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The Spokane Chiefs found themselves just one point out of first place in the U.S. Division during the early stages of December. It must feel like a long time ago since then, however, as the Chiefs stumbled into the new year losers of five straight and six out of seven.

While four of Spokane’s last five games have been one-goal affairs, they’ve found themselves on the wrong end of each of those defeats, managing just one point in that span. Because of their recent woes, the Chiefs currently stand in third place in the U.S. Division and in fourth place in the Western Conference, 13 points behind the leader in both of those standings, the Tri-City Americans. Fortunately, Spokane has games in hand on all three teams ahead of them in the West and are in immediate striking distance of both the Vancouver Giants (2nd in the West, 40 games played, 51 points) and the Portland Winter Hawks (3rd, 41 games played, 51 points). Having played just 37 games, the Chiefs have games in hand on both of those points and can overtake each of them with a strong run.

That might be a tall task for Spokane, however, with the slate of games they have awaiting them. On Saturday, January 2, the Chiefs travel to Vancouver to face the Giants in a pivotal matchup. The next night, the Chiefs take on the Seattle Thunderbirds, who handed Spokane one of their five consecutive losses. Tuesday, January 5, Spokane hosts the league’s best team, at least record-wise, the Saskatoon Blades before three straight contests over the weekend: at home versus the Chilliwack Bruins and Tri-City and on the road against the Everett Silvertips, who the Chiefs have yet to defeat on the season.

Spokane’s slump can partially be placed on the absence of Jared Cowen and Tyler Johnson, who are currently competing at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Both have been out of the lineup for all five of the Chiefs’ losses during their latest skid and will miss more time this week as Canada and the U.S., respectively, continue to advance in the World Juniors.

In their place, though, youngsters such as Tanner Mort and Mike Aviani have chances to prove that they can play well in the WHL. If Spokane can get contributions from those guys, as well as the other rookies, they should be able to keep up with and perhaps begin closing the gap on the teams ahead of them in the race for the top playoff seeds in the Western Conference.

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There were a couple surprises to come out of the last week of Spokane Chiefs Hockey. Rookie Matt Marantz coming to the aid of Chiefs forward and notorious instigator Kyle Beach to act as his enforcer and Spokane still not getting any love from the voters of the Canadian Hockey League’s Top 10 teams, despite being on a wicked tear throughout the WHL rank among the most shocking moments of the past three games.

What isn’t surprising, however, is that the Chiefs managed to continue taking care of business against three struggling Western Conference opponents.

On Friday, Dec. 4, Spokane hosted the last-place Seattle Thunderbirds and did what good teams do: control the game against an inferior opponent. Led by Beach’s two third-period goals, the Chiefs pulled away late to defeat the T’Birds 4-2. Rookie Dominik Uher and veteran Jared Spurgeon eached notched their first goals of the season to back a solid performance by James Reid, the CHL’s Player of the Month, who made 21 stops on 23 shots in the win.

Two nights later, Spokane needed extra time to decide things, but managed to escape with a 5-4 shootout road win over the pesky Portland Winter Hawks. Spokane took 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads in the contest, thanks to two Mitch Wahl goals and a tally by Kenton Miller, but were answered each time by Portland’s Chris Francis, who netted a hat trick to keep his team alive. After the Winter Hawks scored with just under seven minutes remaining, it was Mitch Holmberg who saved the game for Spokane, scoring at 15:11 to send the game to OT. After a scoreless extra five minutes, Wahl and Beach’s shootout markers topped Francis’ to give the Chiefs the two points.

Then on Tuesday, Spokane used a two-goal first period to take an early lead, which was more than enough to help earn a 3-0 victory versus the overmatched Prince George Cougars. Spurgeon and captain Jared Cowen tallied early, while Tyler Johnson scored an insurance goal midway through the third in the win. Backup netminder Michael Tadjdeh recorded his first shutout with the Chiefs, making 25 saves in the contest.

