Early on in last Friday’s Chilliwack Chiefs home game versus the Trail Smoke Eaters my broadcast partner Kraig Krause asked me what should have been an easy question.
“What can we expect to see in this game tonight?”
My answer was something along the lines of, “Well I know what I don’t expect. Despite both teams ability to score goals I don’t think we’ll see anywhere near the total amount of goals we saw last time Trail was here when the Chiefs won 13-5.”
Two and a half hours later Chiefs forward Tipper Higgins scored in overtime to give the Chiefs an 8-7 win.
Oops.
These two teams face each other just twice a season, which is a shame.
The last four times they’ve met, all Chiefs wins, the scores have been 13-5, 6-5 in overtime, 7-4 and last week’s 8-7 in overtime.
The total number of shots on goal in those four games was 311.
These four games would look right at home in 1985 but they don’t happen often anymore.
They are fun to watch and I wish they happened more often.
The race for playoff positioning in the Mainland division continues to be tight. Last weekend started with Langley in first. After Friday night the Chiefs were in first. Saturday’s games moved Langley back on top. Sunday it was the Chiefs moving back to first after an overtime win in Cowichan.
This could very well be the way it goes the rest of the way.
Prior to last night’s Prince George in Langley game, the Chiefs held down first place with 56 points. Langley was just one point back.
It’s still likely these two teams finish first and second but Prince George can’t be written off just yet. A win last night in Langley and another win tonight in Chilliwack and they make it a three team race for first.
If Prince George does go on a winning streak and finishes first that would likely mean a Chilliwack versus Langley first round playoff series.
The more likely scenario has the Chiefs facing either Prince George or Coquitlam in the first round.
Which team would be the better match up for the Chiefs?
Coquitlam has the top two scorers in the league in Corey Mackin and Brett Supinski. There is no doubt in my mind that Express coach Barry Wolff would play them half the game or more in game one to try and steal home ice advantage. They also have a goalie in Chris Tai that can steal games.
Would you want that, or the travel schedule that comes with a series against Prince George? The right answer is, no matter who the Chiefs face in round one it’s going to be tough.
As I mentioned the Chiefs are home to Prince George tonight. It’s Literacy Night and features the official start to the 2015 City Wide Literacy Challenge that takes place from Feb. 1-21 in Chilliwack.
jb@chilliwackchiefs.net