Chiefs To Welcome Back 20 Veterans Training Camp Opens Thursday; 1st Exhibition Aug. 31 Vs. Tri-City

Twenty players from last year’s club are among the 90 who’ll begin to assemble this week for training camp with the Spokane Chiefs.

The Western Hockey League team will hold registration and administer fitness tests on Thursday. The players are scheduled to take in Thursday night’s Spokane Indians baseball game at Seafirst Stadium before getting down to business on Friday.

Coach Mike Babcock will divide the group into four teams for morning practices, then hold two controlled scrimmages Friday afternoon at Eagles Ice-A-Rena, at 4 and 6 p.m.

The Chiefs’ exhibition season opener is against the Tri-City Americans on Thursday, Aug. 31, in Cranbrook, British Columbia.

The Chiefs have invited players on their protected list, including 15-year-olds, who are not eligible to make the club, general manager Tim Speltz said.

Only 35 are expected to seriously challenge for a place on a team that, by the end of last season, was among the best in the WHL.

Two promising rookies, forward Derek Schutz (it rhymes with shoots) and defenseman Brad Ference, will report after Labor Day. They’re in an all-star tournament for 1979-born players in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Two 20-year-olds return in forward Dimitri Leonov and defenseman Scott Fletcher.

The Chiefs don’t have a lot to fill, but the holes they do have are huge.

Gone are left wing Kevin Sawyer, the WHL’s No. 1 tough guy, and right wing Jeremy Stasiuk, who teamed with Sawyer on the Chiefs’ opening forward line. The center on that crunch line, Darren Sinclair, returns.

The Chiefs also are without last year’s starter in goal, Jarrod Daniel.

David Lemanowicz comes in as the No. 1 goalkeeper after some impressive games a year ago as Daniel’s backup.

“David took gigantic steps last year,” Speltz said. “His work ethic is second to none.”

Chiefs veterans will be in and out of pro camps with their NHL teams.

Jason Podollan will get a long look from the NHL Florida Panthers although, at 19, he’ll probably be back for another season of junior hockey.

Defenseman Sean Gillam, also 19, will spend time at camp with the Detroit Red Wings.

“We could have eight to 10 of our players at pro camp at various times through our preseason,” Speltz said.

Defenseman Adam Magarrell, seriously injured in a late-spring car accident, is in Philadelphia, working with the Flyers’ organization, Speltz said. Although Magarrell is experiencing some discomfort from extensive burns he received in the accident, he’s working out and expects complete recovery before the Chiefs’ regular-season opener in Tri-City on Sept. 23.

“Mike (Babcock) spoke to him Monday,” Speltz said. “He says he’s having some blistering, some aggravation, but nothing serious. He’s going through workouts with their rookies.”

Martin Cerven, a 6-4, 200-pound forward from the Slovak Republic, the Chiefs’ pick in the July import player draft, is here.

Also on hand for the start of camp is 16-year-old forward Ty Jones of Eagle River, Alaska, who has been working at a conditioning camp in Brainerd, Minn., run by the staff of the NHL San Jose Sharks.

Jones, whose father, Terry, attended Central Valley High School, is a 6-3, 200-pound right wing. He was a first-round pick in last April’s bantam draft and the first U.S. player ever drafted by the Chiefs.

Tickets for the Chiefs’ regular-season home opener on Sept. 30 in Veterans Memorial Arena go on sale Monday at the Chiefs’ ticket office in the Arena and at the G&B outlet at 720 W. Mallon.

, DataTimes