night.
The Chiefs came into the weekend riding a five game winning streak and extended it to seven with wins over Cowichan Valley (6-2 Friday) and the Coquitlam Express (4-0 Saturday). The Clipper win improved Chilliwack’s record to 17-5-3-0 and gave them sole possession of first place in the Mainland
division.
The Chiefs haven’t lost in November.
The home team dominated the first period, coming away with a 1-0 lead when they could have have a whole lot
more.
Chilliwack spent entire shifts in Nanaimo’s end and opened the scoring
at 4:48.
Defenceman Carver Watson snuck down from the right point. Rookie forward Will Calverley fed a nice pass across the goal mouth and the Wisconsin
kid buried it for his fourth of the season.
Jordan Kawaguchi had a half dozen chances to double the Chiefs lead before he finally found the mark 8:31 into period two. From the left point, blueliner Olivier Arseneau found Captain K cruising into the slot. Gooch took the pass and wired a top-shelf shot over
Brouwer’s glove for his 21st of the year.
Credit to the Clips who could have
gone away but didn’t.
Nanaimo collected a power play goal in the final minute when a Myles Cunningham wrist shot from the point blooped off Mark Sinclair’s glove and flopped across the line, getting the visitors back within one heading
to the final frame.
Shots on goal through 40 minutes favoured the Chiefs
25-14.
Lost in Chilliwack’s emergence as an offensive powerhouse is the fact
they’ve also become one of the league’s stingiest teams.
Only the Penticton Vees, Victoria Grizzlies and Wenatchee Wild have been better defensively, making the Chiefs a team you don’t want to face with a third period deficit. The Clippers mustered just a couple notable scoring chances in the final 20, and when Watson collected his second of the game with 5:03 to go, the game was
over.
On a Chiefs power play, Justin Dixson’s wrist shot was turned aside by DeBrouwer, but Watson laid down a bunt, whacking the puck out of the air and
into the Nanaimo net for a 3-1 lead.
Sinclair added the exclamation mark on the next shift, flinging himself across the net to rob Nanaimo’s Vincent
Millette on a point-blank shot.
DeBrouwer came to the bench with just over a
minute remaining as the Clippers threw an extra attacker on the ice.
Jake
Smith iced the game with 29.1 ticks left, scoring into the empty net.
The three stars were Watson (first), Kawaguchi (second) and Calverley
(third).
The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Linden Hora.
Announced attendance was 2,492.