The Spokane Chiefs are back! Fall camp started on Thursday at the Spokane Arena with 61 of the 63 players participating in scrimmages. Goalie Mac Engel and forward Marek Kalus both sat out with minor injuries.

19 players from last years team return, led by the WHL's Western Conference Defenseman of the Year, Brenden Kichton. The Chiefs will scrimmage three times a day Thursday-Saturday, before the annual Red-White Scrimmage at the Spokane Arena at 1:00 p.m. All scrimmages are open to the public and free of charge.

Chiefs Head Coach Don Nachbaur is excited to see the young guys in action, and the growth the returning players made during the off-season.

"For the young guys that are listed and drafted, they can't play in the league this year. It's just great experience being in this environment and playing with our returning players, they're going to learn lots. And for the returning players, just to set the example. I think they all came in great shape and we're excited about that and we want to make sure we have a great camp and get off to a good exhibition season in preparation for the regular season," Nachbaur says.

Spokane's first exhibition game is on Saturday, 9/1 at Everett.