SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Indians ended a 16-year title drought with a Northwest League Championship this past week, bringing home their first title since 2008. It was that same year the Spokane Chiefs won the Memorial Cup in their last title performance. The Chiefs have begun the rebuild from a franchise worst season two years ago and are moving up the rungs to respectability. Last season, the Chiefs made the playoffs, only to lose in the first round to Prince George. With practically the entire roster back from last year, Spokane is looking to take the next steps towards bringing home another championship to the Lilac City.
Like every season, the Chiefs lost their three twenty-year-old players to graduation, as Ty Cheveldayoff, Chase Bertholet and Connor Roulette have moved on to the professional ranks. Spokane traded defenseman Leyton Feist and released forwards Ben Bonni and Carter Streak to carry the minimum 3 twenty-year-olds this season, as defenseman Brayden Crampton and forwards Rasmus Ekstrom and Shea Van Olm will be the team's over agers this year. Ekstrom will also fill one of the two import spots on the team as his return is a big boost up front for Spokane. The other import spot will be a battle between returner Lukas Kral and newcomer Asanali Sarkenov, who just signed with the club. A move will probably be coming in the next week or so to determine who will stick with the team this season.
The Chiefs will be led by a new staff this year, as Brad Lauer takes over the head coaching duties from Ryan Smith. Lauer comes to Spokane after being an assistant with the Winnipeg Jets and was head coach of the league champion Edmonton Oil Kings in 2022. Two new assistant coaches join Lauer as Brian Pellerin comes from Portland and former Chiefs defenseman Jake Toporowski is back to help coach his former club. The team also has a new equipment manager and trainer so it will be a sea of fresh faces in the locker room helping to guide the Chiefs this season. It's a year that is full of expectation and hope for taking the next steps towards a deep playoff run.
The roster will be full of familiar names. The Chiefs have 5 players away at NHL camps to start the campaign, led by last year's player of the year and the Seattle Kraken's #1 draft pick Berkly Catton. Goalie Dawson Cowan will be at Winnipeg's rookie camp, while defensemen Saige Weinstein is with Colorado, Will McIsaac is with St. Louis and Nathan Mayes is in Toronto. Cooper Michaluk is back in net again for Spokane, so he'll lead to club early in the season with rookie Carter Esler seeing playing time as well. Defensively, Brayden Crampton leads the D-corp with Owen Schoettler back for his second season on the blue line. With Weinstein, McIsaac and Mayes gone early on, the back end will be young with Kaden Allen, who was a late season call up last year, seeing increased playing time. Rookie Rhett Sather, a 4th round pick last year, showed he will be seeing some playing time early on with some good performances in pre-season.
Up front, the Chiefs will be experienced and deep. Berkly Catton, Rasmus Ekstrom and Shea Van Olm will be joined by the returning 18-year-old group of Cam Parr, Coco Armstrong and Lukas Kral as well as the new import Asanali Sarkenov. The 17-year-old returners include Owen Martin, Hayden Paupanekis and Chase Harrington, all of whom saw significant playing time as 16's. Rookie Dane Pyatt will join the 17's this season and looks ready to go after a productive pre-season. The 16-year-old group is led by Mathis Preston and Brody Gillespie, both of whom saw playing time last year in their 15-year-old seasons. Cohen Harris will be the third 16 on the roster this year, and will round out a very talented and young forward group.
While they won't be able to play full-time in their 15-year-old and first seasons in the organization, first round pick forward Ossie McIntyre, second round defenseman Harry Mattern and 4th round defenseman Bryson Roberts looked promising in their first pre-season with the Chiefs and will probably see playing time at some points during this year. The Chiefs went 4-1 during the pre-season with wins over division rivals Seattle, Portland, Wenatchee and Tri City, with their lone defeat a 2-1 loss against Portland in Spokane's only home exhibition tilt.
While there's plenty of anticipation for the Chiefs on the ice, there will be plenty off of it as well. The club announced it will bid on the 2026 Memorial Cup to be hosted by the Western Hockey League, joining other WHL cities Kelowna, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Brandon hoping to host the CHL championship. If successful in their bid, it would be Spokane's second time hosting the Cup and first since 1998. The bid will be submitted in late September and the announcement will take place in December. The Chiefs have assembled a young, talented group in anticipation of playing for the CHL's top prize and it will be exciting to see if Spokane does get to host in May of 2026.
On the ice, the Chiefs will be hitting the road for their first three games of the season before their home opener at the Spokane Arena on September 28th against Tri City. First up, the team heads back North to take on the team that eliminated them in last year's first round of the playoffs, the Prince George Cougars. Spokane's longest trip in the West will start the season Friday, September 20th and follow with game 2 of the year the next night on Saturday the 21st. I'll have the call on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA starting with the pre-game shows both nights at 6:30 pm and the puck drops to follow at 7:05 pm. Here's to a great season of Chiefs hockey and we hope to see you on the radio...and at the rink all season long!