Chiefs Will See Changes Spokane Needs Better Offense To Pose Memorial Cup Threat

They wound up the regular season on a high, holding off the rallying Kelowna Rockets in the fight for third.

They eliminated the Rockets in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.

Reaching the West Division semifinals, as they did, is an accomplishment in some places.

Not here.

Spokane Chiefs coach Mike Babcock has already written it off as the most frustrating season of his career.

“When you’re always trying to motivate guys, it gets old,” Babcock said this week, as planning continued for next year when the Chiefs play in the championship event of major junior hockey.

The Chiefs, as the host, are one of four clubs who will play for the ‘98 Memorial Cup. Joining them will be the champions of the Quebec, Ontario and Western leagues.

Do the Chiefs have to upgrade to play at that level?

General manager Tim Speltz and Babcock agree on that point.

“If we want to do better, we have to make changes,” Babcock said. “And now is the time for change.”

Unlike Babcock’s first two seasons here, when the Chiefs exceeded expectations, this was a study in underachievement. A consensus pick by coaches and general managers to repeat as West Division champions, the Chiefs got off to a quick start but, by November, settled into an inconsistency that kept everybody guessing.

They were overrated. Too much was lost from the year before. As the season wore on, the Chiefs plugged on - well above average defensively, average at best in goal and well below average in scoring.

It was, in hindsight, too much to ask of 18-year-old Aren Miller to replace the WHL’s all-star netminder of the previous season, David Lemanowicz.

The Chiefs played with little margin for error. Miller allowed 3.21 goals a game. The Chiefs scored only 3.6 a night. Nearly every shot on their net carried game-deciding pressure.

“It’s a lot easier to pitch, or play goal, when you know your team is going to score,” Babcock said.

The plan to ease Miller’s transition - bringing in 20-year-old Marc Magliarditi and alternating starts - failed. Magliarditi was traded to Red Deer, where he has been effective.

“We didn’t want Aren to feel the pressure of having to carry the ball,” Babcock said. “In hindsight, it might not have worked for either guy. In the end, we thought it was important to give Miller - who had never been a full-time starter, not even in bantam or midget - the opportunity to develop his great potential.”

The plan, Speltz confirmed, is for Miller to come to camp next August as No. 1, backed by Shaun Fleming, who had a strong season in Swift Current at the AAA midget level.

The Chiefs anticipate that Miller, Detroit’s second-round selection in last year’s National Hockey League draft, will follow the pattern of most young netminders who bloom at 19 or 20.

“We have to get him at another level and he knows that,” Babcock said. “Yet when you compare Miller at 18 to other goaltenders who’ve played here, he’s ahead of them at this stage.”

On too many nights, Babcock stalled for time while Trent Whitfield and Greg Leeb caught a quick blow in between long shifts. With Whitfield expected to sign and perhaps stick with the Boston Bruins, the Chiefs could find goals just as hard to come by next year, although that may not be quite as critical with improvement in goal. Beyond those issues now are the Chiefs’ three 20-year-old veterans who are headed out.

Alternative captain Adam Magarrell plans to start college in his native Manitoba, Speltz said.

The two January replacements who helped from the moment they arrived at the trade deadline - Chad Reich and Kirk Dewaele - are undrafted free-agents still hoping for a shot at pro hockey.

Looking ahead, Leeb and defenseman Joel Boschman probably will fill two of the three 20-year-old slots next season. Mike Haley, the tough role player Babcock likes, also is in next year’s picture as a 20-year-old, although who will be back is always an elusive question.

One certainty is that defenseman Chris Lane, who didn’t suit during the playoffs, is headed elsewhere.

Whitfield is not the only veteran who could step up. Captain Hugh Hamilton could find himself in the Hartford Whalers chain. If he isn’t signed, the Chiefs will clear a spot for him before they have to conform to the league-mandated Nov. 1 cut to three 20-year-olds.

Babcock second-guessed himself on the decision to install Hamilton as captain.

“Hugh was real good in the playoffs,” the coach said. “He’s a great kid. He was a loose guy in the (locker) room. By making him captain, we may have taken away part of his personality. He tried to do too much.”

Although goal-scoring wingers Joe Cardarelli and John Cirjak are eligible to return at 20, both want to launch their shots in the pro ranks.

After four seasons in Spokane, the Boys from Burnaby, B.C., are among the likely candidates to move on.

Right wing Marian Cisar is expected back at 19 as one of the two allowable import players. The status of the Chiefs’ other European, Russian winger Yegor Mikhailov, the most seriously injured player in the January team bus wreck, is less certain.

This year’s Import Player Draft comes the week after the NHL draft.

Of the younger players, Babcock was most impressed with the toughness of injury-prone center Derek Schutz and the consistency of defenseman Brad Ference. Ty Jones on the right wing should be prominent in the upcoming NHL draft, although far down the list from Ference, a likely first-rounder.

Quick and skilled Jared Smyth and bullish Curtis Suter are 17-year-old forwards expected to step into key roles next season. The Chiefs also are penciling in Marc Brown as a forward who could take regular shifts.

Of the 16-year-olds, Kyle Rossiter worked his way up to the No. 5 defenseman by the end of the year. Blake Evans showed enough to convince Speltz that he’s a “Darren Sinclair-type player in our future.”

Sinclair, last year’s team MVP, was effective scoring from all sorts of positions on the ice in front of the net.

Look for goaltender Fleming, center Brendin Cote and defensemen Cole Fisher to make it as rookies next season.

Much is riding on a summer’s development, but even with an optimum offseason, the Chiefs need help before they’re ready for the best in junior hockey.

“We’ll be interested in every older player who’s available for trade,” Speltz said. “It doesn’t mean we’re gong to trade for every player, but it does mean we have to look at who can help us now.

“It’s trade deadline for us the whole year.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LOOKING AHEAD The Memorial Cup, the championship of major junior hockey, will be played in Spokane next year. As the host team, the Chiefs will receive an automatic berth.