WHL gifts webcasts

The Western Hockey League enters its holiday break in a gift-giving mood. The league announced Wednesday that it will offer free webcasts of WHL games when the season resumes. That includes two Spokane Chiefs games against the Kootenay Ice, Dec. 28 at Cranbrook, B.C., and Dec. 29 at the Arena. For information, go to whl.neulion.com/whl. The Chiefs (23-10-1-0), ranked ninth in last week’s Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 poll, dropped out the poll this week after losing three of their last four games. Spokane (47 points) fell one point behind Kelowna for third place in the Western Conference standings.