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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Chiefs will skate down memory lane during big trip

The Spokane Chiefs embark today on a six-day road trip that will be a homecoming tour of sorts.

Almost every stop on the trip will allow Chiefs players – and some of their coaches – to meet up with family and longtime friends at Canadian rinks.

After a day of travel, Spokane hits the ice on Friday when it plays at Lethbridge, Alberta. That contest will be the first of five games in six days against foes from the Central Division of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.

Friday night’s game with the Hurricanes will have a couple of reunion angles to it. First, Lethbridge is where Chiefs coach Bill Peters spent the last three years. He was head coach at the University of Lethbridge before being hired by Spokane last summer.

“It’s always fun when you get to see some familiar faces and get caught up on old times,” said Peters.

Spokane will also likely face a former teammate in goal for Lethbridge. Kevin Opsahl, traded earlier this season by the Chiefs, is the Hurricanes’ starting goalie after having backed up Jim Watt in Spokane. Opsahl is off to a solid start – No. 11 statistically in the WHL, with a record of 12-10-0-3, a 2.48 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.

The next night, Saturday in Medicine Hat, Spokane general manager Tim Speltz will return to his old stamping grounds. The Tigers (18-5-0-6) are the top-ranked team in the WHL and the No. 4 junior team in all of Canada.

“From a personal standpoint, it’s good,” said Speltz. “The one thing you want to be careful of is that those games in your home city are maybe a little more important to you, but they’re still just another game – a very important game – for the guys on the team.”

On Sunday night, the Chiefs face ex-teammate Ned Lukacevic at Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He was also traded by the team earlier this season. He has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 27 games overall. The team closes out the trip in Alberta on Tuesday and Wednesday, at Red Deer and Calgary, respectively. Red Deer is the home of both Peters and Chiefs goaltending coach Denis Sproxton. Many of the players from the Calgary and Edmonton areas will see family on the last stop.

By the way, the team has some things its coach would like to see it accomplish on the ice. Spokane (11-12-1, 23 points) is just one point ahead of archrival Tri-City for last place in the five-team U.S. Division. That’s the bad news for Chiefs fans. The good news is the division remains tightly contested.

Everett (31 points) got out of the gate quickly but has been missing some its key players recently as it has gone 2-7-1 over its last 10 games (including a team-record, seven-game losing streak). Second-place Portland (29 points) was the preseason favorite but has also struggled with key injuries, such as defenseman Michael Sauer. But he’s back and so are the Winter Hawks (7-1-1-1 over their last 10).

The Chiefs are trying to keep up with third-place Seattle (28 points), a team Spokane beat 4-3 in a shootout on Friday in a physical game in Spokane. Peters gave his players the weekend off to heal, mentally and physically, for the road trip.

“We want to have a consistent road trip,” said Peters. “We want to get off to a good start on Friday and build on that. We have some things we want to straighten out in our game.”

Notes

Seattle defenseman Greg Scott was suspended for two games for his hit on Spokane defenseman Sean Zimmerman on Friday. … Spokane called up 16-year-old forward Chris Langkow for the trip, but he will return to his team afterward.