Chiefs open camp with high hopes

The Spokane Chiefs hit the ice today for the first time this season as a hockey team.

For many of them, and coach Al Conroy, it is a long-awaited moment. Almost too long.

The Chiefs kick off a three-day training camp at the Spokane Arena with practices and scrimmages today and Saturday. They wind up the weekend with the annual Red-White scrimmage on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Arena.

Everywhere one looks in the organization, it seems there are individuals with something to prove.

First and foremost is Conroy, the third-year coach whose return appeared to be in question after the Chiefs were swept out of the Western Hockey League playoffs by the Everett Silvertips. That’s now old news.

The organization, in the person of general manger Tim Speltz, has expressed undying confidence in Conroy. To a man, so do all of the returning players questioned.

A couple of those returnees also want to make their presence felt this season, on the theory that individual success will positively impact the team.

Chief among those are 18-year-old goalie Jim Watt and 19-year-old forward Chad Klassen.

Watt (franchise records of .915 save percentage and 2.65 goals against average) is the team’s undisputed No. 1 goaltender heading into camp. Klassen (35 goals, 91 points) was the team’s second-leading scorer last season.

Both players went undrafted in this summer’s National Hockey League draft. To some degree, both are using that as motivation. More importantly, none of the returnees want to again feel the emptiness of last season.

Not that it was a total loss, as the team finished at 32-29-4-7 (75 points, fourth in the Western Division) and made the WHL playoffs. The series with Everett was a tight one which could have easily gone the other way.

“We made strides points-wise and wins-wise (from 2002-2003), but it was definitely the consistency, at times, that let us down,” said Conroy.

However, streaks like last season’s untimely 11-game losing skid seemed interminable to the players.

“We need to come up with a way of getting through those slow times.” said Conroy. “Every team in the league goes through those and typically it comes down to the character of the coaches and the character of the players that gets you through those.”

None of the returning team leadership sees such a streak happening this season. But one of last year’s leaders won’t be at camp.

Last season’s leading scorer, 20-year-old Brad Schell, is signed by the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers and will most likely not return to the team. His situation is complicated by the NHL labor dispute.

Others who will eventually attend NHL camps this fall but are still reporting for the opening of Chiefs camp are Ned Lukacevic, Gary Gladue, Scott Lynch and Jevon Desautels.

The Chiefs kicked off camp informally on Thursday, as roughly 60 players checked in and were put through fitness testing. The players will be divided into three teams for the practices and scrimmages, all of which are open to the public and are free of charge.

The camp also marks the debut of two new assistant coaches for Spokane, former Chiefs captain Kevin Sawyer and Rikard Gronborg.

Gronborg, 36, is originally from Sweden and is a former NCAA Division I player. Sawyer, 30, just concluded his NHL career with Anaheim.

Notes

Defenseman Andy Schenn, 18, notified the team over the summer of his desire to be traded and won’t be attending camp. The Chiefs will be attempting to oblige his wishes. … Defenseman Gustav Engman is currently trying out for Sweden’s national U-20 team. … Former Chief Brandin Cote has been skating with some of the Chiefs players this week during informal ice sessions. … Ex-Spokane player Cam Severson, Sawyer’s teammate at Anaheim, has also worked out with some of the players this summer.