Chilliwack’s return to the BCHL Saturday night, a 7-1 home ice win over the favoured Penticton Vees could not have been scripted any better.
From the pre-game ceremonies through to the end of game salute by the players to the fans, it was a sight to behold.
Over 400 players have worn a Chiefs uniform since 1990 and it was nice to see so many of them in attendance. There was a pre-game get together for the alumni and it was awesome to see them all discuss old times.
The re-introduction of Chiefs mascot Chief Wannawin was a great bit of magic by Damien Carriere and blew my mind both in the previous day’s rehearsal and before the game. I was up close both times and have no clue how it was done.
Mitch Gillam’s performance in goal for the Chiefs was exactly what the team needed.
He was technically sound and looked to be a real calming influence on the rest of the team. It’s early, but he’s shown through training camp, pre season and now the first game of the regular season that he has the ability to be one of the best in the league.
His biggest save came early in the third period when he kicked out his left pad in tight to take away what looked to be a sure goal.
The score at that time was 4-1. Had he not made that save, who knows what type of momentum we would have seen the Vees gain.
Just a few minutes after that save by Gillam, the fourth line of Jeremy Gossard, Garrett Forster and Jaret Babych had a great shift that led to the 5-1 goal by Gossard. Gossard was the only one of the three with any (1 game) Junior A experience so it was nice to see that trio play an important role. They were rewarded for their efforts with some time on the power play late in the game.
The feel good story of the night had to be the play of Chiefs forward Josh Hansen.
Josh was a Chiefs fan growing up and n his first game in a Chilliwack Chiefs uniform (he was a Chief in Langley last year as well) he scored twice and was the game’s first star.
But based on the feedback I’ve gotten from fans, the post-game salute by the team to the fans at centre ice right after the final buzzer was THE highlight of the night. The fans were a big part of that game and it was a nice show of appreciation from the players.
Speaking of the fans, that was the highlight for me.
More than 3000 of you were there to cheer on an organization that obviously means a great deal to you.
Many of you dug out your old Chiefs uniforms, T Shirts and hats and wore them to the game.
That so many of you still have those items after the team’s five year hiatus from Chilliwack shows how important the Chiefs are to this town.
