February 16, 2009

Minor-league Title Town: Chiefs edition

Unlike with professional and college sports, junior hockey teams aren't built for maintained success. With star players and top coaches moving up the ranks, it's rare to see repeat champions within one of the three leagues which comprise the Canadian Hockey League. In fact, not since 1994-95 has a team repeated as league champions in any of the three leagues. That team, the Kamloops Blazers, also captured the Memorial Cup, the CHL's top overall prize.

However, that feat can be duplicated in 2008-09 should the Spokane Chiefs do what many thought they were actually built to do this season, rather than in '07-08: win the Memorial Cup.

At times, Spokane has hardly resembled a playoff team, much less a Memorial Cup-caliber club (they were blanked 4-0 in their own barn last week against the league's top team, the Vancouver Giants). They recently lost one of junior hockey's top players, defenseman Jared Cowen, for the season with a knee injury. And, once again, they're chasing the hated Tri-City Americans for supremacy in their own division.

For Spokane, things couldn't be better.

Sure, they don't boast a 48-5-1-3 record like the Giants do. Or a pair of 40-goal scorers like the Calgary Hitmen do. But for the Chiefs, it doesn't matter. They have a variety of other things working for them.

Their roster is loaded with experience. The reason many people expected the Chiefs to be a top player this season rather than last was because most of the roster, including a number of their top players, were expected back.

Instead of bowing out early, however, those players captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup before venturing to Kitchener, Ontario and knocking off the host Rangers twice in four games to win the Memorial Cup. And despite losing their head coach in the offseason, the new guy, Hardy Sauter, was an assistant to Bill Peters a year ago.

They're in the same position they were last season. Spokane was a three seed when they made last year's run. As it stands, the Chiefs are a three seed now. It's entirely possible they go through the same three Western Conference teams they did in '07-08, should they keep winning. And while it's unlikely they meet the Lethbridge Hurricanes again in the WHL Finals, they've defeated the Hitmen, the Eastern Conference's top team in their only meeting this season.

They have a better team than a season ago. The Chiefs stumbled off and on for over half a season but the reason for it was a lack of consistency. Drayson Bowman, Mitch Wahl and Tyler Johnson missed games in the beginning of the season at NHL camps. Captain Justin McCrae and defenseman Mike Reddington battled various injuries and are just now rounding into form. Bowman, Johnson, Wahl and Dustin Tokarski missed a few weeks at the World Junior Championships. Ondrej Roman was stuck in the middle of Europe until his release was granted. Brady Calla, Seth Compton's more offensively-talented replacement, has only been with the team for 17 games, the same number as Roman. And the Chiefs are still adapting to life without Cowen.

But since acquiring Calla and Roman, the Chiefs have scored at least five goals nine times. Since Cowen went down eight games ago, they're allowing an average of two goals per game.

The only glaring blemish lately has been the whitewashing they suffered against Vancouver. But Spokane has a chance to turn the tables next week north of the border and can send a message with a W there, where the Giants are 25-1-0-2 on the season.

It can also send a message to the rest of the league: the road to Rimouski runs through Spokane.

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