The Chiefs return to home ice tonight when they host the defending BCHL Champion Vernon Vipers. Game time is 7pm.
It's the second meeting of the season for the two teams, the Vipers defeated the Chiefs in the first meeting by a score of 4-1 last Friday in Vernon.
The Vipers are currently in first place in the Interior Conference with a record of 7-0-0-0. They are the only undefeated team remaining in the BCHL.
The Chiefs enter the game with a record of 3-1-0-0 and are a perfect 2-0-0-0 on home ice.
Chiefs Roster Notes:The Chiefs are currently carrying 22 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) 10 19 year olds (Huisman, Bondra, Gould, Hansen, Hills, Gonzales, Thompson, Elliott, Fontaine, Gillam), and four 20 year olds (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 16 Canadian players on their roster including representatives from BC (11), Alberta (3), Quebec (1) and Ontario (1).
NHL Bloodlines: Chiefs forwards Jaret Babych and David Bondra are both 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. David’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.
Playoff Meetings:Vernon and Chilliwack have met six times in the playoffs. In 1991 and 1992 they met in the second round with Vernon with Vernon winning both series in six games.Beginning in 1999 the teams met in the BCHL finals four times in five seasons with both teams winning two championships. Vernon won in 1999 and 2003, Chilliwack won in 2000 and 2002.
Special Teams: The Vipers enter tonight’s game with the BCHL’s second ranked power play. Vernon has clicked at a 28.57% success rate (10/35) with the man advantage. The Chiefs rank 14th in power play percentage at 14.03 (3/21). The Vipers have killed off 33/35 penalties this season to rank second in the league at 94.87%. The Chiefs have the league’s 11th best penalty kill at 75.0% (18/24).
Shots on Goal:The Chiefs have been outshot by their opponent in three of their four games this season. The Vipers have outshot their opponents in five of their seven games.
Did you know: Chiefs Assistant Coach Doug Ast is the Chiefs all time leading scorer. Ast spent three years with the Chiefs beginning in 1991. In 161 games Ast scored 101 goals and added 141 assists…Chiefs Assistant Coach Brandon Fleenor is also a former Chiefs player. Fleenor appeared in 110 games with the Chiefs, scoring 20 goals and 37 assists and racked up 302 minutes in penalties…Chiefs Head Coach Harvey Smyl is in his 19th season behind the Chiefs bench. Smyl spent 13 seasons in Chilliwack beginning in 1993 before moving with the team to Langley for five seasons in 2006
Chiefs Last Four Games
Sep 24: Chiefs 7 Vees 1
Oct 1: Chiefs 6 Silverbacks 4
Oct 7: Chiefs 1 @ Vipers 4
Oct 8: Chiefs 4 @ Warriors 3
Chiefs Next Five Games
Oct 15: vs Powell River 7pm
Oct 16: at Merritt 2pm
Oct 21: at Alberni Valley 7pm
Oct 22: at Victoria 7:15pm
Oct 23: at Nanaimo 3pm
