Whitfield’s Return Has Chiefs Playing Alphabet Roulette

It’s Trent Whitfield’s turn.

The star center will be in the lineup for the first time tonight when the Spokane Chiefs meet the Prince George Cougars.

Whitfield, who left the Boston Bruins last week after failing to reach contract terms with the National Hockey League club, replaces captain Joel Boschman in the Chiefs’ rotation.

Spokane coach Mike Babcock is rotating his four 20-year-olds. Only three can dress on a given night. The Chiefs can carry four only through the end of the month.

So Boschman, a defenseman, sits tonight.

Babcock said there was nothing scientific in determining who led off in the rotation.

“His name starts with B,” Babcock said.

If the alphabetical order holds, Perry Johnson will be the odd man out Saturday night when the Chiefs play their first road game, against Tri-City. That would put scoring leader Greg Leeb in street clothes when the Chiefs return home Wednesday night to play Kelowna.

Haley finds a life after Spokane

The hardest part for him is slowing down. The new routine just isn’t the same.

For three years Mike Haley was in a groove, checking in at 10 every morning, working out, practicing, meeting with the coaches.

The major junior hockey experience is now part of his past.

Only occasionally was he a star, but Haley picked his spots well. He came up big in last year’s playoff series at Kelowna, when the Chiefs needed every point to get past the Rockets in the first round.

Haley, a 20-year-old right wing, was released last month. He’s back home in Taber, Alberta, playing hockey at nearby University of Lethbridge while taking classes at the local community college. He plans to transfer to the university, where he wants to study business and psychology.

Haley leaves junior hockey with no hard feelings.

“I got along well with (Chiefs coach Mike) Babcock,” he said. “I worked hard. I was physical - the kind of player he likes. The Chiefs treated me well the whole time I was with them. I made a lot of friends down there. My girlfriend is there.”

Haley said the timing of the change was right, however painful it was.

“I didn’t think I’d have a chance to move on to a higher level of hockey,” he said, “and the Chiefs are giving me a good deal for school.”

Notes

Former Chiefs forward John Cirjak is off to a fast start with his new team, the Regina Pats. The 20-year-old center, traded after four seasons in Spokane, had three goals and four assists in his first seven games. … Prince George is 2-1 after an impressive 11-5 win over a Kamloops Blazers team that was supposed to be strong in goal and at the blue line. Eleven goals and 59 shots are the most for the Cougars in the four seasons they’ve been in Prince George.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE ICE Tonight: Prince George at Spokane, Arena, 7