The victories over the last week improved Spokane’s record to an impressive 13-2-1 over their last 16 games and 19-8-2-0 overall, and helped them leapfrog the Everett Silvertips for third place in the U.S. Division. The Chiefs find themselves just one point behind the Winter Hawks for second place, though Spokane has four games in hand on Portland, and two points behind the division-leading Tri-City Americans.

On Friday, the Chiefs travel north of the border to face the Chilliwack Bruins before returning home for Teddy Bear Toss Night on Saturday when Spokane hosts the Swift Current Broncos. Game time for both contests is set for 7 p.m.

Looking to exact revenge from a previous blowout, the Chiefs visited the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday night. While a win would have helped them gain ground in the U.S. Division standings, a late surge by the ‘Tips helped Everett rally for a 4-3 overtime win. Stefan Ulmer’s fourth goal of the season staked Spokane to a 3-1 lead with just under 16 minutes left in the contest, but two Everett goals in a 46-second span sent the game to OT before the Silvertips’ Tyler Maxwell netted the game-winner two minutes into overtime.

Fortunately, Spokane didn’t dwell on the loss very long as two nights later, Spokane completed their five-game road trip in determined fashion with a 4-1 victory over their bitter rivals, the Tri-City Americans.

Three first period goals, one a man down, one a man up and one even-strength, staked the Chiefs to an early 3-0 lead from which they never looked back. Tyler Johnson, Jared Cowen, Brendan Kichton and Mitch Wahl tallied for Spokane, who kept the pressure on the Ams and Portland Winter Hawks in their chase to move up the standings. Netminder James Reid killed eight of nine Tri-City power plays, while yielding just one goal on 42 shots, as Spokane’s well-balanced attack helped them defeat the U.S. Division leaders.

To wrap up the week, the Chiefs came home to face the Eastern Conference’s Regina Pats. Again, the Chiefs used a complete effort in a convincing win, this time 4-0 over the visiting Pats. Like versus Tri-City, Spokane got scoring from four different skaters in the victory, while Reid’s 22-save shutout earned him first-star honors. Johnson, Kenton Miller, Steve Kuhn and Ryan Letts, with his first marker of the season, scored for Spokane, who improved to 16-8-2-0 on the season.

The five-point week enabled the Chiefs to jump Everett for third place in the division, though the ‘Tips have one game in hand on Spokane. The Chiefs still find themselves two points behind the Winter Hawks and four behind the Ams in the division, though they have four games in hand on Portland and one on Tri-City.

The Chiefs have just two games on the schedule during the upcoming week: a home date with the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night and a road matchup with the Winter Hawks on Sunday. Four points in those two games could mean a first-place standing as the season nears the halfway mark of the season. Game time on Friday is 7 p.m.

Pop Warner football has been around for years and is the league of choice throughout the country.  Spokane has not made a name for itself in the sports world as a football mecca. Maybe if we put a little more effort into our youth sports programs, we can change that. This season I saw some young high school teams make dramatic changes in their schools programs and the majority of these players played Pop Warner football the past two seasons. On top of that, freshman coaches are seeing more and more players turning out, the majority of which were introduced to youth football via Pop Warner.

Now, I understand that there has been widespread speculation as to how well the Pop Warner football’s administration has been run. But let’s put that aside for a minute. In the first three seasons in existence, here in Spokane, we saw record numbers for player participation, an overwhelming percentage of satisfaction from parents and players, a huge bolster to the quality of our high schools programs, due to Pop Warner football.  Now because the organization has made some questionable choices on who is running their program, we have to tell our kids that they are going to have to go learn the game of football in a youth program that doesn’t teach the game the way they will play it when they get to high school nor allow players to play all the positions that they may want to try, in turn handicapping our high school coaches and programs because they have inexperienced players trying to learn different positions and in essence, a differerent game. If it’s an administration issue, let’s fix that!!!! This is about the kids getting the best possible option to learn and play the game, let’s not ruin for them. It’s a family affair for a lot of us, what can we do?

