Chiefs close in on reaching coach’s goals
Spokane Chiefs coach Bill Peters gave his hockey team concrete goals before its recent stretch of home games.
In order to stay in contention in the U.S. Division during the month of November, he said his team needed to:
“Establish itself on home ice;
“Find a way to win without injured players in the lineup;
“Share the puck, without worrying about who scores the goals;
“Improve its specialty teams play;
“And, finally, play with more consistent levels of discipline and intensity.
The second-year coach refers to all of the foregoing as “playing a mature game.” His team has done all of that lately – even without some of its top players – yet he refuses to indicate that his team has fully come of age.
“We’ve got some things going in our direction, but we have some things to work on and we need to get back to work,” Peters said after Saturday’s home win over a game, but young and tired, Kelowna team.
Spokane has had a full week to work on those “things” in practice and Peters said he’s liked his team’s work ethic.
The time has also allowed the Chiefs to heal up some injuries and recover from some flu and cold bugs going around the locker room.
The Chiefs (13-10-3-1) will get a chance to measure their progress tonight in Kennewick when they take on the second-place Tri-City Americans to start another key stretch of games. Between now and Christmas, third-place Spokane will face all four of its U.S. Division foes in six of its next seven games – five at home – including three against fourth-place Seattle.
Peters said his team has come through a recent rash of key injuries with “good goaltending and depth. We’ve played our young guys all along and it pays off when you develop your young guys,” he said.
The Chiefs have been forced to rely upon their depth, seeing the maturation of players such as 16-year-old forward Levko Koper. They had to make a conscious decision to stick with goalie Kevin Armstrong (7-6-2, 2.99 goals against average, .893 saves percentage) after his slow start this season.
Armstrong has responded with the form that the Chiefs saw when they acquired him as part of a trade-deadline deal with Saskatoon last season.
As the Chiefs had a strong November, Armstrong posted a record of 5-1-2-1, with monthly totals of a 2.37 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
“It feels real good,” Armstrong said this week after practice. “I’ve got my goals set and I’m just trying to achieve them. I think I’m doing pretty well for myself right now and it has a lot to do with how good the team is playing.”
Meanwhile, leaders like 20-year-old assistant captain Derek Ryan have been picking up the slack, on and off the ice, for missing teammates.
“Everyone’s been stepping up with the injuries in the lineup. We’ve been talking a lot about it lately,” Ryan said, noting the team expects more when players such as Michael Grabner and Adam Hobson return.
“When you have big guys out of the lineup and you get them back, it always gives more confidence to us. And we’ve been winning, so we have a lot of confidence already. So it’s huge and obviously it will impact our scoring, and leadership, as well,” Ryan said.
Second-year winger Drayson Bowman agrees the Chiefs are finding an identity.
“We’ve got a lot of key guys out right now, so we’re happy with where we”re at right now. We’re playing good hockey,” Bowman said. “(And) we’ve got a lot of good guys coming back; (so) it’s going to help our lineup.”
Peters said the reason for his team’s higher level of play is simple.
“They’ve earned the right to be confident, just because they work hard,” Peters said. “They work hard in practice and they work hard, off the ice, in the weight room. When you do those types of things, it gives you confidence; and now you have the right to have confidence. Then you get rewarded in games.”