The Memorial Cup Champions have picked up just a little more hardware. The Spokane Chiefs have been recognized by the Inland Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters (SWABs) with three awards; Team of the Year, Coach of the Year and Amateur Male Athlete of the Year.
The three, plus Chiefs General Manager Tim Speltz, will be recognized on Wednesday afternoon at the 31st annual Spokane Regional Sports Commission Youth Awards Luncheon at the Spokane Convention Center.
The Chiefs, coached by Bill Peters, equaled a franchise record last year with 50 wins during the regular season and went 20-5 during the playoffs on their way to their second Memorial Cup in franchise history. In the off-season, Peters took a position with the Chicago Blackhawks organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.
Dustin Tokarski set a number of franchise records last season, including shutouts and lowest goals against average, and was named the Memorial Cup MVP to help him garner the Inland Nortwest’s Amateur Male Athlete of the Year award.
The SWABs will also present the Chiefs General Manager Tim Speltz with a certificate of achievement. Speltz is currently in his 19th season in Spokane, a span that has seen a pair of Memorial Cup Championships, two WHL titles, four appearances in the WHL Finals and six appearances in the Conference finals. After clinching a playoff spot last weekend, the Chiefs will have advanced to the post-season in 16 of Speltz’s 19 seasons in Spokane. Speltz was honored as the WHL’s Executive of the Year in 1996 and 2000.
Besides his determination for a strong performing team on the ice and a first class organization off it, Speltz is highly involved in the Chiefs Continuing Education Program. The program helps prepare the 16-20-year-old players for higher education in the U.S. and Canada.
Wednesday’s luncheon will also reveal the 2008 junior award winners. Tyler Johnson, a Spokane native and Central Valley High School student, has been nominated as the Junior Male Athlete of the Year.
