Jacob Bestebroer writes a bi-weekly column in the Chilliwack Progress during the BCHL hockey season.
A few weeks ago in this space we talked about the potential for the Chilliwack Chiefs to take and build a bit of a lead in the BCHL’s Mainland division.
Three weeks into January and they’ve done just that.
Prior to Wednesday’s home game against Coquitlam, the Chiefs sat on top of the division with record of 32-11-1-0, good for a five point lead over the second place Prince George Spruce Kings with a game in hand.
While the Chiefs have taken advantage of playing an easy part of their schedule, Prince George has struggled a bit while facing one of the tougher stretches of their schedule.
After the holiday break in December the Chiefs went 7-0-1-0 in their next eight games, earning them 15 out of a potential 16 points. One of those wins was a shootout win over the Spruce Kings. During that same time period the Spruce Kings have posted a record of 3-3-0-3.
Considering the road travel involved in those nine games, trips to both the interior and Vancouver Island, earning nine points is not all that bad.
Until you compare it to what the Chiefs have done.
While the third place Coquitlam Express haven’t lost any ground, they’ve also failed to gain much ground. Prior to Wednesday they were nine points back of Prince George and 14 back of Chilliwack.
The Chiefs and Spruce Kings face each other three times in the season’s final week including each team’s final two games, both of which will be played in Prince George. Always a tough place to play, taking a lead into that final weekend will be of the utmost importance to the Chiefs. They’ve set themselves up nicely right now, but still lots of games to play before that final weekend.
Hard to single out any individuals in the Chiefs recent run of success.
One person it’s nice to see find his game is goaltender Daniel Chenard. After backstopping the Chiefs to the Royal Bank Cup last season, he was forced to miss the first two thirds of this season after undergoing off-season hip surgery.
His return to the lineup became much more important when Chiefs goaltender Mathieu Caron, arguably the league’s best stopper this season, was lost with a knee injury.
After shaking off some rust in his first few appearances, Chenard has put together three straight quality starts including a 48 save performance in a 4-3 overtime win in Merritt last week.
After hosting Merritt tonight (Friday), the Chiefs take to the road for a game Saturday night in Wenatchee.
They return to home ice Wednesday Jan. 30 versus the Langley Rivermen.
jb@chilliwackchiefs.net