On location: Eli Zummack was named captain of the Spokane Chiefs ahead of the WHL season
Eli Zummack was awarded a “C” for the second time by the Spokane Chiefs. This time it’s his team.
The 2000-year-old Kelowna, British Columbia forward, who played his fifth season with the Western Hockey League team, was the captain of the 2019-20 season while Ty Smith was with Team Canada at the Junior World Championships.
“Eli is an example of the values and character we look for in a Chiefs player,” said head coach Adam Maglio said about the 33rd captain in program history. “His commitment to the game, his daily consistency and his professionalism are the leadership qualities that make him an outstanding captain of our hockey club.”
The Chiefs also announced four alternate captains Adam Beckman, Jack Finley and Cordel Larsonand defense attorney Matt Leduc.
Zummack was acquired by the Chiefs in January 2016 as part of a deal with the Red Deer Rebels and appeared in 233 regular season games for Spokane, ranked 46th in franchise history. With 217 points, including 156 assists (11th), he is 25th in his overage season.
He scored 86 points in the 2019-20 season, fifth among WHL skaters, including 64 assists in the league, and was named the Western Conference All-Star Second Team.
Beckman, a Minnesota Wild prospect, was named WHL Player of the Year for 2019-20 when he scored 107 points in the league. Finley, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, scored 57 points and centered a line that included Beckman and Larson, who posted career highs in goals (15), assists (28) and points (48). and Leduc, a 6-foot-5 defender who has played 153 career games, joins Zummack as one of the club’s three aging players.
“Adam, Jack, Matt and Cordel have all grown and developed with the Chiefs in their years,” said Maglio. “Each of these young men has high demands on themselves and the team. They will advance the culture of our team and we are confident they will make excellent alternate captains. “
• The Chiefs, who previously announced that fans would not be allowed to have COVID-19 restrictions in the stands this season, reiterated that position in a Facebook post last week:
“We have received a few questions asking if the new (state) Phase 3 guidelines will change our ability to accept fans this season. As of now, we don’t expect any changes to our current plan, especially with (the) Spokane Arena serving as the community’s mass vaccination site.
“Any changes or updates will be posted on social media and on our website as soon as possible.”
• The Chiefs and Cascadia Screen Printing are working together to give fans the opportunity to be “in the stands” in the form of a tailor-made photo cutout. The cost is $ 40. The deadline for orders is March 15th. Visit Cascadia at cascadiascreenprinting.com/ or (509) 362-8900.
College scene
Four entries, four All-Americans.
That’s the count for Washington State at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Athletics Championships over the weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Sophomore Charisma Taylor Production concluded with a career high of 44 feet (8 inches) to finish fifth in the women’s triple jump and earn First-Team Recognition for All-America.
Redshirt Junior Colton Johnsen received two awards for the second team for 15th place on the men’s 5,000 m (14 minutes, 1.86 seconds) and 10th place on the 3,000 m (7: 57.38); Junior Sam Brixey The second team earned an 11th place in the men’s 60m hurdles (7.79); and junior Zack Stallings was the second team for 14th place in the men’s mile (4: 09.5).
• • Scout CaiThe senior from Colfax, Pacific, Seattle was named Field Athlete of the Week for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for women after opening the 2021 outdoor season with a lifetime high of 12 feet (11½ inches) in winning the pole vault at the PLU Opener would have.
That exceeded their previous PR by 1½ inches, leads Division II, and is a preliminary qualifying grade for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. It also improves on their No. 2 on the GNAC all-time list.
• Gonzaga junior Tyler Rando was added to the 2021 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher’s watchlist after a strong start to the 2021 season.
Rando is a transfer from Mission College (Santa Clara, Calif.) And has started every game for GU since joining the team last season. He led the Bulldogs on average (0.352) and ended the shortened spring with six multi-hit games at team level. Rando is an outfield player at 0.982% and has exceeded his run and RBI totals from last year through the first 11 games in 2021.
Rando is one of 69 Division I catchers on the first watch list. The award was created in 2000 and was named after Johnny Bench to honor the Hall of Famer. It was renamed Posey in 2019, a six-time National League All-Star with the San Francisco Giants and 2012 NL MVP.
The final vote will take place during the College World Series, which is scheduled to begin on June 18th.
• Washington State Junior Right-Handed Starter Mug Zane Mills was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for the first time on March 9, after scoring seven innings out of a career high of eight innings in a 6-1 win over Seattle U on March 5.
