Chiefs reap rewards, collect another victory

A sweet November has set the tone for a good start in December for the Spokane Chiefs.

Tuesday included two individual honors and two more points in the standings for the Western Hockey League’s top team.

The day began with the announcement that Chiefs sniper Drayson Bowman was named the WHL’s Player of the Month.

The good news continued with Dustin Tokarski earning the Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Week award, and the day ended with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in Edmonton, Alberta.

In the first meeting between the Chiefs (22-4-1-2) and the expansion Edmonton (11-15-2-3) franchise – where former Chiefs assistant Steve Pleau is the head coach – five different Chiefs scored en route to victory.

David Rutherford netted his first goal – fourth of the season – since returning from a groin injury that had sidelined the overage forward and team’s returning leading goal scorer from last season since Oct. 5. Rutherford also had an assist.

Bowman scored his league-leading 26th goal and added an assist, and linemate Mitch Wahl matched the two-point effort with a goal and an assist.

Bowman, a Carolina Hurricanes’ third-round pick, scored 13 goals, 11 assists and had 24 points in the month of November.

He had two hat tricks in that time and recorded a point in 10 of the 11 games.

Bowman was also the WHL and CHL Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks.

Also in the game against the Oil Kings, import Ondrej Roman had a goal and two assists, captain Chris Bruton had two helpers and veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored his fourth goal of the season on the Chiefs’ only power-play conversion.

Defenseman Justin Falk and Jace Coyle rounded out the scoring, each with one assist.

Chiefs’ netminder Kevin Armstrong improved to 10-3-1-1, turning away 20 shots.

Fellow goalie Tokarski (12-1-0-1) earned the CHL award after earning two wins, including his third shutout of the season in a 2-0 victory over Red Deer on Sunday, last week. His 1.64 goals-against average leads the league.

The Chiefs, who have a five-point lead over the second-place Tri-City Americans in the U.S. Division, conclude a five-games-in-six-nights swing through the Central Division tonight in Lethbridge, Alberta.

They return to the Arena ice Saturday night to take on the Swift Current Broncos in The Spokesman-Review’s Teddy Bear Toss night.