One season after reaching the WHL Championship Series, the Spokane Chiefs are ready to battle for WHL supremacy once again.
The U.S. Division club locked up one of the last remaining playoff berths in the conference with a 7-2 mauling of the Tri-City Americans on Saturday night.
Seven different Chiefs skaters lit the lamp, highlighted by Tyus Sparks’ game-winner, while Carter Esler steered aside 22 of 24 shots for the victory.
Six Spokane skaters have eclipsed 20 goals in 2025-26, including power forward Chase Harrington, who has hit 26 goals and 100 penalty minutes while increasing his stock ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft.
Harrington brings valuable championship experience from the 2025 run, along with his fellow alternate captain and Winnipeg Jets prospect Owen Martin, who owns 25 tallies and six game-winners.
The Chiefs’ defensive corps is headed up by Captain Will McIssac, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound bruiser who was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, and ‘A’ Nathan Mayes, a seventh-round selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On the trade front, the Chiefs have bolstered their attack with the addition of veteran snipers Logan Wormald, who has surpassed 300 games played and 250 career points this season, and Dominik Petr, who has added a pair of game-winning tallies for Spokane.
Spokane also made a splash at the 2026 WHL Trade Deadline by bringing in 2026 NHL Draft-eligible Tyus Sparks and steady defenceman Marek Howell, in addition to a first-round pick in the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft.
Wormald and Sparks currently lead the Chiefs in scoring.
In net, sophomore Carter Esler has burst onto the scene with a 23-18-0-0 record, a 2.82 goals-against average, a .901 save percentage and a league-best five shutouts.
Spokane has lifted the Ed Chynoweth Cup twice, in 1991 and 2008, and went on to claim the Memorial Cup in both of its trips to the CHL’s title match.
The Chiefs close out their regular season slate against the Seattle Thunderbirds on March 22, 2026, at 5:05 p.m. PST.
Follow the road to the 2026 WHL Playoffs by streaming every match for free on Victory+.
