Test your Spokane hockey knowledge before the Chiefs’ season begins on Friday

Hockey has provided some of the greatest highlights in Inland Northwest sports history, ranging from Allan Cup senior amateur championships to Memorial Cup major junior crowns to a minor league pro title to a brief stint in one of hockey’s first major leagues.

Hockey Hall of Famers Lester Patrick and Emile Francis wore Spokane uniforms. All-time Spokane Chiefs great Ray Whitney won a Memorial Cup with the Chiefs and a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes. Seth Martin, who led Canada to the world championship in 1960-61, starred in goal when the 1969-70 Spokane Jets became the first U.S.-based team to win the Allan Cup.

Let’s test your knowledge about Spokane hockey history with the following quiz. Hand yourself a Stanley Cup ring if you answer 18 or more of the 25 questions correctly. You’re a Memorial Cup champ if you solve 15 to 17 questions. Proudly claim Allan Cup status if you nail 13 or 14 correct answers. You’ll find the complete list of answers at the end of the article.

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all references to the Chiefs are tied to the major junior team that has played in Spokane since the franchise moved from Kelowna, British Columbia, after the 1984-85 season. The junior Chiefs inherited the nickname of the city’s last senior amateur team after replacing the seniors in 1985-86.

1. True or false: Chiefs center Berkly Catton, drafted eighth overall by the Seattle Kraken in this year’s National Hockey League draft, is the highest draft pick in Spokane junior hockey history.

2. Who was the first Spokane youth hockey product to play in the NHL?

a) Tyler Johnson

b) Derek Ryan

c) Scott Levins

3. I led the senior amateur Jets/Flyers in scoring (counting ties) each of my first five seasons in Spokane. In three of those seasons, I led the Western International Hockey League in scoring, including one shared title with teammate Ron Huston and another shared title with teammate Bob Trembecky in the 1970s. Who am I?

4. How many former Spokane junior players are current head coaches in the NHL? Hint: One of the coaches played for Spokane’s first major junior team, the 1981-82 Flyers.

a) One

b) Two

c) Three

5. True or false: The leading single-season goal scorer in Chiefs history is married to Hollywood actress Candance Cameron Bure.

6. Name the former Spokane Comets pro defenseman who became the oldest rookie in NHL history when he played for the 1972-73 St. Louis Blues at the age of 38.

7. Who is the former Chiefs (and Spokane Indians baseball) broadcaster who became the longtime play-by-play man on Miami Marlins major league baseball telecasts?

a) Paul Olden

b) Rich Waltz

c) Craig West

8. Name the 1961-62 Spokane Comets goaltender who played in all 86 games – counting 16 playoff games – without using a mask, helmet or backup goalie in the original (pro) Western Hockey League.

a) Cesare Maniago

b) Emile Francis

c) Eddie Johnston

9. The coach of Spokane’s first Allan Cup champions – the 1969-70 Jets – is the only player since World War II to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player while playing on a last-place team. Who is he?

a) Ron Harris

b) Al Rollins

c) Ron Huston

10. Lester Patrick, the player-coach-general manager-owner of the 1916-17 Spokane Canaries – the only major league sports franchise in Spokane history – won more Stanley Cups as a player, coach and/or general manager than any other individual with a direct connection to Spokane hockey. How many Cups did Patrick win?

a) Two

b) Five

c) Six

11. Name the former Spokane Flyers senior amateur enforcer who inspired the goon character Ogie Ogilthorpe in the classic minor league hockey movie “Slap Shot”.

12. Dennis LaRue and Mick McGeough were longtime NHL referees who played on Spokane senior amateur and Junior B teams. Did either man grow up in Spokane?

13. Who is the ex-Chiefs star who led the NHL in playoff points (tied) and goals in 2014-15? Hint: His Tampa Bay team lost to Chicago in the Stanley Cup Final.

14. Gonzaga University briefly competed in high-level NCAA hockey during the World War II era. Gonzaga’s star goaltender won a Stanley Cup and the NHL’s Rookie of the Year award (the Calder Memorial Trophy) with Toronto in 1944-45. Can you name him?

a) George Steeves

b) Jerry Pettigrew

c) Frank McCool

15. True or false: The head coaches of Spokane’s two Memorial Cup champions – Bryan Maxwell in 1990-91 and Bill Peters in 2007-08 – became head coaches in the NHL.

16. The Spokane Flyers won back-to-back U.S. senior amateur titles in 1948-49 and 1949-50. At the time, only Canadian senior amateur teams were eligible for the Allan Cup. How many Allan Cups did Spokane teams win once U.S. squads became eligible?

17. Former Chiefs head coaches Don Nachbaur and Ryan Smith landed new jobs in the WHL this season. Name their new teams.

18. Who is the NHL career leader in goals and points among ex-Spokane players.

a) Tyler Johnson

b) Ray Whitney

c) Pat Falloon

19. Spokane’s occasional forays into pro hockey usually resulted in struggles on the ice and at the turnstiles, but the 1940-41 team captured the city’s only pro hockey championship. Spokane finished first in the Pacific Coast Hockey League with a 25-18-5 record, then lost to Vancouver in the playoffs. What was the nickname of Spokane’s team? Give yourself bonus points if you know the nickname of PCHL rival Seattle in 1940-41.

20. Former Chiefs center Liam Stewart is the son of a famous rock and pop singer and a successful model and actress. Can you identify Liam’s parents?

