2023-24 Spokane Chiefs Schedule

[David]

This is the 2023-24 Regular Season schedule for the Spokane Chiefs.

The Chiefs are entering their 39th Season as members of the Western Hockey League. Spokane plays in the U.S. Division of the WHL's Western Conference. The U.S. Division features the 6 teams from the United States and, in addition to Spokane, consists of the Everett Silvertips, Portland Winterhawks, Seattle Thunderbirds, Tri-City Americans, and the Wenatchee Wild, the newest Washington state based team.

Spokane is coming off a 2022-23 campaign in which the team opted for a year of rebuilding and a flux of youth, led by U.S. Division Rookie of the Year Berkly Catton (F). The Chiefs endured the worst season in franchise history, with a record of 15-43-4-6 (40 points). The 15 wins and 40 points were both franchise worsts, and the second worst Chiefs team since the 1998-99 squad that went 19-44-9 (47 points). The Chiefs finished 5th out of the 5 teams in the U.S. Division and 10th out of 10 teams in the Western Conference. In the overall 1-22 standings, Spokane was only better than the Edmonton Oil Kings, who underwent a complete reboot with a record of 10-54-4-0 (24 points).

The 2023-24 season will look different, as the U.S. Division and the Western Conference have a new franchise joining this season. The Winnipeg Ice, coming off a 5-game series loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL Championship, were sold in the off-season and were relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, where they will be known as the Wenatchee Wild. The Wild will replace the Junior A team that was founded in 2006 and owned by the same ownership group that purchased the Ice, with the Wild branding and logos carrying over to the WHL franchise. The addition of the Wild shifts the franchise into the Western Conference for the first time since 2005-06, when the then Kootenay Ice were shifted to the Eastern Conference due to the addition of the Chilliwack Bruins. The addition of the Wild increases the U.S. Division to 6 teams, and the total number of Western Conference teams to 11 while reducing the number of teams from the Eastern Conference from 12 to 11. It also marks the first time the WHL has balanced conferences, as the addition of Chilliwack, the shifting of Kotoenay to the East and the addition of the Edmonton Oil Kings to the East in the next season would leave the league with more Eastern Conference teams than Western.

Spokane, like all WHL clubs, play a full-season consisting of a 68-games (34 home/34 away). The Chiefs will hit the road in early January for games against the Central Division, beginning in with the most Eastern team in the division in Swift Current, then make their way west with games against Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, before venturing North to Red Deer, South to Calgary, and then back North to finish off the trip in Edmonton. On the Homefront, Spokane will host the East Division throughout the season, welcoming the Brandon Wheat Kings, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats and Saskatoon Blades to the Spokane Arena for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

Ryan Smith will once again take the reigns as the bench boss for the Chiefs. Smith was named interim head coach during the 2021-22 season and coached his first full season last year as the head coach.

The Chiefs open their 2023-24 campaign on the road facing the Kamloops Blazers, last year's Western Conference Final runner-ups, before crossing back into U.S. soil to take on the Everett Silvertips. Spokane will return home the following week, opening at home against their arch-rivals in the Tri-City Americans on Saturday, September 30th on Blue Moon Opening Night. The Chiefs will tweak their home schedule start times this season, with weekday games and Sunday games starting at their traditional 7:05 and 5:05 puck drops times. However, this year, Saturday games will begin an hour earlier, with puck drop to begin at 6:05 over the traditional 7:05 start time.

Popular promotions of past years will be return once again this season, including the annual Teddy Bear Toss, Coca-Cola Bobblehead Night, Numerica Piggy Bank Night, Military Appreciation Night, and Chiefs Fight Cancer Night. The annual Teddy Bear Toss, presented by the Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund, will take place on December 2 against Prince George. Fans are encouraged to bring a teddy bear to throw on the ice after the Chiefs score their first goal. All bears and stuff animals will then be donated to the Spokesman-Review's Christmas Fund.

Home games are noted in bold red. All times are PST.

