Chiefs notebook: Long Eastern Conference road trip brings young team together; fast start encouraging

A long road trip, especially at the start of the season, can be a galvanizing force for a hockey team. It helps if you can win a few games while you’re at it.

The Spokane Chiefs are off to a terrific start this season – they posted their best 10-game start since the 2013-14 season (8-2) and they sit in third place in the Western Conference and second in the U.S. Division with an 8-4-0-0 record.

That they have done all this while playing nine of their first 12 games on the road makes it that much more impressive.

The Western Hockey League schedule-makers had the Chiefs kick off the season with two games – in back-to-back nights, no less – at last season’s regular -season champion Prince George Cougars. After a three-game homestand, they went right back out on the road with a six-games-in-nine-days trip through the Eastern Conference.

The Chiefs return to the Arena for four straight, including Friday and Saturday against Vancouver (6-4-1-0) and Tri-City (5-3-1-0).

Chiefs coach Brad Lauer thinks it was good for the team to get the season’s longest road trip out of the way early.

“It was a long trip. But another good trip for the guys, I think, just to be together for a long period of time – especially at the start of the year,” he said after practice at Eagles Ice Arena on Tuesday. “Those trips are tough to do in the middle of the winter.”

“Definitely better, earlier in the year,” Edmonton, Alberta, native defenseman Saige Weinstein said. “You don’t get the snow and stuff you do in January and December.”

On the ice, the trip started with a 2-1 loss in Berkly Catton’s hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but the Chiefs reeled off two straight wins in Regina and Moose Jaw before the “bus legs” set in for losses to Brandon and Swift Current to wrap things up.

“I really enjoyed having (the trip) now,” Catton said. “I mean, going up to northern Canada with some nice weather is always a little bit better. And I think it was good to kind of get us all together on a tight bus for, you know, countless amount of hours. I think we grew closer through it, and now, the (Prince George) trip and our Eastern swing is out the way. So now it’s just about games around here and winning these games.”

The last game, a 5-0 loss to Swift Current, was a test of endurance and perseverance, Lauer said. Obviously worn out from the lengthy trip, the Chiefs gave up four goals in the first period and – were outshot 22-8 – before picking it up in the second and third, outshooting their hosts 30-16 the rest of the way.

“It just shows the maturity of our group,” Lauer said. “The biggest maturity part of it is when you don’t feel good as a player, you can’t have a negative effect on the team. Just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you can’t get the puck in deep, you can’t turn the puck over. Those little habits and details – that’s when you have to be on point with them.”

“Those first periods in Brandon and Swift were brutal. There’s no really way around it,” Catton said. “We’re a young group, and we’re exciting and fast and hard to play against. We just have to learn to bring that every game, every period.”

It’s part of the growth process for the second-youngest team in the league.

“That’s part of learning how to play the game – the team game,” Lauer said.

One of the big things that’s working for the young Chiefs is scoring goals. They are fourth in the conference and tied for fifth overall in the WHL with 44 in 12 games.

That’s with Catton owning just three goals through his first 10 games – though he has the second-most assists (12) and is tied for seventh in points (15).

“I think I’m creating lots, maybe just not producing as much as I’d like,” Catton said. “But first 10 games of season, I know it will come. A couple of different bounces, it’s a whole different game. That kind of goes for our whole line of late. It seems like we are creating constantly, but not scoring as much as we should be.”

Catton’s linemates of Shea Van Olm (nine goals, nine assists) and Rasmus Ekström (five goals, three assists) are the primary beneficiaries of teams keying on Catton – the No. 8 overall pick in the NHL draft earlier this year.

“We’ve got a bunch of really offensive guys on our team that do their job well,” Weinstein said. “And I think that starts with our ‘D’ corps, moving the pucks up. If we’re doing our job, they’re gonna do their job.”

“We’ve got a good group of kids here that want to work, and they want to win,” Lauer said. “Saying that, you’ve got to make sure you understand to do it the right way.

“We’re doing a lot of good things in practice. Now, our habits and our details – it’s still going to be a work in progress. It will be all season. But we’ve got some kids that are playing well. We’ve got some guys doing some good things.”