Steve Christilaw:

When you stop and think about it, we have a rich history of hometown guys accomplishing great things in the sporting world.

Not just athletes who played in the area on their way through college. Athletes who grew up in Spokane and played their high school careers on our fields and in our gyms.

Not that we aren’t immensely proud of the Drew Bledsoes and Marcus Trufants and Klay Thompsons who moved to Pullman for a few years while they starred at Washington State.

I’m talking about the ones who call Spokane their hometown.

It’s an impressive list.

We’ve seen a great deal over the years. We were thrilled when Tom Sneva won the Indianapolis 500 in 1983 and even more so when Mark Rypien led Washington to a win in Super Bowl XXVI, earning the game’s MVP award in the process.

A lot of us became Chicago Cubs fans when North Central grad Ryne Sandberg moved into Wrigley Field and enjoyed a Hall of Fame-career.

John Stockton is a legend in two cities. His hometown exploits at Gonzaga are the gold standard against which every Bulldog since has been measured. And his offspring are busy charting their own exemplary careers.

The number of us who still remember the days when Gerry Lindgren was tearing up the track at Rogers High School, and later on at Washington State, may dwindle as the years go by, but the legend will live on. And on.

The United States record in the pole vault? It’s 19-feet, 93/4 inches and it’s owned by Spokane’s own Brad Walker, who graduated from University High School.

There is plenty of excitement and anticipation for the professional careers of young pros Tyler Olson with the Seattle Mariners and Bishop Sankey with the Tennessee Titans.

Lost in the mix is this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, where a favorite son is doing quite well.

For most of us, the only ice we care to think about this time of year is what makes that satisfying tinkle in a glass. Once the Spokane Chiefs season ends, too many of us forget about hockey for another season.

And that’s a mistake.

The first round of the NHL playoffs has the Detroit Red Wings battling the Tampa Bay Lightning – which should easily be a Spokane Chiefs fan’s dream matchup.

For starters, the Red Wings are coached by former Chiefs coach Mike Babcock. He’s not a hometown guy, but when it comes to hockey, you take what you can get.

Except when it comes to the Lightning, who are led by Central Valley graduate Tyler Johnson, who is looking to cap an All-Star season with a first-round win.

Johnson had a very good regular season in Tampa, scoring 29 goals and passing for 43 assists. His 72 points ranked him 14th in the league and earned him a spot in the NHL All-Star game, but an injury prevented him from playing.

In the playoffs, the NHL expects its stars to step up and carry a team. Against the Red Wings, Johnson did just that in Game 2 of the series, scoring a pair of goals to even the series at one win apiece.

His goal three minutes into the game gave the Lightning their first lead of the series; his second of the game gave Tampa a 4-0 lead en route to a 5-1 win in the Eastern Conference series.

The former CV Bear already is considered one of the NHL’s rising stars.

Keep an eye on the rest of this Detroit Red Wing series – it could very well be where Tyler Johnson cements that status and removes that word “rising” and arrives as a bona fide star.