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Chilliwack Chiefs complete Wild sweep

The Chiefs are within seven points of the Mainland division lead after taking down Wenatchee in three straight BCHL games.
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Kohen Olischefski (in black) and his Chilliwack Chiefs beat Anthony Yamnitsky's Wenatchee Wild three straight times and are within seven points of the Mainland division front-runners.

Three straight wins over Wenatchee have the Chilliwack Chiefs within striking distance of the Wild in the Mainland division standings.

The Chiefs took down the Wild on home ice last Wednesday, then knocked them off in back-to-back road games Friday and Saturday night.

Chilliwack came out of Christmas trailing Wenatchee by 13 points in the division standings. They’re now within seven.

The Chiefs topped the Wild 4-3 in double overtime Friday, with Connor McCarthy potting the winning goal.

Will Calverley opened the scoring but his team trailed 3-1 midway through period two on Wenatchee goals by Brendan Harris (two) and Matthew Baker.

Carver Watson sparked the comeback 16:06 into the middle frame, putting his eighth of the year behind Wild keeper Devin Cooley.

Jake Smith sniped his 17th of the year at 7:59 of period three and assisted on McCarthy’s winner.

Chilliwack netminder Mark Sinclair stopped 34 of 37 shots.

A Smith hat-trick led the Chiefs to a 7-6 OT win Saturday.

Smith scored two in the first period, but the Wild led 3-2 through 20 minutes and 4-2 early in the second period after AJ Vanderbeck scored at 3:08.

The teams took turns lighting the lamp for the rest of period two —Jordan Kawaguchi for Chilliwack, Baker for Wenatchee, Linden Hora for Chilliwack, Colin Burston for Wenatchee and Colin Bernard for the Chiefs.

Down by one (6-5) heading to the final frame, Smith got his crew even at 1:46, becoming the second Chief to hit the 20 goal mark (Kawaguchi) this season.

Davis Bunz was the hero in OT.

It was a bad night for the goalies.

Cooley, who was signed recently to solve the Wild’s goaltending woes, was pulled after coughing up five goals on 15 shots. The man he was brought in to supplant, Anthony Yamnitsky, played the final 22:24.

Brendan Barry got the start for Chilliwack and was pulled after two periods, allowing six goals on 27 shots. Sinclair stopped all 19 shots he faced in the third period and overtime.

The Chiefs are home for their next game, hosting Langley Saturday night.