September
Fri., September 22 - at Kamloops (W 5-4) (OT)
Sun., September 24 - at Everett (W 4-1)
Sat., September 30 - Tri-City (L 1-3)

October
Fri., October 6 - Seattle (L 2-4)
Sat., October 7 - at Kelowna (L 3-6)
Wed., October 11 - Kamloops (W 3-2)
Sat., October 14 - Brandon (W 3-2)
Fri., October 20 - at Victoria (L 4-5) (OT)
Sat., October 21 - at Victoria (L 3-4) (OT)
Sun., October 22 - at Vancouver (L 3-5)
Fri., October 27 - Kelowna (W 8-5)
Sat., October 28 - Everett (L 2-6)

November
Fri., November 3 - at Seattle (W 3-2) (OT)
Sat., November 4 - at Tri-City (L 3-4)
Fri., November 10 - Prince Albert (L 2-3)
Sat., November 11 - Kamloops (W 6-3)
Sat., November 18 - Wenatchee (L 6-8)
Sun., November 19 - Kamloops (W 3-2) (SO)
Wed., November 22 - Vancouver (L 0-3)
Fri., November 24 - at Wenatchee (L 2-4)
Sat., November 25 - Victoria (W 8-1)
Sun., November 26 - at Portland (W 5-2)
Wed., November 29 - Saskatoon (L 0-2)

December
Sat., December 2 - Prince George (L 3-6)
Sun., December 3 - Vancouver (L 3-4)
Fri., December 8 - at Portland (L 5-8)
Sun., December 10 - Wenatchee (L 3-4)
Wed., December 13 - Seattle (L 3-5)
Fri., December 15 - Portland (L 5-6) (OT)
Sat., December 16 - at Portland (W 3-1)
Wed., December 27 - Wenatchee (W 5-2)
Sat., December 30 - Tri-City (W 6-2)
Sun., December 31 - at Tri-City (W 11-3)

January
Fri., January 5 - at Swift Current (L 4-8)
Sun., January 7 - at Medicine Hat (L 4-10)
Tue., January 9 - at Lethbridge Hurricanes (L 2-3) (OT)
Wed., January 10 - at Red Deer Rebels (L 1-3)
Fri., January 12 - at Calgary (L 4-7)
Sun., January 14 - at Edmonton (W 5-2)
Fri., January 19 - Everett (L 1-11)
Sat., January 20 - at Wenatchee (W 2-1)
Fri., January 26 - Prince George (W 4-3)
Sat., January 27 - Portland (L 4-5)
Tue., January 30 - Everett (L 4-7)

February
Fri., February 2 - at Everett (W 6-4)
Sat., February 3 - at Tri-City (L 3-6)
Sun., February 4 - Kelowna (W 8-5)
Fri., February 9 - Tri-City (W 5-1)
Sat., February 10 - at Everett (L 6-7) (SO)
Tue., February 13 - at Kelowna (W 4-2)
Fri., February 16 - at Tri-City (L 3-6)
Sat., February 17 - Tri-City (W 6-4)
Mon., February 19 - at Vancouver (L 3-6)
Tue., February 20 - at Wenatchee (W 6-4)
Fri., February 23 - Regina (W 5-2)
Sat., February 24 - Moose Jaw (L 3-12)
Wed., February 28 - at Kamloops (L 2-5)

March
Fri., March 1 - at Prince George (W 5-4) (OT)
Sat., March 2 - at Prince George (L 4-5) (OT)
Tue., March 5 - Victoria (W 6-3)
Fri., March 8 - at Seattle (L 4-5)
Sat., March 9 - Seattle (W 5-1)
Tue., March 12 - Portland (L 2-3)
Fri., March 15 - at Wenatchee (L 1-3)
Sat., March 16 - Tri-City (W 7-6)
Sun., March 17 - Wenatchee (W 6-1)
Fri., March 22 - at Seattle (L 1-3)
Sat., March 23 - at Tri-City (W 6-3)


