Ex-Chief To Take Look At College

Chad Gans beat the Spokane Chiefs to Medicine Hat by a week, but it wasn’t the homecoming he’d hoped for.

The Chiefs released the 19-year-old left wing Friday.

Gans, acquired Nov. 21 from the Moose Jaw Warriors, is back home in Medicine Hat, where the Chiefs play the Tigers on Saturday night.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” Gans said Monday. “I might take a semester of school here and go from there.”

Spokane traded Chad Cherniak, a player on their protected list, for Gans, who came in when Spokane was low on forwards. He had a goal and four assits in 14 games.

“I thought I played fairly well considering the time it takes to adjust and the short time I was there,” Gans said. “The return of players from injuries put me on the outside again. When I went in to ask about playing time, they told me it was likely that I’d be sent home.”

Gans said he was more disappointed than bitter.

“I really enjoyed the city, the fans and the new rink there,” he said. “I wish I would have started (his career) there instead of coming in late, after they had built their empire.”

If he doesn’t wind up with another Western Hockey League team, Gans said he might enroll at the University of Lethbridge and play college hockey.

He had his best run in the ‘94 playoffs for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, when, in nine postseason games, he scored five goals with four assists.

Blood, but this time not bad blood

Not everybody was watching Kamloops tough guy Rob Skrlac and Spokane’s Jay Bertsch when they started trading punches late in Spokane’s 4-1 win Saturday night in the Arena.

Scott Fletcher had taken a stick to the face in front of the Chiefs bench and was having a bloody nose attended to.

But as blatantly intentional as the high-sticking may have appeared, Chiefs coach Mike Babcock was playing it down in the coach’s room after the game.

“Two guys were running Skrlac and he knew it,” Babcock said. “He put his stick up to protect himself. It was unfortunate, but it’s big boys playing hockey.”

Fletcher and the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Skrlac scrapped here Dec. 17.

Feelings aren’t likely to cool, since the two-time defending Memorial Cup champion Blazers have lost five straight games to the Chiefs.

Trade winds …

Moose Jaw, going nowhere in the WHL East, is prepared to deal talent for a better future.

One West Division general manager said Spokane GM Tim Speltz is talking to Warriors coach/GM Al Tuer about 19-year-old Moose Jaw center Curtis Brown, and possibly veteran defenseman Roman Vopat.

Tuer said he hasn’t talked to Speltz about a deal.

“Who am I getting back?” Tuer asked Monday from Calgary.

Calgary, hmmmm. Speltz is also in Calgary with the Chiefs. Any connection there?

“I haven’t talked trades with Tim at all,” Tuer said. “Everybody has inquired about certain guys.”

Everybody, including Bob Brown of Tri-City?

“Pretty much the same there,” Tuer said. “They’ve inquired.”

Speltz could not be reached by phone.

Both Brown and Vopat have had flings in the NHL, Brown with Buffalo, Vopat with St. Louis. With the Warriors in last place, they have become expendable.

Brown is a versatile forward with great character. Character is a point Spokane coach Mike Babcock brings up when assessing trades.

The sticking point, from Spokane’s standpoint, on Vopat is that he’s European. WHL clubs can carry only two on their 50-player protected rosters. Spokane already has Martin Cerven and Dmitri Leonov.

The Warriors are said to be asking for a talented defenseman.

Notes

This week’s Canadian Hockey League Tip Top Tailors national rankings have the Chiefs returning at No. 6, one spot behind Kamloops. Prince Albert, at No. 8, gives the WHL three in the top 10.

New coach of the latest WHL expansion team, the Edmonton Ice, is Dave Sililiano, 49, from Thunder Bay, Ontario. Sililiano, hired Monday, had been coaching a bantam team in Ontario. The hiring prompted Regina writer Rob Vanstone to quip, “I hope for his sake he’s getting paid by the vowel.” … John Cirjak has led the assault on Kamloops with 10 points in Spokane’s five wins over the Blazers. … The Blazers only had to part with a fourth-round pick in this year’s bantam draft for ex-Chief Dean Kletzel, a 19-year-old project, who has undergone knee surgery. Kletzel - who played 55 games here in the ‘92-93 season - is rehabilitating in Calgary and hopes to report to the Blazers by the end of the month. “It’s a risk when anybody’s had major knee surgery, but I know the work ethic and character of the boy,” Kamloops GM Stu MacGregor told Kamloops Daily News writer Scott Cruickshank. “If he’s able to play hard and compete, he can help us on the right side.”

The Prince Albert Raiders have talked to Prince George about acquiring forward Colin Cloutier. … The Tri-City Americans say 19-year-old left wing Marc Stephan will miss the remainder of the season in the aftermath of an Oct. 13 head injury in Lethbridge. A ninth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, Stephan played in seven games, with thee goals. … Tri-City coach Bob Loucks will serve as the WHL coach at the Chrysler Cup Challenge that brings together major junior hockey’s top 40 draft-eligible players. The game is Feb. 15 in Toronto. Players are to be named today. … The Brandon Wheat Kings have picked up goaltender Jody Lehman from the Moose Jaw Warriors. The 20-year-old had left Moose Jaw after 11 games and was playing in Erie, Pa., of the East Coast Hockey League. … Moose Jaw also sent right wing Jeff Dewar, a former Seattle Thunderbird, to Medicine Hat.

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