Fortunately, every one of those problems has met its solution. Spurgeon and Letts are back on the ice and playing like the veterans Spokane needs. Sauter has seemed to figure out the combinations of guys who play well with each other and have fun doing it. And the rookies have stepped up their games in recent days, as evidenced by Brady Brassart’s goals in back-to-back contests and Matt Marantz’s consistent presence on the Chiefs’ top two lines. Their 8-2 record over the last 10 games isn’t just the best mark in the division, it’s the best mark in the WHL over that span.

But what’s the ceiling for this team? Are they a first-round playoff loss in the making? Is this a team that will fall in a dramatic seven-game series like last season’s team did? Or do they have what it takes to make a second Memorial Cup appearance in three years?

Right now, with the team firing on all cylinders, it doesn’t seem like they can be stopped. The Chiefs just dispatched one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams, the Calgary Hitmen, in their own barn. They are quickly closing in on the Everett Silvertips and Portland Winter Hawks for third and second place, respectively, in the division. And while they’re currently the Western Conference’s fifth seed, they’re just seven points out of the top spot. They’ve defeated every Western Conference team with the exception of the aforementioned Silvertips, who came into Spokane and crushed the Chiefs 5-2 just a couple of weeks ago in their only meeting to date. But tomorrow night, the Chiefs have the opportunity  to return the favor when they travel to Everett for their second of 10 meetings this season.

As far as statement games go, that will be the one to determine where the Chiefs ultimately stand going forward. Sure, they’ll have their slumps (who doesn’t during a 72-game season?), but the Chiefs should be “playoff-game” fired up for Everett after being embarrassed at home. If Spokane comes out and returns the favor, there’s no reason to think the Chiefs can’t end up in Brandon for the 2010 Memorial Cup. But if they show up and get throttled again, the doubts will be present and legitimate.

With solid play from the team as a whole and the opportunity to upgrade with a move or two before the trading deadline, the Spokane Chiefs are facing a third straight season where they will be major players in deciding who reigns supreme in the Western Hockey League.

Maybe even 10.0. It would be fitting, but that’s to be determined in March when the regular season comes to a close. For now – as the Zags enter another year of what could be another prosperous season – the West Coast Conference coaches have predicted Mark Few & Co., will once again win the conference.

“We’re used to it,’’ Few told reporters before the season started. “ We’ve pretty much been picked every year for the last 11 or 12. It’s something we need to live up to and we need to teach the younger guys how we live up to it. The old guys have a responsibility there to teach them the tradition of this program and how we handle it.’’

So far so good. The Zags have started out very well, winning the annual Maui Invite in dramatic fashion. It beat Cincinnati, 61-59, in overtime. Steven Gray and Matt Bouldin were named co-MVPs of the tournament.

“That was a heck of a street fight we were in and we survived it,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few told the media after the title. “Cincinnati is playing some great basketball right now; they’re incredibly tough on both ends of the floor. It didn’t go great early in a lot of phases of the game, and we hung with it and hung with it and stuck with the plan. We made both offensive and defensive plays at the end of the game to win it. Boy, Cincinnati is a tough, tough, tough team.”

Gonzaga was tough, too. Can it stay that way? Will it have a psychological hangover when it returns home? Time will tell, but …

If they handle it correctly, Gonzaga will win an unprecedented 10^th consecutive WCC title. Forget that Gonzaga welcomes seven newcomers and 10 total players who have not seen Division I action.

Understandably there could be – should be? – doubters and skeptics at every corner or WCC arena.

But, like the lyrics from yesteryear say, you can’t discount Bulldogs basketball at anytime or any moment. Five seniors gone from yet another 25-plus joyride of a season?

Down?

Out?

Not the Bulldogs. Not Few. He’s built more than a once-in-a-blue moon program. He’s built a program.

Fret five seniors departing a program? Maybe.

Lament the future with underclassman Austin Daye now in the NBA? Never.

“I know the coaching staff  - and Mark and I have talked about it – views this as a great opportunity,’’ said Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth. “We know over the last couple of years they’ve had such a veteran squad … but with all the new guys it’s just another chance to teach.’’

