Klassen chosen for WHL all-star team

In a nod to his stellar start, Spokane Chiefs center Chad Klassen received some great news on Tuesday.

Klassen has been named to the Western Hockey League all-star team that will participate in the 2004 ADT CHL Canada-Russia Series.

The Series will pit Team WHL against the Russian Selects in two games in Alberta, in Red Deer on Dec. 1 and in Lethbridge on Dec. 2. The games are the final contests of a six-game challenge with Canadian Hockey League teams throughout Canada.

Klassen, who leads the Chiefs in scoring, is 11th in the WHL in that category with seven goals and 13 assists in 15 games. He had a career-high 91 points last season. The 19-year-old from Warman, Saskatchewan, was the Chiefs’ first-round selection in the 2000 WHL Bantam Draft and has appeared in 149 consecutive games for Spokane.

“It’s exciting,” said Klassen of the news. “It’s quite an honor. It’s going to be a good game and I’m looking forward to it.”

The WHL also announced that coaches Willie Desjardins of the Medicine Hat Tigers and Curtis Hunt of the Regina Pats will serve as assistants to Team WHL head coach Brent Sutter. Sutter is general manager and head coach of the Red Deer Rebels.

Sutter is also coach for Hockey Canada’s 2005 World Junior Team. The ADT Canada/Russia Challenge Series represents the final opportunity to evaluate WHL players prior to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp in mid-December.