After dispatching the Coquitlam Express in a BCHL laugher Wednesday night, the Chilliwack Chiefs face tougher competition this weekend.
The locals will take the long bus ride to Prince George for back to back road games vs the Spruce Kings.
Winners of five straight, the Chiefs face the team that is directly behind them in the Mainland division standings. Prince George (19-17-2-2) is 15 points back, which is probably too much ground to make up in the 18 games that remain on the regular season slate. PG would need to beat Chilliwack in each of their five head-to-head matchups and hope for a lot of help.
That seems unlikely.
What's more likely is these teams facing each other in the playoffs as the two and three seeds in the division.
The Chiefs and Spruce Kings have met twice this season, both in Prince George.
Chilliwack lost the first one, falling 4-1 on Oct. 20.
They took the second one by a 3-2 count Dec. 1 despite being out-shot 48-21, with Mark Sinclair stealing the win in net.
The Chiefs have scored 30 goals during their five game win streak and have several players on point streaks.
Kohen Olischefski has five goals and 14 assists for 19 points over his last 11 games.
Jake Smith has eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points over his last eight games.
Will Calverley has two goals and nine assists for 11 points over his last seven games.
Rookie defenceman Davis Bunz collected seven points in his first 23 BCHL games and has nine points (including six goals) in his last eight outings.
Collectively, Chilliwack now possesses the second-most potent offence in the league, averaging 4.05 goals per game.
Only the Wenatchee Wild put more pucks in the net, averaging 5.13 per game.
Prince George is no slouch offensively, averaging 3.83 goals per game. Twenty year old forward Brent Mennear leads the Spruce King attack with 20 goals and 57 points in 40 games.
Jarod Hovde, Chong Hyun Lee, Jamie Huber and Parker Colley are all double-digit goal scorers, as is 20 year old defenceman Tyler Anderson who is nearly point-per-game from the blueline with 38-14-20-34.
The Chiefs have a significant edge in goals against and goaltending.
Mark Sinclair is among the league leaders in wins (21), goals-against average (2.57) and save percentage (.912).
PG stopper Tavin Grant is two years younger and has struggled to a 3.49 GAA and .889 SP.