Jacob Bestebroer writes a weekly column in the Chilliwack Progress focusing on the Chilliwack Chiefs, the BCHL and goings on around the junior A hockey world.
I wasn’t able to attend last Friday’s Chilliwack Chiefs home game vs Salmon Arm, but while watching the third period at home I received a trio of texts within seconds of each other, all of which said something like ‘Is that a record???’
When you watch a BCHL game online, the feed is usually right around a minute behind the live action so at first I had no idea what the texts were about.
Then I realized that Chiefs forward Regan Kimens was on the ice killing a penalty and I was pretty sure of what was about to happen.
Sure enough he scored a shorthanded goal, his third of the game.
The answer to the question posed in the texts is yes, it certainly is a Chiefs team record.
I can say with certainty that no Chief has ever scored four shorthanded goals in a game and I can say with 99.99 per cent that no Chiefs had ever scored three shorties in a game prior to Kimens doing it.
As for whether or not it is a BCHL record, the answer is very likely yes.
No one can say for sure that no player has ever scored four in a game but it’s unlikley. League records, especially early ones seem to have been lost in time.
I knew Kimens wasn’t the first to score three and if my memory was correct, it wasn’t just three shorthanded goals in a game that made the previous time it happened so memorable.
My memory was correct.
In happened during the 1982 season. Abbotsford Flyers’ forward Dave Moree set the BCHL record for fastest three goals by one player scoring three goals in 24 seconds.
That alone is ridiculous but get this. All three goals were shorthanded. Adding even more to it was the fact that his brother assisted on all three of the goals.
The National Hockey League record is also three by Theo Fleury of the Calgary Flames against the St. Louis Blues in March of 1991.
It’s the only time an NHL player has done it.
The NHL team record for shorthanded goals in a game is four by the Winnipeg Jets in a 7-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks in April of 1995. The BCHL record for most shorthanded goals by one team in a games is, well nobody seems to know.
The Chiefs take to the ice for a trio of games this weekend. Friday night the Prince George Spruce Kings visit Prospera Centre.
The Kings will enter the weekend in second place in the mainland division with 19 points in 17 games.
The Chiefs are in third, three points back of Prince George with one fewer game played.
The Langley Rivermen are in first with 22 points in 17 games.
Saturday the Chiefs are in Victoria before they wrap up the weekend with a Sunday matinee in Duncan against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
jb@chilliwackchiefs.net