Schutz Up, Then Down For Chiefs

Mike Babcock watched a young star rise and fall Sunday night, and had the uneasy sense that he’d seen it all before.

The coach of the Spokane Chiefs watched his 16-year-old center, Derek Schutz, notch his club’s first goal in a 7-4 come-from-behind win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Schutz was beginning to exceed the lofty expectations that followed him to the Western Hockey League from his Yorktown, Sask., home, but just as he was charming the near-capacity house at Eagles Ice-A-Rena with his varied skating and puck-handling skills, he went down.

After colliding with Seattle’s Rick Berry at 17:16 of the second period, Schutz had what looked like a knee injury. Berry picked up a 5-minute major penalty and Schutz - the fifth player picked in the 1994 bantam draft - limped off for the night, leaving Babcock fearing a repeat of recent history.

A year ago, Chiefs center Trent Whitfield went off with a torn right medial collateral ligament in the preseason and missed 24 games.

“All I could think of was Whitfield last year,” Babcock said. “At 16, you can’t afford to miss half the season. So when the doctor looked at Derek and said it was a charley horse, not a knee, we felt fortunate.

“It’s a dangerous play,” the coach added. “Whether it’s accidental or on purpose, it happens and you just have to be thankful he wasn’t hurt more seriously. We hope he’s ready for next weekend.”

The Chiefs play their final preseason games Friday and Saturday on the road with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

They ran their preseason record to 3-1-1 after twice coming from two goals down.

Greg Leeb scored twice and had the game-winner - a power-play goal 4:41 into the third period - that put the Chiefs up 5-4.

With both clubs playing short-handed with a half-dozen veterans off to pro camp, Seattle took a 1-0 lead on Torrey Diroberto’s goal.

The Thunderbirds went up 2-0 on Jason Norrie’s score at 2:42 of the second, but Schutz tied it with an 8-foot wrist shot in front of the net at 3:21, assisted by fellow rookies Ty Jones and Jared Smyth.

Another newcomer, Chris Graf, tied it 2-2 for the Chiefs, but Seattle’s Patrick Marleau and Joe Pankratz answered to make it 4-2, T-Birds.

Veterans took it from there.

Randy Favaro’s timely crossing pass found Dmitri Leonov open for Spokane’s third goal, at 14:54 of the second.

Jared Hope tied it 4-4 with the Chiefs on the power play, assisted by Whitfield and John Shockey at 18:57 of the second.

Leeb poked in the go-ahead score. Leeb and Mike Haley added third-period insurance goals.

, DataTimes