Voters Endorse Whitfield, Leeb

Trent Whitfield and Greg Leeb are the Spokane Chiefs’ winners in the 10th annual Best of the West poll.

Compiled by Tri-City Americans beat writer Eric Degerman, the poll is restricted to Western Hockey League West Division players and management.

Voters can’t select someone from their own organization.

Leeb, who continues his quest for 100 points Wednesday night when the Chiefs visit Portland, was named the West’s best skater - and the balloting wasn’t close.

Leeb received 70 percent of the vote. Marian Hossa of Portland was a distant second. Spokane’s Trent Whitfield (fifth) and Marian Cisar (seventh) made the top 10.

Spokane’s three 20-year-olds are highly regarded by their peers. Whitfield is the division’s top over-age player according to the poll. Leeb is fifth and Perry Johnson ranks ninth.

Johnson and Spokane’s three other highly regarded defensemen - Rick Berry, Brad Ference and Zenith Ko marniski - made the top 10 in the - category for the division’s top stay-at-home-defensemen.

Curiously, Ference is listed among the West’s best D men, and among its top pro prospects, while attracting the most votes in the most over-rated category.

Degerman, who writes for the Tri-City Herald, points out that jealousy may have some bearing on voter sentiment. Ference was the 10th pick of last year’s National Hockey League entry draft. As such he has encountered high expectations this season.

Komarniski is fourth behind Ference on the most over-rated list. Derek Schutz is 10th.

In fairness to Komarniski, he has been a consistently dominant player for the better part of the last month. Schutz is also something of a contradiction. He’s among the 10 best in two categories - best faceoff man and top defensive forwards - while also coming up 10th in the dubious most over-rated vote.

Spokane fans are third in the division of seven cities, rated behind Portland and Prince George but ahead of the fans in Kamloops, Seattle, Tri-City and Kelowna, in that order.

The categories, winners and the Chiefs in the top 10: Best goaltender - 1. Randy Petruk, Kamloops; 5. Aren Miller, Spokane; 9. David Haun, Spokane. Top rookies - 1, Hossa, Portland; 4. Brandin Cote, Spokane; 7. Dan Vandermeer, Spokane. Pro prospects - 1. Hossa, Portland. 5. Ty Jones, Spokane; 7. Cisar, Spokane; 8. Ference, Spokane; 9, Kyle Rossiter, Spokane.

Hardest shot - 1. Joel Kwiatkowski, Prince George; 4. Komarniski, Spokane; 9. Cisar, Spokane. Best faceoff men - 1. Ajay Baines, Kamloops; 4. Whitfield, Spokane; 5, Leeb, Spokane; 9. Schutz, Spokane. Most underrated - 1. Quinn Hancock, Prince George. Coach - 1. Brent Peterson, Portland; 3. Mike Babcock, Spokane.

Top referee - 1. Tom Kowal. Top defensive forward - 1. Baines, Kamloops; 2. Whitfield, Spokane; 6. Leeb, Spokane; 8. Schutz, Spokane.

Most improved - 1. Hancock, Prince George; 8. Rossiter, Spokane. Irritating - 1. Chris Thompson, Seattle. 2. Leeb, Spokane; 5. Ference, Spokane. Top executive - 1. Ken Hodge, Portland. 3. Tim Speltz, Spokane. Stay-at-home defensemen -1. Joey Tetarenko, Portland. Toughest player - 1. Scott Parker, Kelowna.

Around the WHL

A crowd of 11,001 - the second-largest hockey gathering in Seattle’s Key Arena since it opened in 1995 - saw the T-Birds whip Kamloops 6-3 Saturday night. Mark Parrish had a pair of goals… . Spokane’s Derek Schutz has climbed into a tie for third in the WHL in game-winning goals with 8. Greg Leeb is one behind Schutz… . Spokane’s David Haun is tied for 13th in saves percentage among WHL goaltenders at .888. Teammate Aren Miller is not among the top 15… . The Chiefs are the league leaders in penalty minutes, although Seattle is a close second. Spokane is averaging 32.6 minutes in the box. The league average is 26.5… . The Chiefs can afford to take penalties. They’re fourth in the WHL in killing penalties… . The Chiefs have their power play working as well. Spokane ranks fourth in the league in power play effectiveness, at 23 percent, behind only Brandon, Portland and Swift Current.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Up next Chiefs at Portland, 6:05 p.m. Tuesday.