Rypien Cousins Go Through Some Hockey Highs And Lows Chiefs Vs. Rockets

It was a day of mixed emotions for the hockey-playing kin of Mark Rypien.

The former National Football League star has a pair of cousins with the Spokane Chiefs.

One - 18-year-old Shane Gris - was confirmed as the starter in goal for tonight’s Western Hockey League game with the Kelowna Rockets.

The other - 17-year-old Wes Rypien - was sent back to Crows Nest Pass, Alberta, on Tuesday when the Chiefs trimmed their roster to 26.

Parting with the gritty Rypien was not easy.

“I love that kid,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said.

“He’s going to be a big part of our organization, a big part of our future, but at 17, we feel this will do him better. He gets more ice time rather than be a fifth-liner kind of guy here.”

Rypien was scoreless in two games with 16 penalty minutes as a willing scrapper who quickly established a reputation for keeping a protective eye out for teammates.

Although he returns to his Junior A team, he remains on the Chiefs’ 50-man protected list. If he’d been a 19-year-old player, he would have made the team on toughness alone.

“Every club in the league would like to have more of that,” Babcock said.

While Rypien became part of the club’s future, Gris turned into a now player, as Mike Lencucha’s replacement.

Numbers support the move. Gris stopped 36 of 38 shots in two games over the weekend, for a nifty .947 save percentage. Lencucha’s save percentage - .811 - is discouraging, to say the least.

Lencucha yielded 14 goals in three games, a 5.41 goals-against average. Gris carries a 1.44 goals-against average into tonight’s game in the Arena.

Notes

The Chiefs had an anxious moment in practice Tuesday when scoring leader Daniel Bohac, 19, twisted wrong and fell hard on his back. It appeared initially that he’d hurt a knee but the center returned to practice after having the wind knocked out of him. He is off to a great start, scoring nearly half of the club’s goals (5 of 12) and 4 of their 5 goals on the power play in four games. … Former Chiefs captain Kevin Sawyer has won a job with the NHL Phoenix Coyotes. As a fourth-line winger, Sawyer had no goals with 27 penalty minutes in five preseason games. His coming out of nowhere to make the 23-man roster means that Coyotes stars Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk won’t have to fight all their own battles. … Scott Parker, the Deer Park High School grad and part owner of a new rink in the Spokane Valley - Planet Ice - started the season in Hershey, Pa., with the Colorado Avalanche’s American Hockey League club. Parker, who turns 22 in January, reported to rookie camp 15 pounds lighter, at 220, and graded first in conditioning tests. But, figuring Parker needs more playing time to hone his skills in front of the net, the NHL team sent him down.