Jess Brown

Derek Ryan – on a clock that runs nine hours ahead of Spokane – is technically living in the future. But he thinks about the past – his hometown and all that happened to and for him here – on a daily basis. The Shadle Park graduate was the original Tyler Johnson, if you will. A home-grown hockey player who Spokane Chiefs general manager Tim Speltz made sure was staying home while he played out his Western Hockey League career.

Derek Ryan – on a clock that runs nine hours ahead of Spokane – is technically living in the future. But he thinks about the past – his hometown and all that happened to and for him here – on a daily basis. The Shadle Park graduate was the original Tyler Johnson, if you will. A home-grown hockey player who Spokane Chiefs general manager Tim Speltz made sure was staying home while he played out his Western Hockey League career. A home-grown hockey player who gave fans even more of a reason to back the team in the years it struggled. “The opportunity to play in Spokane is something I wouldn’t trade for the world,” Ryan said via telephone from his current home in Austria, where the 25-year-old is playing professional hockey.

They won’t win a state title this year. They won’t even play for one.

Briann January isn’t at Disneyland – and she won’t be any time in the near future. But who needs the happiest place on Earth when you’ve just made a lifelong dream come true?

Things have gone incredibly well for Spokane Chiefs forward Mitch Holmberg this season, and Thursday’s announcement was what you might call a reward for his efforts. Holmberg, 19, was picked to play for Team WHL in the annual Super Series, announced Thursday.