It could be a case of teaching new (Bull) Dogs old tricks. Despite the departure of standouts Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs, Jeremy Pargo and Daye, Gonzaga is still THE team to beat in the West Coast Conference.

Behind senior Matt Bouldin, a John R. Wooden preseason candidate and junior center Robert Sacre, Gonzaga may be thin on deep talent but long in young talent. Still, WCC coaches might create a debate and say Gonzaga is a shell of itself with so many unanswered questions marks and so much youth, but proving and reproving yourself has been what Few has been about the last decade.

“No question this will be an interesting year,’’ said Roth. “We’ve got a bunch of new faces.’’

Roth is confident Few will “coach them up.’’

He’s done it every year and will get a chance again this one. Some Internet gossip and misplaced innuendo had Few heading up some other program in the spring. Arizona? Unconfirmed reports had him as a Wildcat. Oregon. Nope. Pick a school and it’s likely Few’s name has popped up.

“Every late March or April it’s what I like to call the Mark Few sweepstakes,’’ said Roth, half-jokingly. “And why wouldn’t a school want Mark Few there. Look what he’s done at our place.’’

What he’s done is set the bar for other schools. Now other mid-major schools wish to be Gonzaga.

Is Davidson the new Gonzaga? Is College of Charleston? George Mason made its best Gonzaga impersonation a couple of years back when it reached the Final Four. The point is Gonzaga is the standard for the millennium’s underdog.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with a number of ADs around the country about that,’’ Roth said. “We’ve set a nice precedent. And many of my colleagues are saying they need to do what Gonzaga is doing – and that’s extremely flattering to us. But I also don’t envy my peers with that.’’

Not that Roth won’t take the success. And why not? Already in preparation for this season, the Zags have played in front of stand-room-only crowds. Big-name departures haven’t given way to wide-spread apathy. But you’d expect the fans to be there for a potential 10^th WCC title and another trip to the NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga fans have been here before so no use calling it a comeback. The faces change but not the consistent, heart-pounding success.

Now that you feel enlightened (you might want to wipe that bit of mashed potatoes off your chin), here are the winners.

1 SEC Referee Wilbur Hackett Jr.

We’ve always made fun of referees for affecting the game, but in Hackett Jr.’s case he actually tackled a football player.
Whether the former Kansas linebacker suffered the first-ever case of a football flashback, or he inadvertently squared up and delivered the smack down … well, it’s all over YouTube, so you decide.

2 The New England Patriots

Way to blow a chance at history guys. Instead, you were on the wrong end of an upset in the Super Bowl. And Eli Manning wasn’t even wearing a fur coat …

3 Larry Johnson

The highest-paid running back in the NFL has been arrested four times since 2003, the latest involving Johnson spitting a drink on a woman’s face in a night club and saying, “I’m going to kill your boyfriend.”
Hopefully Johnson isn’t releasing a “Dating for Dummies” book anytime soon.

4   Mike Singletary

Hanes still hasn’t offered him an endorsement contract after he dropped his pants in an effort to motivate his players at halftime during the San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks contest.

5 Barry Bonds

He hasn’t been offered a contract either.

6 Columbia Basin Big Nine

The only team to make it out of regionals from this league after playing GSL teams was their No. 1 seed Southridge and that was because they got to play another CBBN team instead of a squad from the Lilac City.
In the end-of-the-season crossover games between most of the non-playoff teams of each league, the Big Nine went winless.
7 Tyrone Willingham

He’s out the door since the Huskies are winless and this was coming into a season where some Husky fans had hope of a Bowl game.

8 Paul Wulff

We just hope that WSU gives the former EWU head coach a chance to rebuild the Cougars. It’s obvious the cupboards were left empty for this guy.

9 John McLaren

The former Mariners manager was fired midway through the 2008 season, but that wasn’t before he went on a expletive-laden post-game rant that we hope gets inserted into a Coors Light commercial someday.

10 Josh Childress

Let’s get this straight. Josh Childress left the NBA for more money to play in Europe? Where clubs are notorious for not paying their players?

