What to make of the 2009-10 Spokane Chiefs

One-third of the way into the season, the Spokane Chiefs find themselves in fourth place of the five U.S. Division teams with 29 points. But looking at the standings and looking at the play on the ice would yield two very different opinions. This Chiefs team is very good. Better than fourth place in the U.S. Division good. That’s because there are a few reasons for some of their early-season woes: 20-year-olds Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Letts missed significant playing time, coach Hardy Sauter juggled lines like he was in the circus and the team’s rookies played like, well, rookies.

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.