Chiefs have way to go, but have come far

It’s hard to say when the Spokane Chiefs franchise officially hit rock bottom.

It sure felt like that to owner Bobby Brett and general manager Tim Speltz in March 2005 when the Western Hockey League team finished in last place in the U.S. Division and missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

It led Brett to publicly promise changes. Coach Al Conroy soon thereafter lost his job. Yet the hard times were hardly over.

Despite signs of hope, new coach Bill Peters found himself explaining a 12-game losing streak and another last-place finish in March of this year. Letters to the editor wanted heads to roll after the season, most of them asking for Speltz’s.

Oh, what a difference nine months make.

At the end of last season, Spokane was ranked last out of 20 teams in the WHL writers’ poll. This week, the Chiefs are rated 10th among WHL teams and are in a battle for second place in their division as they enter the Christmas break. They have posted recent wins over two of the top teams in Canada, Vancouver and Everett.

“I don’t know that there’s any vindication there or not, but somebody’s got to be responsible and I’ll take that responsibility,” Speltz said this week. “At the same time, when things go right with a team, things go right for a reason.”

The Chiefs admittedly are not yet on an even plane with the franchise’s storied Memorial Cup teams – or even the elite of this year’s WHL – yet the foundation for such exists in a new era of major junior hockey.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Peters said this week.

Yet the Chiefs are a long way from where they were, although it’s just as hard to pin down when the turnaround began.

“It’s a cyclical business and it’s always going to be,” said Speltz.

He points to devices such as the WHL’s inverse-order draft that is meant to help low-finishing teams bounce back faster. It’s allowed Spokane to get higher draft picks and, according to Speltz, get the top player on the team’s board each of the past three years.

In retrospect, the glass was partially full even during the leanest times. At the end of the 2004-05 season, future stars on the roster included Chris Bruton, Michael Grabner, Adam Hobson, Derek Ryan and Sean Zimmerman. Two years later, those now-veteran players are leading the team’s resurgence.

The Bantam Draft picks that off-season have become key contributors to this year’s team. This year’s draft class looks just as promising, led by No. 1 overall selection Jared Cowen.

In reality, a combination of factors has made the Chiefs competitive once again: more savvy personnel decisions, good coaching, more discipline, better off-ice chemistry, and much-improved goaltending.

The reshaping of the roster is the most dramatic aspect of the overhaul, although the changes have come over time. Only a fraction of the players from 2005 remain because of a combination of trades and the timely listing of under-the-radar players.

In last weekend’s home win over Portland, the game’s “three stars” were all players who went undrafted by WHL teams: goaltender Dustin Tokarski and forwards Judd Blackwater and David Rutherford.

Depth has allowed Spokane to string together several recent wins without injured players such as Hobson (the team’s captain), Bruton and Grabner.

“Personnel-wise, I like where we’re at,” said Peters. “I’ve liked our lineups from November on and we’ve got some key guys who’ve missed quite a bit of hockey. Our team game is a lot better than it was last year.”

The organization’s point men also feel better today about the Chiefs’ talent level on its protected list and those players’ intangible qualities.

“I like the makeup of the people on our 50-man list, the fact that they’re hard-working and driven people who want to be pros,” said Peters.

When all is said and done, the front office and coaches probably get too much credit when things go right and too much blame when things go wrong.

“Whenever the fans have stuff to say, (Speltz) gets the brunt of it,” said Chris Moulton, who came on as director of scouting and player personnel in June 2005. “A lot of that is because he’s at the rink and fans know who he is. But Tim works really hard to put a good product on the ice.

“I wouldn’t have even considered leaving the (Calgary) organization if I didn’t trust what he was doing.

“I think they’ve had some good years and some bad years here. Fans all around the league say the same kinds of things about their teams.”