11 That guy at a Spokane Riverhawks game

We here at HomeTeam Sports witnessed one fine middle-aged gentleman that tried to chase down a foul ball, only to get beat to it by a kid. This set off a tantrum by the man that rivals that of a 2-year-old, causing the kid to give him the ball.

Something tells us he won’t be sitting at the adult table during Thanksgiving.

12 A-Rod

Chasing Madonna? MADONNA? Didn’t she date Mickey Mantle?

13 Vince Young

When you’re benched for Kerry Collins and the play of your team actually improves, that’s a serious problem. But that’s only part of it.

His mom basically defended him in public for all the mean things football fans had been saying to her boy. We’re waiting to see if Young receives a Band-Aid for his boo-boo while he’s on the bench.

14 Stephon Marbury

The New York Knicks refuse to play you. That’s like the theatre department at your college not picking you for intramural basketball.

You’re better off not getting paid by a European basketball team.

15 People on the Internet

Since we’ve been in existence, we’ve heard people on the Internet clamor for the firing on EWU Head Football Coach Beau Baldwin, Idaho Head Coach Robb Akey and WSU Head Coach Paul Wulff. All coaches haven’t even been on campus for two full seasons.

Jumping the gun? More like pulling the trigger before you’ve even loaded the ammo.

Story by Brandon Hansen, editor-in-chief. Brandon can be reached by e-mail at brandon@htsports.org.

USATF sanctioned events will be held on Sunday, Nov. 23 and Saturday, Dec. 13 where runners from the region can compete against the nation’s best runners.

“You are racing to be known as the best club in the nation,” said Suzanne Boyce, director of sponsorships and communication for the Spokane Regional Sports Commission. “So there is incentive for people to come and have the title of national champions.”

While independent runners can compete in the races, they won’t win any titles. “Individuals can race just to see how they would compete against some of the best runners in the country,” said Boyce. About 1,000 people are expected to show up to fight for the national title and about 250 for the regional.

Both events will be held at Plantes Ferry Park where a winding course will be created with varying distances.
Runners in the 2008 Northwest Regional Cross Country Championship can race in the masters men (10k) and women (6k) for those 40 years of age and over, open women teams (6k) and open men teams (10k) for runners 18 and over. Races start at 10, 11 and 11:40 a.m., respectively. Individuals pay $15 to get in and groups (three or five runners depending on the age group) pay $60.

“Open is usually the toughest competition,” said Boyce. “[Because] as old as you are you’re still competing against 18-year-olds.”

The regional race includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana and is “basically a race to see who’s the best in the region in the varying age groups,” said Boyce.

There is also going to be a community race with categories in juniors (18 and under), open and masters for men and women, which will be followed by the 2008 National Club Cross Country Championships. All races will start at 9:30 a.m. and cost $10 to enter.

The races are not qualifying events so anyone willing to register with USATF and pay the fee can join. Boyce said there have been a few teams from Spokane specifically formed for this event; Emde Sports has created two teams, the Spokane Swifts (local women) have a team, and Bloomsday Road Runners Club is also expected to compete.

This event has been rotating around the country for 10 years and this is the first year Spokane gets to host it. “Being a national champion in December is kind of rare… especially in this part of the country,” said Boyce.

To bring in an event like this into a city, there’s a bidding process agencies need to go through.

Requirements like a local organization that’s putting on the event, numbers of hotel rooms and an acceptable facility to host the occasion in have to be fulfilled. Spokane representatives need to come out to a previously-established destination and “sell the city,” said Boyce, after which someone will come down to check out the community and then vote on it.

“We recruit sporting events that will bring people from out of town into our community and basically spend money,” said Boyce, who’s worked for Sports Commission for four years. “Sports tourism is our primary purpose.” Also, the company is interested in building a bigger resumé so larger events can be brought to Spokane, boosting the economy.

If there are any proceeds from this event, they may go to the Spokane Regional Sports Commission Athletic Achievement Grant Program, said Boyce.

More information on registration and races can be found online at www.signmeup.com/62403 or usatf.org and at (509) 363-6825.

Story by Alina Shanin.