NORTHWEST NOTES: Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Post Falls wrestlers

finalists for SWABS awards

Post Falls High’s state championship wrestling team is a finalist for Junior Team of the Year, as selected by the Inland Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters.

Post Falls wrestling coach Pete Reardon is a finalist for Junior Male Coach of the Year. Trojan wrestler Seth McLeod is a finalist for Junior Male Athlete of the Year, and Lake City sprinter Maddison Ward is finalist for Junior Female Athlete of the Year.

Winners will be announced Feb. 2.

District 1 announces

fall coaches of the year

The District 1 Coaches Association announced its selections for fall coaches of the year recently.

Only one coach per sport is selected throughout all classifications, and are based on a coaches vote.

Football: Satini Puailoa, Sandpoint.

Boys cross country: Shawn Lawler, Timberlake.

Girls cross country: Matt Brass, Sandpoint.

Volleyball: Amy Scheer, St. Maries.

Girls soccer: Dave Baxter, Coeur d’Alene Charter.

Boys soccer: Rob Lawler, Priest River.

Ex-NIC standout Webb

honored by Mountain West again

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— For the second time in three weeks, Boise State forward James Webb III was named Mountain West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, the conference announced. Webb led the Broncos to a pair of victories last week, averaging 25.5 points and nine rebounds while shooting 61.5 percent from the floor. It is the second weekly honor of the season for Webb and the third of his career.

Webb was the conference Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 20, as well. The redshirt junior, who played at North Idaho College as a true freshman, has taken home each of the last two MW weekly awards he was eligible to receive as the Broncos did not play during the week ending Dec. 27.

In Boise State’s final nonconference game Wednesday, against UC Davis, Webb scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting and went 8 for 9 from the free throw line. He also added nine rebounds.

Webb poured in a game-high 28 points Saturday, in Boise State’s Mountain West opener against Colorado State. The 28 points are the most Webb has scored in a conference game in his career. He pulled down nine rebounds while recording three steals and two blocks.

Against the Rams, Webb scored 20 points in the second half — including all three of his three-pointers — as Boise State held off a CSU rally. The Broncos took a 14-point lead into halftime, but Colorado State scored the first eight points of the second half to cut the margin to six. From there, Webb scored 13 points in a span of 4:33 to ignite a 15-9 Boise State run which pushed the margin back to double figures.

Whitney’s No. 14 to be first

retired number in Chiefs history

SPOKANE — The Spokane Chiefs announced that on Jan. 29, they will officially retire the number 14 in honor of former player and long-time NHL standout Ray Whitney. Whitney will be on hand to be recognized and raise his number 14 jersey to the rafters in a pre-game ceremony on the ice at Spokane Arena. It will be the first retired number in franchise history.

Whitney played for the Chiefs from 1988-91 and was an integral part of the 1991 Memorial Cup Champion team. The forward from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, played 216 games as a Chief and his name is littered across the Chiefs’ franchise record book: 1st in career points (348), 1st in career assists (207), 4th in career goals (141) and 5th in points per game (1.63).

He was nearly unstoppable during the 1990-91 season, posting a franchise record 185 points with 67 goals (2nd-highest single season total in club history) and 118 assists (1st). His remarkable season earned him the WHL’s Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s top scorer and the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL Player of the Year. He was also named to the Western Conference’s First All-Star Team.

He added 16 goals and 22 assists in 21 playoff games, including 13 goals and 18 assists during the exciting 1991 playoff run, earning a nomination to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team as well as the Memorial Cup Most Sportsmanlike Player Award.

Whitney, who earned the nickname “The Wizard” for his playmaking ability, was drafted in the second round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft (23rd overall) by the San Jose Sharks. He went on to an illustrious professional career and became one of just 57 players to ever play 1,300 NHL games (1,330; 51st all-time).

Suiting up for eight different NHL teams, he was a three-time NHL All-Star (2000, 2003 & 2012) and 2006 Stanley Cup Champion with the Carolina Hurricanes. He scored 385 career goals and 679 assists for 1,064 points; one of just 83 NHL players with 1,000 career points.

The Chiefs host the Seattle Thunderbirds on Jan. 29, with the Whitney number retirement set to take place before the game.

• The Spokane Chiefs announced that they have acquired 20-year-old forward Presten Kopeck from the Kootenay Ice in exchange for 20-year-old forward Riley Whittingham and a fourth-round pick in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

“We feel this trade will help our depth with our forwards as Presten Kopeck can play all three positions,” Chiefs general manager Tim Speltz said. “We will use (Kopeck) to kill penalties and he will also contribute offensively.”

Kopeck, a 6-foot, 174-pound center out of Medicine Hat, Alberta, has played 224 career WHL games between the Portland Winterhawks and Red Deer Rebels. He was traded from the Rebels to Kootenay on Jan. 3 and had not yet suited up for the Ice.

Originally a third round pick in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft by Portland, he scored 14 goals and 15 assists in 88 games with the Winterhawks before being traded to Red Deer in December 2013. He scored 21 goals and 27 assists in his first full season with the Rebels last season before racking up 5 goals and 13 assists in 37 games this season. Kopeck has 23 games of WHL Playoffs experience, recording 7 assists.

Whittingham, from Calgary, Alberta, was originally a third round pick by Spokane in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. He played 228 games over four seasons with the Chiefs — 42nd in franchise history — and scored 46 goals and 49 assists while piling up 295 penalty minutes. He added 19 games of playoff experience, scoring twice and adding two assists.

Kopeck is expected to be available for Spokane’s next game on Saturday vs. the Regina Pats at Spokane Arena.