Chilliwack Chiefs (9-6-0-1) vs Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6-9-0-4)
Saturday November 12th, 2011
The Chiefs will try to make it four straight wins when they host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks tonight. Game time is 7pm.
It’s the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Chilliwack has won the first two meetings by scores of 6-4 on home ice and 3-1 in Salmon Arm.
David Bondra scored three times and Derek Huisman picked up three assists as the Chiefs defeated the visiting Langley Rivermen last night. Chilliwack is now in sole possession of fourth place in the Interior Conference with 19 points in 16 games.
The Silverbacks are coming off a 3-2 overtime win last night against the visiting Westside Warriors. Devin Muller scored the winner for the Silverbacks who sit in seventh place in the Interior Conference with 16 points in 19 games.
Chiefs Roster Notes:The Chiefs are currently carrying 21 players on their roster including two goaltenders, seven defencemen and 14 forwards. By age, Chilliwack has one 16 year olds (Forster), one 17 year old (Babych), six 18 year olds (Gossard, Graboski, Tibbet, Laurent, Berry, Udy) 8 19 year olds (Huisman, Bondra, Gould, Hansen, Hills, Thompson, Fontaine, Gillam), and five 20 year olds (Hutchinson, Blessing, Spring, Sitterley, Miller).
American Flavor: The Chiefs currently have six players from the United States on their roster, including one player from each of the following States: California, Maryland, Delaware, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Canucks:The Chiefs have 15 Canadian players on their roster including representatives from BC (10), Alberta (3), Quebec (1) and Ontario (1).
Special Teams: The Chiefs currently have the 14th ranked power play with a success rate of 17.04% (15/88). The Chiefs power play has been much better on home ice (22.0%) than on the road (10.53%). On the penalty kill, the Chiefs have killed off 78.8% (67/85) of their penalties, good for ninth place in the league.
Tibbet’s Debut:After missing the first 14 games of the season with an injury Chiefs rookie forward Mathieu Tibbet made his debut last Saturday against Vernon where he scored on his first shift and on his first shot.
Quick Starts: Chiefs forward Derek Huisman has 10 goals and 18 points in 16 games. Last season in Quesnel he had 14 goals and 28 points in 57 games…forward Malcolm Gould has 17 points (4g 13a) in 16 games, last season in Quesnel he finished with 31 (14g 17a) in 57 games…forward David Bondra has 18 points (7g 11a) in 16 games after scoring just nine points (4g 5a) in 57 games last season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel.
High Percentage: Among BCHL goaltenders with a minimum of four games played, Chiefs goaltender Mitch Gillam ranks 2nd in save percentage having stopped 92.1% (292/317) of the shots he’s faced.
Forster on top:Chiefs rookie forward Garrett Forster is the top scoring 1995 born player in the BCHL with ten points (2g 8a).
Attendance:The Chiefs rank 1st in BCHL attendance with an average of 2,032 fans per game. Penticton ranks second with an average of 1,570.
NHL Bloodlines: Chiefs forwards Jaret Babych, Michael Spring and David Bondra are all sons of former National Hockey Leaguers. Jaret’s father Dave played 1,195 NHL games for Winnipeg, Hartford, Vancouver, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. He finished his career with 142 goals and 581 assists. In Winnipeg, Dave Babych was a teammate of Spring’s father Don who played his entire NHL career in Winnipeg finishing with 1 goal and 54 assists in 259 games. Bondra’s father Peter spent 15 seasons in the NHL with Washington, Ottawa, Atlanta and Chicago. He finished his career with 892 points including 503 goals. Chiefs forward Derek Huisman is the cousin of Vancouver Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis.
Chiefs Last Five Games
Oct 29: Chiefs 3 @ Salmon Arm 1
Nov 2: Chiefs 2 Surrey 3
Nov 4: Chiefs 4 Prince George 3 2OT
Nov 5: Chiefs 5 @ Vernon 4
Nov 8: Chiefs 5 Langley 3
Chiefs Next Five Games
Nov 17: Vernon
Nov 18: @ Merritt
Nov 19: Westside
Nov 25: Penticton
Nov 26: @ Penticton
