WHL’s Chiefs hire Pleau as assistant coach
The Spokane Chiefs have named Steve Pleau their assistant coach for the 2006-07 season, the Western Hockey League team announced Tuesday.
Last season, Pleau was the head coach of the Peoria Rivermen and led the St. Louis Blues’ American Hockey League affiliate to a 46-win and 100-point season.
Pleau spent the last nine seasons with the Blues organization in different capacities, 6 1/2 of those as the assistant coach for the Worcester IceCats. Pleau served as Worcester’s interm head coach in the final 20 games of the 2004-05 season.
Track and field
Rebekah Noble (University of Oregon/Rogers High) placed second in her women’s 800-meter first-round heat and qualified for today’s semifinals at the IAAF World Junior Championships at Beijing.
Noble finished in 2 minutes, 8.97 seconds to join 24 runners in the semifinals. The finals are set for Friday.
Men’s basketball
University of Idaho coach George Pfeifer announced the addition of center Sebastian Taulbee and forward David Jackson.
Taulbee, 6-foot-10 and 255 pounds, comes to Idaho as a junior after averaging eight points and seven rebounds at City College of San Francisco.
Jackson (6-8, 200) averaged 17.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists at Rincon High School in Tucson, Ariz.
“Eastern Washington University released its 2006-07 schedule, which includes road games against Gonzaga, Washington, Oregon and UNLV.
EWU has eight games in November, including GU on the 10th, UNLV on the 14th and UW on the 24th.
The Eagles start the Big Sky Conference season at home with Montana State on Dec. 28 and Montana on Dec. 30.
Fishing
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that chinook fishing in the western Strait of Juan de Fuca will reopen Friday for four days.
Soccer
Whitworth’s men are ranked No. 1 in the preseason coaches’ poll, projected to become the first Northwest Conference team to win three consecutive titles since 1990.
The Pirates, 13-0-1 in conference last year, picked up six of eight first-place votes and 68 points, 15 more than Linfield. Puget Sound was the third-place choice with 46 points, one more than Pacific Lutheran.
Whitworth’s women earned 56 points and are predicted to finish third.
After a 7-7-2 NWC record in 2005, the Pirates welcome back former NWC offensive MVP Jael Hagerott, who missed last year with a knee injury.
Puget Sound, with seven first-place votes, received 86 points to outdistance Willamette by 17 points.