CHIEFS FEATURES

The 18 position players and two goalies who dressed for the Spokane Chiefs in their opening night road win over Kelowna on Sept. 19 were much different than the group who dressed in the Western Hockey League championship series against Medicine Hat in May. The roster will look different again for the home opener on Saturday when several players who were out at NHL camps return.

The nature of junior hockey as a developmental level means that when players age out or move up to professional or collegiate hockey, a new group of players are thrust into the spotlight.

General managers of Western Hockey League teams are planners by nature. With a limited amount of time for players to develop on their rosters before they reach draft eligibility or age out, GMs typically have their rosters sketched out several years into the future, with new draft classes sliding into roles older players once handled.

By design, the Western Hockey League is a developmental league – players enter as wide-eyed and fresh-faced teenagers and leave several years later as young men – grizzled veterans of a system designed to prepare them for the college or professional ranks.

The Spokane Chiefs played a lot of hockey last season. After the conclusion of a grueling 68-game regular season, the Chiefs went on an extended run of another 20 postseason games, which ended in a five-game loss to Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League championship series.

Though it may be hard for them to accept right now, the 2024-25 Spokane Chiefs had a remarkably successful season, one that included record-setting performances, a highlight reel jam-packed with offensive fireworks, and an exciting run through the Western Hockey League playoffs that ended a few wins short of the Memorial Cup.

Ray Whitney knows big games. As a junior player, he won a Western Hockey League championship and a Memorial Cup, then as a pro he won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

Nobody said it was going to be easy. Achieving something historic usually isn’t. But nobody expected it to be quite this difficult, either.

The Spokane Chiefs weren’t happy with their performance in Game 1 of the Western Hockey League Championship series, a 4-1 loss in Medicine Hat that was closer than the score appeared – it was a one-goal game in the third period before a bit of a lucky bounce and an empty-net goal.

MEDICINE HAT, Alberta – Spokane Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said his team was “a little bit late” in Game 1 of the Western Hockey League championship.

The Spokane Chiefs haven’t reached a Western Hockey League championship series since 2008, but after the initial celebration from sweeping the Portland Winterhawks in the conference final, it’s been “business as usual,” according to coach Brad Lauer.