AWAY VENUES
Calgary Hitmen - Scotiabank Saddledome; Calgary, Alberta
Edmonton Oil Kings - Rogers Place; Edmonton, Alberta
Everett Silvertips - Angel of the Winds Arena; Everett, Washington
Kamloops Blazers - Sandman Centre; Kamloops, British Columbia
Kelowna Rockets - Prospera Place; Kelowna, British Columbia
Lethbridge Hurricanes - ENMAX Centre; Lethbridge, Alberta
Medicine Hat Tigers - Co-op Place; Medicine Hat, Alberta
Portland Winterhawks - Veterans Memorial Coliseum; Portland, Oregon
Prince George Cougars - CN Centre; Prince George, British Columbia
Red Deer Rebels - Peavey Mart Centrium; Red Deer, Alberta
Seattle Thunderbirds - accesso ShoWare Center; Kent, Washington
Swift Current Broncos - Innovation Credit Union iPlex; Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Tri-City Americans - Toyota Center; Kennewick, Washington
Vancouver Giants - Langley Events Centre; Langley, British Columbia
Victoria Royals - Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre; Victoria, British Columbia
Wenatchee Wild - Town Toyota Center; Wenatchee, Washington



To share this post on social media, please go to the right side of the page (the top of the page on the mobile site) to the social media icons and choose which social media site(s) to share the thread. To comment on this thread and others on this forum, please login or register.

[David]

Monthly Update: After a season of youth, growing pains, and a lot of losses, the 2023-24 Spokane Chiefs look to build upon a season of experience. Being one of the most young rosters in the league, the growing pains continue for Spokane, but the team is off to a better start than they were at this point last year.

Last year at this time, Spokane was 3-8-0-0 with 6 points. This year, Spokane has seen an improvement with a 5-5-2-0 record with 12 points. Big wins over Western Conference Champion Kamloops and U.S. Division winner Everett gave the Chiefs a similar 2-0 start, only to see the losses pile in a 3 game skid over the next week. Big come from behind wins against Kamloops and Brandon put the Chiefs up over .500, but two heart breaking late period and eventual overtime losses to Victoria showed that youth and inexperience will still be a theme this year. Spokane would drop their third straight to Vancouver after back-to-back losses at Victoria, but a high scoring 8-5 win over Kelowna would bring spirits up only to come crashing down the next night as they got beat up by Everett.

Entering November, Spokane sits in 6th Place in the U.S. Division, but only 5 points back of division leading newcomers, the Wenatchee Wild (8-6-1-0, 17 points). Portland, which stormed off to an 8-1-0-0 record, came back to the pack with 3 straight losses. If there's one thing the early months of the season has proven, is nobody will run away with the U.S. Division early this year.

Overall in the Western Conference, Spokane sits in 9th place, 2 points out of what would be the 8th and final playoff spot behind Tri-City (6-5-1-1, 14 points). They sit just ahead of Vancouver in 10th place (5-6-1-0, 11 points), and 4 points ahead of Kamloops (3-10-2-0, 8 points), who currently rank the worst in the WHL behind Edmonton in the East (4-9-0-1, 9 points).

The Chiefs will return to the Ice in November with a weekend road trip to Seattle and Tri-City, whom Spokane lost to earlier in the season at home and look to extract revenge.

[David]

Monthly Update: The month of November, while not exactly pretty record wise, was in actuality a rather successful month for a young Spokane Chiefs team looking to take steps forward this season. Spokane would amass a 5-6-0-0 record in November, including impressive 8-1 and 5-2 victories against Victoria Royals and Portland Winterhawks led by outstanding performances by goalie Dawson Cowan, who even notched a goal against the Winterhawks. Cowan's impressive streak continued despite an 0-2 loss to East Division leading Saskatoon, but Cowan would only surrender 1 goal in the loss. 