21. Tom Hodges was a player, coach, general manager and owner with Spokane senior amateur and pro teams for nearly 30 years. Growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Hodges became a childhood friend and teammate of the player Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky, considered the greatest of all time. Who was Hodges’ famous hometown buddy?

22. True or false: A Spokane Junior B product has never played on a Stanley Cup championship team.

23. Name the colorful former NHL coach and broadcaster who played defense for the pro Spokane Comets in 1962-63.

24. Former Chiefs coach Butch Goring played on four consecutive Stanley Cup champions from 1979-80 to 1982-83. How many franchises did Goring play on during that rare stretch of NHL glory?

a) One

b) Two

c) Three

25. Which two teams played in the first hockey game held at the Spokane Arena? Hint: The game was an NHL preseason contest in 1995.

Answers

1. False. The San Jose Sharks drafted Pat Falloon second overall after the Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) selected future Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros in 1991. 2. Scott Levins spent parts of six seasons in the NHL in the 1990s. A rugged forward, Levins scored 13 goals and 33 points in 124 games and piled up 316 penalty minutes. Levins, who attended Central Valley High School, played for the Junior B Spokane Braves and the WHL’s Tri-City Americans before turning pro. 3. Ken Gustafson. 4. Three. Former Chiefs player Jared Bednar coaches the Colorado Avalanche. Travis Green is the new coach of the Ottawa Senators. Dean Evason, who played for Spokane’s first major junior franchise (the Flyers) in the early 1980s, is in his first year with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Green and Evason, who enjoyed lengthy NHL playing careers, have previous experience as NHL head coaches. 5. True. Valeri Bure, the younger brother of Hall of Famer Pavel Bure, scored 68 goals for the Chiefs in l992-93.

6. Legendary minor league tough guy Connie Madigan, who made a cameo appearance as a goon in the minor league hockey comedy movie “Slap Shot”. 7. Rich Waltz. 8. Eddie Johnston, who went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins. 9. Al Rollins somehow compiled a respectable 3.21 goals-against average for a Chicago Black Hawks (now Blackhawks) team that posted a ghastly 12-53-7 record in 1953-54. Five of Chicago’s 12 wins came in shutouts for Rollins, who played in 66 of 70 games. Rollins’ save percentage and saves per game are not available. 10. Lester Patrick won six Stanley Cups: two as a player with the Montreal Wanderers in 1905-06 and 1906-07, and four as a coach and/or general manager with the Victoria (British Columbia) Cougars in 1924-25 and the New York Rangers in 1927-28, 1932-33 and 1939-40. Patrick’s major league hockey experiment in Spokane lasted just one season, since attendance was so poor at the club’s roofless arena that the Canaries played “home” games on the road late in the season. Spokane finished last in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in 1916-17, when the Seattle Metropolitans won the PCHA and the Stanley Cup.

11. Bill Goldthorpe, a busy and skilled fighter in the minor leagues, briefly played for the senior amateur Spokane Flyers in 1979-80. 12. No. McGeough was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. Dennis LaRue was born in Savannah, Georgia, and moved to Spokane at a young age. 13. Tyler Johnson scored 13 goals and 23 points in 26 games for Tampa Bay during the 2014-15 NHL playoffs. Johnson, born in Spokane and raised in Liberty Lake, played Junior B for the old Coeur d’Alene Lakers before spending four seasons with the Chiefs. 14. Frank McCool, who was forced to retire from hockey after his second season with Toronto due to severe ulcers. 15. False. Bill Peters was an NHL head coach with Carolina and Calgary. He now coaches the Lethbridge (Alberta) Hurricanes, a WHL rival of the Chiefs. Maxwell, a longtime WHL head coach, served two years as an assistant coach for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings before taking the head coaching job with the Chiefs in 1989-90.

16. Spokane, the first U.S.-based team to win an Allan Cup, won four titles. The Allan Cup took up residence south of the border in 1969-70, 1971-72, 1975-76 and 1979-80. 17. Don Nachbaur, a veteran WHL head coach, is the new head coach in Wenatchee. Ryan Smith, let go by the Chiefs after last season, is the associate head coach of the Regina Pats. 18. Ray Whitney scored 385 goals and 1,064 points in 22-plus seasons in the NHL. 19. Bombers. One of the Bombers’ PCHL rivals was – get ready for it – the Seattle Seahawks. Talk about ahead of your time …. 20. Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter.

21. Gordie Howe. 22. False. Spokane Braves alum Scott Parker won a Stanley Cup ring with Colorado in 2000-01. The vast majority of Spokane Junior B players have been local products, but Parker was raised in Eagle River, Alaska. 23. Don Cherry, who spent 18 seasons playing in the minor leagues. His only NHL action as a player came in one playoff game with the Boston Bruins in 1954-55, Cherry’s first season as a pro. 24. One. Butch Goring won all four of his Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders. 25. San Jose and Vancouver clashed on Sept. 17, 1995, in the Arena. Former Chiefs stars Ray Whitney and Pat Falloon, playing for San Jose, were the star attractions.

Howie Stalwick covered hockey and other sports for The Spokesman-Review and a long list of other media sources (often as a freelancer) during a 44-year career in sports writing. Occasional post-retirement work for The S-R has stretched Howie’s sports writing career past the half-century mark. Howie retired in his hometown of Spokane in 2016. He may be contacted at howiestalwick73@gmail.com.