SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Chiefs star left wing Chase Harrington shines in his first year as team captain, leading Spokane to a franchise-best 10-1-0 start. We sat down with the Calgary Flames draftee this week on his journey through the juniors and looking forward to the NHL.
JACK WALLACE: Now, hitting the ice with your guys and knowing that it’s pretty good odds that the end of your time here is not super far away, of course, with the draft last season. What can you take away the most from being here in the U.S., being here in Spokane, and being here with these guys?
CHASE HARRINGTON: I mean, everyone says junior is the best time of your life; I agree. It’s been so fun with these guys. Yeah. I got brothers for life. I got friends for life. The staffs made me who I am today. So, I’m just so thankful. So grateful that I could have gone anywhere in the draft, the WHL draft, and was just so lucky I went here.
JW: Talk about that experience of the draft when you got that call. What was that like talking with those guys?
CH: Didn’t go to the first. So I went back home, and I got there for the second day, and I’m looking around. There are so many good players. I’m like, this could go any way. And as soon as I thought that, then I got picked, and I was like, I don’t even know what happened. I hugged my family, hugged Sparksie (Tyus Sparks), and then I just blacked out.
JW: And you were saying the preseason about being able to play in Seattle, being able to get with some of those guys there – what was that experience like, sort of getting a little taste of it?
CH: It was definitely surreal. Gave me a lot of confidence. I feel like I played well. I feel like I proved to myself that I can compete at that level. And that was my first taste since I started to play hockey. I was four years old; like, I just played against an NHL team. So yeah, it was definitely cool to be out there.
JW: How have you taken that and used it to help push this team to be as good as y’all look right now?
CH: I think everyone in the room is trying to get to the NHL. So having a guy who’s been around it for weeks and seeing what they do every day, it’s definitely important. So, it helps my leadership for sure.
JW: Have you talked to guys like [Berkly Catton] who are already in the league and playing? What kind of advice would, if you have talked to him, what he had to say about, I guess, navigating this year in Spokane and looking ahead and what that could be like in the future?
CH: For me personally, I’m just playing a lot more free, like, I’m not playing for the draft or for a contract… I’m just playing hockey with my brothers. Just trying to win with them. So yeah, it’s been refreshing.
JW: What would be your biggest goal that you want for yourself this season in Spokane?
CH: This year’s been different, where I don’t really have any personal goals. Like, I don’t care if I don’t get another goal the rest of the season. As long as the banner goes up at the end of the year, that’s all I care about.
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