With an improved record in November versus October, the Chiefs (10-11-2-0, 22 points) managed to climb out of the basement of the U.S. Division into 5th place, just ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds (10-10-1-0, 21 points). At the moment, 1st place would be a momentous hill to climb as they trail by 13 points, a two-way tie between the Everett Silvertips (17-10-1-0, 35 points) and Wenatchee Wild (16-8-3-0, 35 points). Portland currently sits in 3rd place (15-7-0-1, 31 points) and the Tri-City Americans (13-9-1-1, 28 points) in 4th.

Overall in the Western Conference, Spokane has improved to 7th place, holding a tiebreaker advantage over the 8th place Kelowna Rockets (10-13-2-0, 22 points). The team's recent surge has placed Spokane in the WHL's new Power Ranking system, checking in at the end of November at #11 (out of the Top 16). 

Spokane will begin the final month of the 2023 portion of the schedule at home against B.C. Division leading Prince George in Spokane's annual Teddy Bear Toss game.

[Monika]

Rookie Owen Martin's goal with 8:51 left in the second period against Prince George on December 2 set off the annual Teddy Bear Toss for the Chiefs.

[Monika]

Dec 9, 2023 19:32:02 GMT -8 Monika said:

Rookie Owen Martin's goal with 8:51 left in the second period against Prince George on December 2 set off the annual Teddy Bear Toss for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs collected 6,569 stuffed animals for their 2023 Teddy Bear Toss game. That's just a little bit down from the 6,825 they collected in last season's game. Attendance was estimated at over 8,500 for the event.

[David]

Monthly Update: Amid the anticipation for the annual Teddy Bear Toss, the Spokane Chiefs started the game in a 5-0 hole to the Prince George Cougars until Owen Martin's goal with 8:51 left in the 2nd period. Spokane would make a game out of the rough start, eventually falling to the Cougars 6-3.

The game would mark the second of seven consecutive losses, six of which occurred in December. After falling to Portland 6-5 in OT, the Chiefs bounced back in the second of home-and-home games against the Winterhawks with a hard fought 3-1 victory to close out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule.

Momentum carried over through the holiday break, as Spokane outscored its opponents 22-7 in the final three games of the 2023 portion of the schedule. The four game win streak propelled the Chiefs to a 4-5-1-0 mark in December.

With the shift to January, Spokane has found itself back in the race for a spot in the Western Conference Playoffs. The Chiefs fell from 7th in the Western Conference all the way to 10th entering the holiday break, but the three game hot streak to close out the month propelled the Chiefs back into the playoff hunt in the 8th spot with an overall record 14-16-3-0 (31 points). Spokane still finds itself in 5th Place in the U.S. Division, with a 5 point lead over last place Seattle (12-18-3-0, 26 points).

The Chiefs embark on their annual Eastern Conference road trip to begin 2024, taking a two week tour through the with the entirety Central Division beginning Friday at Swift Current (18-14-2-2, 40 points) with stops in Medicine Hat (22-11-2-0, 46 points), Lethbridge (17-15-3-0, 37 points), Red Deer (18-13-0-4, 40 points), Calgary (13-17-4-1, 31 points) and Edmonton (12-20-1-1, 26 points).

[David]

Monthly Update: The Eastern Conference road trip was a tough road for the Spokane Chiefs.

Coming off of a 4-game win streak, the Chiefs began a tour through the Central Division in Swift Current. A four goal 4th broke a 4-4 tie, resulting in an 8-4 Spokane loss to the Broncos. Two nights later, a 3-1 first period lead would go up in smoke as the Medicine Hat Tigers would explode for 6 goals en-route to a 10-4 victory. The losses would continue, with an OT heartbreaker to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, followed by losses to the Red Deer Rebels and the Calgary Hitmen in a Friday afternoon matinee. The Chiefs would finally break through at the end of the road trip, a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings resulting in a 1-4-1 road trip.