Mills allowed only an inexperienced run with six hits and was eliminated at one point with 13 direct hits to improve his record to 3-0. The Portland native went third in the country last week with Pac-12 best 21 1/3 innings and was tied for the standings in wins, second in ERA (0.42) and third in strikeouts (23).
• Gonzaga in the second right-handed William Kempner, who made the most of his first career start on March 6, racking up 10 strikeouts with powerful fastballs and deceptive cutters in a 7-0 win over Portland, was named West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week.
Kempner only allowed four singles and went three in eight innings, a season high for a GU starter this season. Two of the hits came in the first inning when the Zags escaped a base-laden traffic jam.
• • Daniel Roy of Spokane, a Stanford junior, was ranked third in his specialty, the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, as he goes for a third All-America award in the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, the begin on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Gonzaga Prep graduate, who set the school record (1 minute, 51.07 seconds) as runner-up in the Pac-12 championships earlier this month, will also swim the 100 chest.
Washington State senior Chloe Larson, the 50-yard freestyle champion and school record holder for the Pac-12 women (22.16 seconds), comes in 28th. She will also swim the 100 free where she sowed the 39th. The women are active from Wednesday to Saturday.
• Idaho Newbie Emily Mack climbed four places in the final, finished third, and took the bronze medal with 208.40 points in platform diving when the Western Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships ended in Flagstaff, Arizona on February 27th.
Sophomore teammate Hailey Faith Eighth place and in the second year Allison Shimp and newbie Irelyne McGee reached the consolation finals, where Shimp finished fourth and McGee sixth.
Idaho was sixth in the Northern Arizona team competition.
• Senior quarterback in East Washington Eric Barrier rallied the fourth Big Sky Conference Football Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Eagles to a 45-13 win over northern Arizona on March 6th.
Barriere completed 29 of 49 passes for 413 yards and three touchdowns. It was the fourth 400-yard performance of his career and the 10th of 300 yards or more.
• Washington State Senior Michaela Bayerlova was named Pac-12 Tennis Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career on March 9, after taking two wins when the No. 47 Cougars beat No. 16 USC 4-3, only the second time in the program history that the WSU defeated the Trojans. She teamed up with Junior Hikaru Sato for the colon.
• • Efe AbogidiThe Washington State freshman has been named a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, presented annually to CollegeInsider.com’s top newcomer to Division I men’s college basketball. The winner will be announced on April 1st.
The 6-foot-10 striker from Nigeria was called up to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team after averaging 8.9 points, which is third on the team, and 7.2 rebounds, which is in Pac-12 took fourth place. He also shot a freshman record of 81.1% off the free throw line.
• • Liam Fitzgerald, an up-and-coming Whitworth striker from Hawaii, was named Northwest Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week on March 8 after shooting an average of 13.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 84.6% off the field as the Pirates wiped two George Fox games this past weekend. He also had five assists and two blocked shots.
• Three Greater Spokane League graduates and one athlete from Coeur d’Alene who are at least sophomore with a GPA of 3.20 or greater have been named to the Men’s All-Academic Team for the Men’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference .
Travis Swallow, a Seattle Pacific senior with a 3.94 GPA from Lake City, received his third consecutive award. He was joined by a teammate from Falcons Aidan Chaparro, a junior from North Central (3.39) who received his first.
Repeaters from 2019 are Bryan Maxwell, a Montana State Billings Junior from Lewis and Clark (3.63), and Northwest Nazarene Junior Landon Butler from Ferris (3.52).
• • Klaire Mitchell, a Grand Canyon sophomore from Lake City, broke the Division I career assistant record and set the four-set assistant mark on March 8 when she beat California Baptist 54 in a win Scored points.
Her career rose to 1,436, surpassing the 1,427 mark set in three years. After adding 36 assists the next night, Mitchell went into the final four games of her sophomore season at the GCU with 1,472 assists.
• Former Post Falls wrestler Ridge Lovett, a sophomore student in Nebraska, is fifth at 149 pounds in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships starting Thursday in St. Louis, Missouri. Lovett, who finished second in the Big Ten Championships, sets an 8-1 overall record for the national teams.
It qualified for Nationals at £ 133 in 2020 and was an award from the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-American when Nationals were canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
• • Brayden HuberAnother Post Falls wrestler who is a sophomore at the University of Mary bounced back from a first-round loss at the NCAA Division II Championships in St. Louis this weekend to win the All-America Status, and then lost his next two games to finish eighth at 133 pounds.