wahl said. “It’s frustrating but good luck to Johnny (Tyler Johnson) and hopefully he does well there.

“It’s disappointing for me obviously, I should have been a returning guy but at the same time but it’s not going to effect my career in the end. I think I deserve to be there and I deserve to be on the team. It makes me mad but I’m just trying to come out with a good second half of the season.”

With the Chiefs off, the holidays and some vacation time, there won’t be much to report on the blog for a while but we’ll try to keep up with the three players at the World Juniors and return with a James Reid feature story after Christmas.

Keep reading for the game story.

Continue reading Chiefs drop another close one »

The Portland Winterhawks seem to have the Spokane Chiefs’ fans’ number.

For the third time in as many tries, Portland won at the Arena, taking a 3-2 decision at the Arena Wednesday night. In five games between the teams, the visitor has won every one.

This game was about missed chances for the Chiefs. Read below for the unedited game story I filed for Thursday’s paper.

Continue reading Portland trips Chiefs »

A couple of hockey notes:

From Cory Wolfe of the Star-Phoenix, Jared Cowen’s reaction to making Team Canada: The first call Cowen made was to his mom, Cara, in Saskatoon.
“She was relieved,” Cowen said with a grin. “She’ll get to see her son a little bit more this Christmas.”
Hockey Canada has big plans for all three Saskatchewan players.
The 6-foot-5 Cowen is Canada’s biggest defenceman and he’s pegged to play a shutdown role.
“He’s got a big reach and good, quick feet so he can play against some of the better players on the other teams,” said Hockey Canada scout Al Murray. “It looks like, over the last year, he’s been trying to add more of an offensive component to his game. That won’t be necessary here.”
That role suits Cowen just fine.
“I think I can play against every line on every other team,” he said. “Hopefully that’s the case and hopefully I get a lot of minutes.”

Check out the blog of Jon Keen, Swift Current’s play-by-play man. He was in the Arena for the Air Force-Washington State basketball team and captured the transformation for Saturday night’s hockey game.

Finally, for a  note from the Chiefs on Saturday’s Teddy Bear toss, click the extended entry:

Continue reading Cowen excited »

It’s official - Chiefs captain Jared Cowen is on Canada’s World Junior team, one of eight Western Hockey League players. Click the link or read the extended entry.

Continue reading Cowen on Team Canada »

Spokane Chiefs captain Jared Cowen finds out this morning if he makes Canada’s team for the World Junior Tournament. Check back later, but read below for a story about the Tuesday night exhibition, which includes a comment from Cowen.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs defeated Seattle last night and have a key game with Portland at the Arena tonight. In addition to Cowen being gone, I’m pretty sure the Chiefs will be without Tyler Johnson, who has to be at the US camp for World Junior tryouts tomorrow in Grand Forks, N.D. Not sure you can get there from here so he’s probably spending today traveling.

Continue reading Decision day for Cowen »

Swift Current - and the charieties that will share more than 4,500 stuff toys - came up big at the Arena Saturday night as the Broncos defeated the Spokane Chiefs 2-1 on Teddy Bear Toss night.

Read below for my unedited game story.

Continue reading Swift Current stymies Chiefs »

Trade action has picked up around the Western Hockey League but the Spokane Chiefs, who play at Chilliwack tonight and are home against Swift Current on Saturday (Teddy Bear Toss), have been quiet.

There has been another trade - Vancouver picking up a fourth goalie - you can check on Gregg Drinnan’s blog. As an added bonus, Gregg drops in column’s from the late Jim Murray (usually on Monday’s) and he has one about a young Tiger Woods.

Alan Caldwell’s blog looks a little closer at the trade. Caldwell also takes a team-by-team look at what might happen, or maybe needs to happen, before the Jan. 10 trade deadline.

Keep reading to see what he says about Spokane and why we disagree.

Continue reading WHL trade talk »

A four-player, three draft pick trade came down in the Western Hockey League Wednesday between Lethbridge and Regina. For details, and a nice tip of the hat to the Seattle Thunderbirds for raising money for the Lakewood Police Guild, check out Gregg Drinnan’s blog. That’s a lot easier than hitting numerous websites.

The trade will have no impact on the Spokane Chiefs unless they meet Regina for the WHL championship. There is this quick note from the Chiefs, who play in Chilliwack on Friday and are home on Saturday against Swift Current. The home game is Teddy Bear toss night. Drinnan found a story on the event that has spread through junior hockey.

There wasn’t much excitement but the Spokane Chiefs did what they needed to do, blanking Prince George 3-0 at the Arena Tuesday night.

My unedited game story follows.

Continue reading Chiefs blank Prince George »