It’s unusual to find positives in an 8-2 loss but it was easy to do so in last Friday’s Chilliwack Chiefs loss to the Nanaimo Clippers at Prospera Centre.
The Clippers are a tough team to play against, pressuring the puck as well as any team in the league.
They play physical from start to finish and they wear teams down. This game plan worked perfectly for them Friday night.
But with all the troubles the Chiefs had, the forward line of Jordan Kawaguchi, Kurt Black and Mason Boh was very good. They scored one goal and were dangerous on the majority of their shifts. That’s good to see from three guys who are eligible to return next season.
The last minute of Saturday’s 5-3 win over the visiting Surrey Eagles was about as exciting as you can get. The Chiefs scored three goals in the game’s final minute to erase a 3-2 deficit.
The action in the press box was as frenzied as it was on the ice. The three stars are picked with input from a group of people up in the press box, and the loose rule is that they need to be picked with five minutes left in the third period.
We did not follow that rule Saturday.
The three stars changed four times in the last five minutes of that game. Each time they changed, Chiefs PA announcer Dave Mawhinney had to let staff by the team’s benches know. In addition to that, and the three goals he had to announce, there were also three penalties in the last minute as well. Good work Dave.
A bit of Chiefs Alumni news to report.
Former netminder Mike Valley (1995-96), currently the Dallas Stars goaltending coach, is now an author.
He partnered with USA Hockey goaltending scout Justin Goldman to write The Power Within: Discovering the Path to Elite Goaltending.
I got to know Mike quite well during his season here and it’s no surprise to see him involved with a project like this. He was very much into the mental aspect of goaltending when he played and he’s obviously still a big believer in the importance of it when it comes to goaltending.
Chiefs alum Shawn Germain (2000-01 and 2002-03) was named to the Team Canada Slo Pitch team that will compete in a series of exhibition games July 24-26 against Team USA. They’ll also compete in the USA Futures leading up to the Men’s Slo-Pitch Border Battle between Team Canada and Team USA on July 26 in Kitchener, ON
Two games for the Chiefs this weekend.
After travelling to Langley Friday night they return home to host the Prince George Spruce Kings Saturday at Prospera Centre. Saturday’s game marks the return of the BMO Dash for Cash that will see people take to the ice to pick up as many of the thousands of loonies that will be scattered on the ice as they can in 60 seconds.
jb@chilliwackchiefs.net