Chiefs struggle through January
Every sport has its dog days.
In the Western Hockey League, especially for this year’s Spokane Chiefs, it’s the month of January.
Spokane will play 13 games in 24 days, seven on the road, and is just 2-8 in those games thus far. That stretch has included a seven-game losing streak the team ended on Wednesday night against Vancouver.
This month’s schedule also includes a couple of tough stretches, including this weekend’s key three-game road series against division teams:
“ Jan. 6-8: three in three days (two at home);
“ Jan. 13-21: five in eight days (three on road); and
“ Friday-Sunday: three in three days (all on road).
The Chiefs got off to a tough start by playing three overtime games in three days during the first week of the month. The WHL trading deadline came the next week and Spokane traded away four players and got three back from Saskatoon.
That activity and a lack of practice time thereafter made for some rough hockey as Spokane tried to regroup.
The Chiefs showed signs of life in their win against Vancouver. But this weekend may be a truer test of where the team stands with just more than one-third of the season remaining.
Spokane (18-24-4-1, 41 points) is in last place in the five-team U.S. Division of the Western Conference and would miss the playoffs if they started today. The Chiefs must overtake at least one of the teams in front of them to extend the WHL careers of their two 20-year-olds, captain Jeff Lynch and newcomer Brad Erickson.
Lynch is out with a shoulder injury and the status of his return remains indefinite.
Erickson did his part to make sure the team keeps playing by scoring the winning goal against the Giants. He did it in classic grinder fashion, hanging out in front of the net and waiting for a shot to bury – which he did.
At 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, Erickson fits the mold of a prototypical Chief in the team’s recent era.
Erickson came to Spokane from Prince Albert just before the trading deadline. He began contributing immediately, as did two of the players acquired from Saskatoon.
Stout defensemen Evan Haw and highly touted goaltender Kevin Armstrong have quickly earned roles as key players. They have joined with emerging stars such as Chris Bruton, Michael Grabner, Adam Hobson and Derek Ryan to become leaders on a team which lost two of its captains – 20-year-old Chad Klassen and Joe Logan – in the trade with Saskatoon.
Even the third player acquired from Saskatoon (via Tri-City), Phil Magistrale, has found a role on the team after a tough outing in his first game as a Chief. Magistrale has also shown resilience on a personal level.
On Monday, he was carted out of the Arena on a stretcher by paramedics after practice because of an asthmatic condition. On Wednesday, he played and set up the Chiefs’ second goal against Vancouver.
Coach Bill Peters has said this team will only win games with every player contributing. That has proven true in the games Spokane has won and, inversely, in the ones it has lost.
The injury list will also be key, as forward Myles Stoesz has missed time with a hand injury and defenseman Dan Mercer is trying to slowly come back from an aggravated groin injury.