Skip to content

Chiefs split with Wild in pre-Christmas finale

The Chilliwack Chiefs maintained their Mainland division lead, splitting weekend road games in Washington State.

The Chilliwack Chiefs held on to top spot in the Mainland division standings, splitting a pair of weekend road games in Wenatchee.

The Chiefs made their first-ever trip into Washington State for a Friday night matchup at the Town Toyota Center.

Vimal Sukumaran opened the scoring at 8:33 of period one and a Jordan Kawaguchi snipe 1:45 into the middle frame had the Chiefs up 2-1.

But the Wild got the next three off the sticks of Blake Christensen, Dakota Raabe and Daniel Nachbaur to escape with a 4-2 win.

Aidan Pelino took the loss in the Chilliwack net, stopping 32 of 36 shots.

He was back between the pipes for the Saturday rematch, backstopping his crew to a 3-2 win.

Pelino stopped 36 of 38 shots and Kohen Olischefski got the game-winning goal in dramatic fashion, scoring with 54 seconds to play.

Connor McCarthy and Darien Craighead also tallied for the Chiefs, who sail into the Christmas break with a record of 23-7-1-3. By splitting in Wenatchee, they maintain their three-point lead atop the Mainland division and still hold two games in hand.

Chilliwack returns to action Dec. 30 hosting the Langley Rivermen at Prospera Centre (7 p.m.).

See bchl.ca

 

— The Chiefs hold steady in the latest Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings.

Chilliwack stays at No. 13, one of two BCHL teams on the list. The Penticton Vees are the other team, slipping one spot from No. 2 to No. 3.

No BCHL teams earned honourable mentions.

The Pointstreak CJHL Top 20 weekly rankings are produced in conjunction with International Scouting Services (ISS) and are based upon a variety of factors including strength of league, winning percentage, win-loss record, total points accumulated, goals-for versus goals-against ratio, etc.

See the full rankings at cjhlhockey.com