‘It’s been 17 years’: Trio of former Chiefs players gather to witness current team compete for WHL championship

Standing in a suite overlooking the ice at the Arena before Game 3 of the Western Hockey League Championship Series on Tuesday, former Chiefs hockey players Seth Compton, Curtis Kelner and Ryan Letts noted the significance of this reunion.

“The last time, I am assuming, all three of us were at the WHL finals, we were on the same line,” Compton said.

Kelner figured the last time he was in this arena was 16 years ago when he received a ring commemorating the Chiefs’ 2008 Memorial Cup championship – a piece of jewelry all three of them wore Tuesday.

Letts said he hadn’t been in the building since his 20-year-old exit interview.

And yet here the three former linemates and longtime friends were: together again for a hockey game.

“It’s been 17 years and I thought, ‘OK, I’ve got flight points,’ ” said Kelner, who lives in Phoenix. “Let’s just be spontaneous and make it happen.”

Reunions between the three aren’t so uncommon. Compton, who lives in West Richland, said they see each other at least once a year, either in Arizona or in Montana, where Letts lives.

Even though the middle three games of the series will be played in Spokane, Game 3 was the only one they planned to attend before parting ways Wednesday.

This year’s Chiefs have been the franchise’s most successful since that 2008 team, which, after sweeping Lethbridge in the WHL final, went on to win the Memorial Cup against the champions of the Ontario Hockey League and what is now called the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

“It was one of those things that a lot of people have: a nostalgic time where there was a group that came together for a common goal and it worked out great,” Kelner said. “A lot of people have it with their job or military or school or something, and for us it was being on that team.”

Playing primarily on the fourth line, the trio combined for just one goal in the WHL playoffs, scored by Compton in the second game of the opening-round sweep over Everett. But that wasn’t really their primary job.

“What was valuable was (opponents would) play those (top) three lines against our other three lines,” Kelner said. “When we got one extra shift we brought some energy, and gave our other lines some rest and shook things up a little bit.”

They also didn’t take many penalties, accumulating just 22 penalty minutes in 21 playoff games.

“You never want to be the guy putting your team shorthanded,” said Letts, who had 75 penalty minutes in 56 regular-season games that year but just four in 13 playoff games.

“You have to play extremely smart. You have to play that fine line of wanting their fourth line to make a mistake.”

Of the three, Letts played the most hockey after his time in the WHL, playing four seasons at the University of Lethbridge. Kelner, who is from Arizona originally, attended Arizona State University – like Letts, he did so on the WHL’s scholarship program – and remained there after college.

Compton, who played a season for the Spokane Braves before joining the Chiefs in 2004, ended his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers after he was traded there midseason in 2008-09.

He still attends the occasional Chiefs game when they play the Tri-City Americans, but coming back to see the team – and his former teammates – at the Arena was special.

“I spent the better part of six years in Spokane,” Compton said. “I didn’t even know what the Memorial Cup was coming into the league. Here, I got to experience it firsthand.”