Hard to believe another Chiefs season is upon us. It seems like the playoffs just ended, but now the chase for another Western Hockey League championship begins for Spokane Friday night in Prince George.

Expectations for this year's team are not of the sky high variety that many fans, players or coaches had for last year's squad. While the hope of repeating as Memorial Cup champions ended on an overtime goal in game 7 in Vancouver, this year's team does not carry the same burden as they get ready for the 2009-2010 season.

The loss of goaltender Dustin Tokarski will be big, but last year's backup James Reid returns to lead the Chiefs in net. Reid had a goals against under 2.00 and was extremely solid in a backup role, but the big question is whether he'll be able to handle playing on a nightly basis as 'the' guy. Chase Martin, a 17-year-old from Medicine Hat, Alberta, emerged from the group during camp and the preseason to back up Reid.

Defensively, the team should be one of the best in the league. Jared Cowen, Jared Spurgeon, Mike Reddington, Brett Bartman, Mike Reddington, Stephan Ulmer, Brendan Kichton and Corey Baldwin all return from last year's unit. This unit will be the least of coach Hardy Sauter's worries. Size, experience and toughness will not be lacking with this unit. They'll be called upon to carry the team in the early part of the season while the offense gets its' legs. Newcomers Tanner Mort, who played one game last season, Garrett Leedahl and Landon Oslanski will have a good group to learn from in their first WHL season.

Offensively is where the bigggg question marks will be for this team. The loss of leading scorer Drayson Bowman will really be felt, as will key assist man Ondrej Roman. Mitch Wahl, Tyler Johnson, and Levko Koper, who all finished in the top 5 in scoring for the team do return, but are all at NHL camps and may miss the first weekend of the season. Those three will reallyyy be leaned on early, and conversely, many teams will key upon them with their best defenders in the first part of the season.

Over agers Dustin Donaghey returns for his third season as does Ryan Letts. Letts is out with an injury for the next couple weeks, hurting his chances to make the team, so Coach Sauter and new assistant Jon Klemm will have some decisions to make there. The Chiefs have four 20-year-olds to start the year in Spurgeon, Bartman, Donaghey, and Letts.

Second year players like Blake Gal, Steve Kuhn, David Conrad, Kenton Miller, and Anthony Bardaro will haveee to be guys who will put the puck in the net consistently for the Chiefs to win. Bardaro is out with an ankle injury for at least two weeks, so a thin and young offense suffers a blow there.

Returners like T.C. Cratsenberg and Mike Betz will also expected to have a much bigger role offensively this season. Newcomers Mike Aviani, Brady Brassert, Mitch Holmberg, Matt Marantz, and Dominick Uher will be using the early season to get adjusted to the WHL level.

The offense will be challenged early in the season. It struggled through the pre-season and no doubt will have its' moments where fans will be impatient. The key will be if the offense gels by January/February as to whether this team will be successful come playoff time in March. If the power play can gel, and the offense can get more balanced scoring without having to rely on Wahl, Johnson and Koper, then this team can do some damage in the post season.

The WHL race is wide open in the West this year, so here's to hoping the Chiefs will right in the middle of things. It all starts Friday night in Prince George. I'll be on the air with Comcast Hockey Tonight at 6:30, with the puck drop at 7:15 on 1510 KGA. See you on the radio!

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