However, the friendly confines of Spokane Arena would not be so welcome as the Chiefs returned home to an 11-1 drubbing by the Everett Silvertips. Spokane would snap out of it the next night, upsetting the Wenatchee Wild 2-1 in Wenatchee. The upset streak would continue six days later, as Spokane would beat Prince George in a 4-3 thriller. Momentum however did not carry over, as Spokane would find themselves in an early 3-0 hole to the Portland Winterhawks the following night. Spokane would claw back but ultimately fell 5-4. Spokane appeared to come out stronger three nights later hosting Everett, holding a 3-2 lead after the 1st but would ultimately lose 7-4 to finish out a disappointing month of January with a 3-7-1 record.

Spokane enters the month of February holding onto a slim lead for 8th place in the Western Conference standings with a 17-23-4-0 record and 38 points. They hold a slim lead over division rival Tri-City, who sits one point back of Spokane for a potential final playoff berth (17-27-2-1, 37 points). Despite its struggles, Spokane overtakes Tri-City for 4th place in the U.S. Division as the Americans have struggled as of late, losing 5 in a row and 9 of their last 10. Pending a late season collapse by the three teams above Spokane, Everett (32-15-1-2, 67 points), Portland (31-12-2-1, 65 points) and Wenatchee (27-16-4-0, 58 points) appear to have the top 3 spots secured in the U.S. Division.

Spokane will try to avenge their previous two losses to Everett Friday night in Everett, and hopefully fend off Tri-City with a Saturday Night game in Kennewick to begin the month of February.

[David]

Monthly Update: The Spokane Chiefs made strides in February after a disappointing January, upending a strong Everett Silvertips 6-4 in the second of a home-and-home between the two clubs. However, the positive momentum wouldn't carry into Kennewick as the Chiefs would fall to the Tri-City Americans 6-3 the next night. However, Spokane would bounce back, as the club returned home for a Sunday evening affair against the Kelowna Rockets, winning 8-5.

Spokane would continue to accumulate points with strong performances over Tri-City, Wenatchee and Regina, however the final two games of February would turn sour as the Chiefs ended the month on a two-game skid, including a 12-3 demolishing at the hands of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Spokane enters March hanging onto 8th Place in the Western Conference with a 24-28-4-1 record for 53 points, 6 points ahead of division foe Tri-City (22-32-2-1, 47 points) for the West's final playoff spot. The Chiefs remain in 4th place, with sizeable leads over the Americans and the last place Seattle Thunderbirds (21-34-2-0, 44 points). The Portland Winterhawks (39-15-2-1, 81 points) sit in 1st place in the U.S. Division, battling with Everett (38-18-2-2, 80 points) for the division crown. The Wenatchee Wild (31-24-4-0, 66 points) sits a distant third in the division. Pending a total collapse, the Chiefs don't look to finish higher than 4th in the U.S. Division, however their playoff destiny remains in their hands by one simple task - winning and acumulating as many points as it can get.

The Chiefs pack up and head to Northern British Columbia with back-to-back games against the Western Conference leading Prince George Cougars to begin March, the final month of the WHL Regular Season.

[David]

Monthly Update: March saw the Chiefs play some of the more competitive, if not impressive, and nail biting hockey of the season. A trip to Prince George saw back-to-back overtime games against the Cougars with similar scores (5-4), both games with a late push by Prince George to send the games to overtime, and the Chiefs ending up on both ends of the Win-Loss column.

Spokane would play in a handful of barn burner games, including arguably the game of the year for the Chiefs, in a 7-6 home victory over Tri-City that not only saw the Chiefs blow a 2-0 and find themselves down 4-2 midway through the 2nd period, but a constant battle back and forth that would result in Berkly Catton's game tying goal with 2:22 left in regulation and Will McIsaac's game winning goal with 0:13 not only capped off a massive comeback by the Chiefs, but punched their ticket to the WHL Playoffs for the first time since 2021-22. The Chiefs would end the month of March with a 6-4-1-0 record.

The Chiefs end the season with 30-32-5-1 record (66 points), finishing 4th in the U.S. Division and 8th overall in the Western Conference standings.

Spokane will take on Prince George in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. You can view the playoff schedule here.