Keeping Chiefs Company Former Spokane Assistant Leads Lethbridge To Sweep

The Spokane Chiefs were one of two clubs to open the Western Hockey League season with a weekend sweep on the road.

Parry Shockey, the Chiefs’ popular assistant last year and a Spokane scout prior to that, is 2-0 after his Lethbridge Hurricanes won in Red Deer and Medicine Hat.

“Red Deer was short a couple of bodies but so were we,” Shockey said Monday. “It got a little hectic at times but I enjoyed it. My coaching percentage is up from what it was.”

Way up, as a matter of fact. Shockey went into the season .000 as a head coach. He’s .667 for now.

His only official prior head coaching experience was a lopsided loss in Portland as the interim coach of the Chiefs.

“I didn’t get credit for a 4-1 win in Portland (last season) when Babs (Chiefs coach Mike Babcock) got thrown out,” Shockey said.

That night Babcock was ejected for launching plastic water bottles at the referee, leaving Shockey alone behind the bench.

Shockey has a two-year deal with the Hurricanes, who improving under Bryan Maxwell, the director of hockey operations. Maxwell was stripped of his coaching duties for a year after an incident with referee Brent Reiber following an emotional loss last March to Regina in the playoffs.

The Hurricanes, who don’t play in Spokane this year under the new, restrictive WHL scheduling format, are strong on the back end and dangerous on the attack when Byron Ritchie is on the ice.

“At the beginning of the season everybody thinks they’re in first but we’re happy right now,” said Shockey.

Although the Chiefs will see the ‘Canes only once, on Nov. 15 in Lethbridge, they have the Tri-City Americans another 15 times on their schedule, including Saturday night in their home opener.

Shockey doesn’t believe the Chiefs will have to worry about Tri-City star Terry Ryan. He doesn’t think the veteran winger who is hanging on with the Montreal Canadiens is coming back to junior hockey.

Not that he’s a lock to make it in Montreal.

“You might see something from him similar to what Ray Whitney did,” Shockey said, referring to the former Spokane star who played 10 games in Cologne, Germany and 63 games in the International League before coming to terms with the NHL San Jose Sharks. “I don’t think Ryan will be back.”

That would be bad news for the Americans, who are tough enough on the blue line and in goal but were woefully short of depth on the attacking end in a Saturday night loss to Spokane at home.

Shockey is looking forward to renewing the Spokane-Lethbridge rivalry. The two clubs split a pair of exhibition games in the Alberta city earlier this month.

“There’s been a competitive attitude between the two cities over the years with the different connections with kids and coaches,” he said. “Since ‘91, when Spoke beat Lethbridge on the way to the Memorial Cup, there’s always been kind of an urge to get back the bragging rights.”

Shockey, a native of southern Alberta, is the latest in the Lethbridge-Spokane connection.

Miller next in the rotation

The Chiefs gave each of their two veteran goaltenders a start over the weekend, a policy that will continue until either Aren Miller or Marc Magliarditi emerge as the regular.

Miller gets the start Saturday night.

“We keep rotating until we find out who our guy is,” Babcock said. “It’ll take 10-15 games. I’m not worried about it. When you have two good kids you want to play them. I just don’t want to go to the end of the year with you guys asking who I’m starting in the playoffs. If I don’t know by then, well, you can always be wrong when you don’t know.”

First volley fired

The Spokane/Tri-City rivalry extends to the coaches - Spokane’s Mike Babcock and Tri-City’s Bob Loucks - who barked at each other during the Chiefs’ 4-1 victory Saturday night in Kennewick.

When Spokane’s Marian Cisar was helped off the ice, Loucks delivered a few words to the Chiefs’ first pick in the import player draft.

Babcock tossed a few words back at Loucks. The two benches are within shouting distance at the Tri-City Coliseum.

Babcock wouldn’t characterize it as a confrontation.

“Bob was just talking to Cisar and I didn’t think it was appropriate for a coach,” Babcock said.

That’s only round one of 16 games between the two.

Around the WHL …

Former Calgary Flames coach Dave King watched his son Scott King make his WHL debut with the Kelowna Rockets Friday night against the Chiefs… . Former Chiefs defenseman John Shockey leaves for Australia on Oct. 9. Shockey passed on his final year of junior hockey eligibility to go on a church mission… . Ex-Chief Randy Favaro is an assistant captain with the expansion Edmonton Ice, who beat Calgary home and away in their first two games. Favaro picked up an assist in the Ice sweep… . Jared Hope, the other former Chief picked up by Edmonton in the expansion draft, is out three weeks with a knee strain. Hope’s career has been one long battle with injury.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo