New season begins for Chiefs
A new season for the Spokane Chiefs begins today.
Such is life when the Western Hockey League playoffs roll around every spring.
“Everything starts from zero,” Chiefs captain Chris Bruton said. “We have zero wins so far in the postseason, zero losses and nobody has a point yet or has scored a goal – it’s a brand new season and anything can happen.”
So the Chiefs aren’t living in the past heading into tonight’s playoff opener with the Everett Silvertips. That’s probably best.
But the Chiefs’ past, in terms of their history with the Silvertips, is an intriguing one.
The U.S. Division rivals met in the first round of the playoffs last season in opposite positions.
The Silvertips, who won the series 4-2, were the top-ranked team in the 60-team Canadian Hockey League, won the Scotty Munro Trophy for the best regular-season record in the WHL and were heavily favored when opening the best-of-7 series with Spokane, a team coming off a two-year playoff drought that finished 36-28-4-4 with 80 points.
How things can turn around in a year.
The third-seeded Chiefs are coming off one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, are ranked second in the CHL and finished with a franchise-record 107 points behind a 50-15-1-6 record (which tied the franchise record for most wins in a season).
They were one win away from earning the Scotty Munro Trophy, which the division-rival Tri-City Americans captured in a 2-1, winner-takes-all victory last Saturday in Kennewick.
Everett, the Western Conference’s sixth seed, finished 39-30-0-3 this year with 81 points.
“I think that’s a good thing,” said Bruton of swapping roles with Everett.
“We felt the hard end of it and we went through that and know what that’s all about, and now this year we have a lot more confidence – we have guys with playoff games under their belts, and that only helps build more for us.”
What’s also interesting is that Spokane was 4-4 against Everett, which lost a total of 18 games, last season and five of Spokane’s 22 losses this season were at the hands of the Silvertips.
The Chiefs, as Bruton said, are better prepared in terms of playoff experience this season.
Last season, three Spokane players – Sean Zimmerman, Derek Ryan and Adam Hobson – had minimal playoff experience. Each had played four postseason games in the 2004 playoffs.
This year’s roster is peppered with postseason familiarity.
“It helps a lot,” Bruton said. “That first game we played (last year), I think we were all jittery and it was a different world. Now we know that tomorrow is just another game.
“The stakes are higher and it’s going to be faster, but if you look at the big picture it’s just another game.”
Another game, and another series, between two clubs that know each other well, which is a good thing, according to Chiefs coach Bill Peters.
“We’re a team that’s very comfortable and very confident playing them,” Peters said. “There aren’t going to be a whole lot of secrets. We’ve played them 22 times in the last two years … it’s going to come down to who wants it more and who’s more disciplined.”
After a line brawl in last year’s playoffs that resulted in multiple suspensions on both teams, and a much-talked about incident between Bruton and Everett’s Kyle Beach this season, it’s safe to say there isn’t any love lost between the two teams – which should make the series that much more intense.
Ice chips
Peters announced that Dustin Tokarski will start between the posts for Spokane. Tokarski was 30-10-0-3 during the regular season and was in net for all eight games with Everett. Tokarski finished the season with a league-high .922 save percentage. … The Chiefs will have the 21st overall pick in the first round of this year’s WHL Bantam Draft, the league announced Wednesday. The Red Deer Rebels won the draft lottery and will pick first overall. … The Western Conference All-Stars were announced in a press conference and Drayson Bowman was the lone Chief called, as the sniper made the second team.