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Gooch scores three as Chiefs blitz Express

The Chilliwack Chiefs spotted Coquitlam a two goal lead, then blew the doors off the Express in a 9-4 BCHL win Friday night.

For the second time in a week the Chilliwack Chiefs laid a beating on the Coquitlam Express.

After whalloping them 6-3 last Saturday, the Chiefs did even better Friday night at Prospera Centre, pummeling their Mainland division foes 9-4.

Chilliwack got a hat-trick from Jordan Kawaguchi and two goals from Kale Kane.

Winners of 13 of their last 14 games, the Chiefs improved to 19-6-1-2 and dropped the Express to 12-14-1-3.

The Chiefs generously spotted the Express a two goal lead before this game was five minutes old, with Coquitlam scoring on their first two shots.

Erik Udahl opend the scoring at 3:03, finishing off a nice three-way passing play with Cameron Bertsch and Taylor Green. On the next shift, Jack Surowiec flew down the left wing and blew a short-side shot past Chilliwack netminder Matteo Esposito.

But the rest of the first period was pure dominance by the home team.

Coquitlam had just two more shots while the Chiefs pumped 25 at Express goalie Tyger Howat. Kawaguchi got Chilliwack even, scoring two goals in 105 seconds.

Gooch started the first play with a centering pass from the right wing wall. Kohen Olischefski punched the puck on net and the captain swooped in for the rebound, popping it upstairs for his 15th of the season.

Moments later Austin Adam one-timed a Dennis Cholowski pass on net. Cruising through the goal-mouth, Kawaguchi tucked the rebound inside the left post.

Defenceman Zach Giuttari collected his first BCHL goal at 14:02 when his point shot deflected off Taylor Green and in.

Kane wrapped up the first period scoring, one timing a Vimal Sukumaran feed past Howat for his seventh.

The Chiefs added another just 53 seconds into period two, with guess who pulling the trigger.

Off a neutral zone turnover and a quick pass from Adam, Kawaguchi darted down the right wing and put a blocker-side shot past Howat.

That ended the goalie’s night, with backup Lawson Fenton coming into the game.

The Express got one back on a power play at 4:05, with Owen Stout pulling the trigger, but the Chiefs answered back with goals by Kane and Sukumaran to lead 7-3 through 40 minutes.

They owned the shot-clock too by a 41-12 margin.

Darien Craighead got in on the action at 7:25 of period three, sniping his 10th of the year, and Sukumaran almost got his second of the game moments later. On the penalty kill, No. 11 stripped Coquitlam’s Charlie Barrow of the puck at the Chilliwack blueline and had a clear path to the net. Sukumaran went to the forehand, but Fenton butterflied, getting his left leg down to make the stop.

A Jake Smith snipe at 11:51 put a little drama into the last eight minutes, with the announced crowd of 1,485 wondering if the Chiefs could hit double digits.

They could not.

But after Coquitlam’s Colton Kerfoot wrapped up the scoring at 15:08, Kane provided a suitable exclamation point, one-punching Coquitlam’s Mathew Michie to the ice in a fight that was even more one-sided than the game.

Final shots were 57-18.

The three stars were Kawaguchi (first), Kane (second) and Adam (third).

The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Linden Hora.

The Chiefs are back in action Saturday night hosting the Nanaimo Clippers in a 7:30 p.m. start.



Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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