Through 41 games the Chilliwack Chiefs sit all alone atop the BCHL heap.
Chilliwack beat their fiercest rival Sunday night at Prospera Centre, earning a 4-3 shootout win over the Prince George Spruce Kings. Playing their third game in two-and-a-half days, the Chiefs started strong and tired late, but continued their season-long trend of finding a way to get the job done.
“We knew our legs would be heavy at some point, playing against a pretty darn good opponent that makes you earn your ice,” said Chilliwack coach Brian Maloney. “We knew we’d probably give up some opportunities, and getting some good goaltending from Daniel (Chenard) was nice to see.”
The 19 year old goalie still isn’t all the way back from offseason hip surgery, evidenced by the massive ice pack he was sporting after the game.
But he is starting to flash the top-level ability that he showed late last season and his numbers (4.58 goals-against average, .828 save percentage) are slowly trending back in the right direction.
Chenard made several huge stops in regulation and overtime to get his team to the shootout, where he stopped all eight Prince George tries.
A return to form by the Ontario native would answer the one question that lingers with the Chiefs. Is the goaltending good enough to make them Fred Page Cup contenders?
Everything else seems to be falling into place.
Matt Holmes, who had the shootout winner vs PG, comes out of the weekend leading the Chiefs in scoring with 17 goals and 49 points in 39 games.
Between Holmes, Harrison Blaisdell (36-26-19-45) and Kevin Wall (34-23-21-44), Chilliwack has stars to lean on and the supporting cast is deep.
Cole Donhauser, Ethan Bowen, and Skyler Brind’Amour are double-digit goal scorers with Brett Willits and Jacques Bouquot closing in.
The addition of 20 year old Mitch Andres solidifies a defensive corps that needed an experienced voice. If his netminding holds up, Maloney believes his crew can go toe-to-toe with Prince George in the postseason.
“They (PG) have experience and they learned a lot going through the playoffs last year,” Maloney said. “But we feel like we have the best forward group in the league and picking up Mitch (Andres), he can play a lot of minutes and help our young back end.
“We feel like we’re climbing and we’re starting to peak.”