Spokane Chiefs assistant captain Chris Bruton was on the ice at practice Tuesday afternoon and appears ready to play this weekend with a full face shield. He's been out two weeks following surgery on his face.
The Spokane Chiefs are on a roll. Derek Ryan's 5-on-3 power-play goal just 22 seconds into the second period lifted the Spokane Chiefs to a 3-1 Western Hockey League win over the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night at the Spokane Arena.
Derek Ryan's 5-on-3 power-play goal just 22 seconds into the second period lifted the Spokane Chiefs to a 3-1 Western Hockey League win over the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday night at the Spokane Arena. Ryan's goal gave Spokane a 2-1 lead, then Drayson Bowman added the second of his two goals at the 16:39 mark of the third (also on the power play) for the insurance goal. The win gave Spokane (13-10-3-1) a 7-1 mark at home in the month of November.
They have easily been the most productive Spokane Chiefs line in the month of November. Derek Ryan, Ondrej Roman and Drayson Bowman have helped carry a scoring load for a team missing some of its key players up front.
Thanksgiving Day is just another day for the Spokane Chiefs – no matter which version of it you're talking about. Confused? Well, try being a Canadian citizen living and playing hockey in the United States.
In a physical, tightly contested hockey game, one bounce of the puck can decide it. That was the case Saturday night at the Spokane Arena as the Kamloops Blazers posted a 4-2 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Western Hockey League play.
The special play of the special teams is making things easier for the banged-up Spokane Chiefs. Derek Ryan had two power-play goals and Ondrej Roman had three assists as the Chiefs defeated Lethbridge 4-3 in Western Hockey League play Friday night at the Arena.
The Spokane Chiefs put together one of their best weekends of the season without some of their top players – now they'll have to try and do it again. Spokane's wins over Red Deer and Tri-City on consecutive nights last weekend may have been its best back-to-back efforts. The team is hoping for more of the same this weekend, as it continues a five-game homestand at the Arena.
Now, that's more like it. Spokane and Tri-City finally turned up the intensity of their longstanding rivalry to full bore, playing a tightly contested, physical Western Hockey League game Saturday night at the Arena.
It isn't going to happen every night, but the Spokane Chiefs will take it: an easy win. The Spokane Chiefs erupted for four second-period goals – three on the power play – and kept the Red Deer Rebels slumping with a 6-2 Western Hockey League win on Friday at the Arena.
The Spokane Chiefs went through an abbreviated but vigorous practice Thursday at the Arena, exhausted from a busy two-game road trip but glad to be playing the next five Western Hockey League games at home. In fact, the Chiefs will play 10 of their next 12 in the Arena in what may prove to be a critical stretch in the U.S. Division race when all is said and done.
Coach Mike Burns liked what he saw of his Eastern Washington University men's basketball team Saturday at Reese Court. Northwest Nazarene College, on the other hand, will try to forget this one.
The past few weeks during a seven-game losing streak, Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters kept saying, "Five-on-five, I like our team." His message was simple: stay out of the penalty box and good things will happen. His team saw the concept come to life Friday night and won its second straight.
Spokane Chiefs defenseman Sean Zimmerman said he learned something about himself during his just-completed two-game suspension. "I hate to watch games – it's too frustrating," the Chiefs veteran said on Thursday. He returns to the ice tonight when Spokane hosts Kelowna in a Western Hockey League game at the Arena.
It's one thing to be a first-round draft pick in any sport – one with high expectations right from the start. It's quite another to live up to that billing. Yet that is what Spokane Chiefs captain Adam Hobson has done during his four years in the Western Hockey League.
The Spokane Chiefs faced a Giant task on Saturday night. Entering the game with a six-game losing streak and without their top defenseman, Spokane hosted the defending Western Hockey League champion and current No. 1 team in Canada. Then, at every turn, the Chiefs made the task tougher.
The Spokane Chiefs and their fans have seen this before. In each of the past five seasons, the team has had losing streaks of at least five games – which is where Spokane finds itself again.
Myles Stoesz coyly said he didn't look for the dates on the Western Hockey League schedule when it came out this summer which read: Spokane vs. Chilliwack. "Nah, didn't even notice them," deadpanned Stoesz, the former Spokane Chief who was picked up by the Chilliwack Bruins in the expansion draft.
It would seem that the Spokane Chiefs don't read the newspaper. They didn't play like a team which has been reading its press clippings – or that of the preseason U.S. Division favorite, the Everett Silvertips – as they played inspired hockey which frustrated a talented team on Friday night.
Apparently, there is no goalie controversy for the Spokane Chiefs. Anointed starter Kevin Armstrong has struggled and rookie Dustin Tokarski has exceeded expectations through six games. But both will play this weekend and the team said Armstrong will get the start tonight when the Chiefs host Everett.
After 36 hours of reflection, Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters stayed firm in his opinion of his team's lifeless play Saturday in its home-opening loss. "No, I saw the game perfectly clear and was just honest in my assessment of the game," he said Monday while reviewing video of the 5-1 loss to Tri-City.
Chiefs owner Bobby Brett has guaranteed Spokane fans that his team will make the playoffs this season, as he reminded a crowd of 8,825 in a staged pregame sitcom of sorts. But it's the Tri-City Americans who are laughing so far this season, as they are doing their best to make Brett pay out $100,000 in refunds to Chiefs season-ticket holders if they finish in last.
Derek Ryan rises from his bed at his parents' North Side home – eyes still bleary from the previous night's late arrival – and heads off to a microbiology lab that starts at 7:30 a.m. on the campus of Spokane Falls Community College. It had already been a long week for the Spokane Chiefs standout and Shadle Park High graduate – a long one, but typical for a Western Hockey League player. Yet Ryan isn't a typical WHL player in several ways.
The Spokane Chiefs finally get to play a home game after the drudgery of two weeks of road trips and practices. Spokane, which travels to Everett tonight, hosts Tri-City on Saturday night in the team's Western Hockey League home opener.
KENNEWICK – Colton Yellow Horn's unassisted goal at the 2:07 mark of overtime lifted the Tri-City Americans to a 4-3 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Western Hockey League play on Saturday night at Toyota Center. Spokane is 1-1-1 on the season. Tri-City improved to 2-1.
