Every week during hockey season, local junior hockey guru Jacob Bestebroer provides his thoughts on the Chilliwack Chiefs and the BCHL.
Last week we took a look at some of the best goal scorers in Chiefs history.
This week let’s take a look at the guys who made all those goal scorers look good, the play makers.
Your feedback to last week’s top five goal scorers list was much appreciated and is welcome again this week.
— Gabe Gauthier spent three seasons in Chilliwack starting when he was just 15 years old.
He scored 46 points that first season and it was a sign of things to come. Gauthier finished with 147 assists in 141 games for the Chiefs and went on to star for the University of Denver, where he was part of two national champion teams.
— Tyler Burton loved to score goals and lit the lamp 60 times in 126 games with Chilliwack. His best skill though was his vision, and he used that great hockey sense to set up 129 goals during his two plus years in Chilliwack.
Burton’s best year was 2003-04 when he finished with 30 goals and 80 assists in 60 games. The beneficiary of many of Burton’s passes that season was Adam Powell, who finished the season with 53 goals.
— Marc Gagnon was a Chief for two seasons beginning in their inaugural season in 1990.
No BCHL team scored more than the Chiefs did during those two seasons (666 goals) and Gagnon assisted on 147 of those goals despite playing in just 104 of the team’s 120 games.
— Shawn Horcoff spent just one season in Chilliwack, but during the 1995-96 season the 17-year-old recorded a team record 96 assists in 58 games.
A few months ago I re-watched a few games from that season and even though I saw most of those games live, I had forgotten just how dominant Horcoff was that year.
Sidelined by a leg injury in the playoffs, Horcoff’s Chiefs were upset in seven games by the Langley Thunder in the second round. Horcoff went on to four seasons with the Michigan State Spartans and is currently in his eighth season with the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers.
— Travis Banga is the Chiefs all time leader in assists with 162 in 118 games.
Banga led the Chiefs to their second league championship in 2000 and a third place finish at the national championship in Fort McMurray. Banga went on to star at New England College for three seasons before embarking on a seven year pro career which ended last season in Holland.
At New England College he recorded 128 points in 70 games and is set to be inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Feedback can be sent to jb@chilliwackchiefs.net.