Playoff Picture: Chiefs become 6th WHL team to join postseason party
The Spokane Chiefs will play into the spring.
For the 14th time in the past 15 seasons, the Chiefs are a part of the playoff picture after Wednesday’s 6-3 road win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes punched the team’s ticket to the dance.
Headlined by WHL leading scorer Adam Beckman, who tops the charts with 97 points counting 43 goals and 54 assists across 55 appearances, the Minnesota Wild prospect is one of four players on the Chiefs whose rights are held by an NHL club, a list that also includes defencemen Filip Kral (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Ty Smith (New Jersey Devils), plus goaltender Lukas Parik (Los Angeles Kings). Additionally, the Chiefs deploy two players in Jack Finley and Bear Hughes who are slated for early selection in the coming 2020 NHL Draft.
Sitting third place in the WHL’s U.S. Division with a 33-18-4-1 record and 71 points, the Chiefs will enter the postseason looking to build on last year’s third-round exit that saw the club best the Portland Winterhawks and Everett Silvertips before falling to the Vancouver Giants in five games.
The Chiefs are two-time Ed Chynoweth Cup champions, having last won it all in 2008.
Playoff Picture Clinching Timeline
Feb. 2 – Ottawa 67’s (OHL)
Feb. 3 – Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Feb. 4 – Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Feb. 11 – Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
Feb. 12 – Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)
Feb. 13 – Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL), Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)
Feb. 14 – Everett Silvertips (WHL)
Feb. 15 – Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL), Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
Feb. 16 – Peterborough Petes (OHL)
Feb. 17 – Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Feb. 19 – Spokane Chiefs (WHL)