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Primer for Chiefs at Kelowna

Dave Trimmer

A little primer for tonight’s Chiefs’ game at Kelowna from our friend Doyle Potenteau at The Daily Courier, read below.

The Everett Herald took a look at the stretch run prior to the Silvertips win last night, when Shane Harper sent a franchise  record with his 39th goal.

F Todd Kennedy of the Tri-City Americans has been suspended for seven games for his high hit on Portland Winterhawks D Eric Doyle on Feb. 23. Kennedy, who already has sat out four games, was given a charging major on the play. Doyle has a concussion and is out indefinitely. In fact, there is some question as to whether he will play again this season. This is the harshest suspension delivered by Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president, hockey, this season. Kennedy missed the game Spokane won 5-2 on Saturday but will be back before their two meetings next week. The Americans were without G Drew Owsley (concussion) when they met the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday night in the Rose Garden. Owsley was injured Saturday in a collision with Spokane F Blake Gal. That means the Americans will be riding G Alex Pechurskiy for a bit and he was up to the task, making 51 stops in a 5-1 win at Portland on Tuesday.


By Doyle Potenteau
The Daily Courier

Two teams with two different agendas will be on display tonight at Prospera Place .
For the Kelowna Rockets , the short-term goal is to finish regular-season play on a strong note, and a strong showing against Spokane will help that cause. For the Chiefs, this evening’s game is yet another step in what’s expected to be a long, and highly successful, playoff run.
Loaded with talent and experience, the Chiefs (40-21-3-1) are one of the hottest teams in the WHL of late, having won nine of their past 10 games and 11 of their past 13. Spokane’s run comes after a so-so January, where the Chiefs went 8-6-0-1 before discovering their game.
Earlier this week, Rockets head coach Ryan Huska called Spokane the most dangerous team in the Western Conference , adding “they‘re very deep offensively and they play a very good defensive style of hockey, which makes them difficult to play against. There‘s a lot of good teams in our conference, but I would rate them as the No. 1 team.”
“Throughout the year, we’ve showed glimpses of playing very, very well, and, obviously, the not-so-good side of the Chiefs has shown up as well,” said Spokane head coach Hardy Sauter. “It took us a while, but by the last week of January, you could tell we were starting to get it figured out. And that carried over into a very strong month of February.”
As for Huska’s No. 1 label, Sauter said “for Ryan to give us that sort of compliment, it’s extremely flattering … if you want to know the truth, it honestly sets me back a little bit. I definitely respect him as a coach and his team, and for him to say something like that is definitely a huge compliment.
“Hopefully we live up to the billing.”
One reason for Spokane’s success has been the play of Kelowna native Kyle Beach . The 6-foot-3 power forward, who leads the WHL in goals with 48, is having a career season in what’s likely to be his last junior campaign despite having one more season of eligibility. The recently turned 20-year-old has set highs in goals and points (78), yet he’s still feisty as ever, having rolled up 160 penalty minutes.
Not afraid to fight or trash talk, Beach posted 196 PIMs in his rookie season with Everett in 2006-07, then upped that to 222 in 2007-08. Last season, in 54 games between Everett and Lethbridge, he had 24 goals  and 39 assists for 63 points and 165 PIMs.
Other reasons for Spokane’s success include a bevy of offensive talent, with centre Mitch Wahl of Seal Beach, Calif., leading the way with 85 points (28-57). Tyler Johnson , who played for the U.S. at the 2010 world junior hockey championship, has 31 goals and 63 points in 57 games, while winger Levko Koper of Edmonton is fourth in team scoring with 50 points (26-24).
Including Koper, Beach, Johnson and Wahl, the Chiefs have six players in their 19-year-old seasons. Kelowna has four, with forwards Evan Bloodoff having just recovered from earlier knee surgery and Kyle St. Denis out indefinitely with a concussion.
This week, Johnson was named the WHL’s player of the month, having tallied 10 goals and 24 points. The Chiefs selected the Spokane native in the 11th round of the WHL’s 2005 bantam draft.
Spokane’s defence has plenty of talent as well, with Jared Spurgeon leading the offensive charge with seven goals and 48 points, and 6-foot-5 Jared Cowen of Allan, Sask., playing a big physical presence. Both Cowen ( Ottawa Senators , 2009) and Beach ( Chicago Blackhawks , 2008) are first-round draft picks.
But while Spokane and Kelowna are going through different seasons, the two franchises are both involved in playoff races.
In Western Conference standings , sixth-place Kelowna (30-30-2-4) is tied points-wise at 66 with  seventh-place Blazers (30-32-2-4), though the Rockets get the nod due to a higher points percentage (.500 to .493) while also having two games in hand. And just two points back are the eighth-place Chilliwack Bruins (29-31-1-5).
So, with just two points separating sixth through eighth, the playoff race is on for the higher seeding.
Spokane is in the same-style race boat Kelowna is in, although the fourth-place Chiefs are trying to reel in the third-place Everett Silvertips (42-19-3-2), who are five points up on Spokane. But despite how well the Chiefs have been playing lately, it seems unlikely Spokane will overtake Everett for that No. 3 seeding. The ’Tips have a favourable schedule, with four of their six remaining regular-season games against teams with losing records. On Tuesday night, the Silvertips beat the Blazers 5-1 in Kamloops. This Friday and Saturday, Everett visits Prince George for two games.
Spokane, meanwhile, has a tougher schedule, with just three games against lesser teams, with two of them against Kelowna. The Chiefs host the Rockets on Tuesday, March 9, though, notably, Spokane and Everett
close out their regular-season schedules by playing each other on March 14.
“We’re not trying to predict or maneuver specifically to match up with a  first-round opponent,” said Sauter. “What we’re doing is just trying to win games. And quite honestly, we still think we have a shot at (finishing in first-place) .”
So, why should Rockets fans care about the race between Spokane and Everett? Because if Kelowna holds course, they’ll play one of those two teams in the first round of the playoffs.
The Rockets will likely finish the season with 70 points — winning just two of their remaining six games left, barring any big upsets — while the Blazers should finish with 70 as well. Kamloops has two games against Prince George and two against the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants (39-22-2-3). The Blazers are 5-3-0-0 against the Cougars this season and 1-2-1-2 against the Giants. On the flip side, Vancouver is 5-0-0-1 against Kamloops.
However, should Kelowna finish seventh, all is not lost, as they’ll play Vancouver. With a fifth consecutive B.C. Division title now theirs — yes, you read right, five straight — the Giants have clamped down on the No. 2 seeding. Like the NHL, division winners in the WHL are seeded first and second in conference standings, regardless if other non-division winners have more points.
Where the Rockets doesn’t want to finish is eighth. This season, Kelowna is 0-2 against Spokane; 1-4 against Everett; and 2-3-1-0 against Vancouver. Against the Western Conference-leading Tri-City Americans , the Rockets are 0-4, with each loss being one-sided (6-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-1).
ICE CHIPS: The Rockets are 16-12-1-3 at home, while the Chiefs are 20-9-2-1 on the road… . Kelowna is 15-3-1-2 and 17-3-1-1 when leading after the first and second periods, respectively, while Spokane is 22-3-2-0 and 16-7-0-0… . Kelowna is also 6-16-0-1 and 2-23-1-2 when trailing after the first and second, while Spokane, surprisingly, is 2-11-1-1 and 1-16-1-0.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "SportsLink." Read all stories from this blog