Wenatchee, WA. – A
late goal proved to be the difference Saturday night in a game that had everything
for the 3,233 fans in attendance, as the Chilliwack Chiefs held on to first
place in the Mainland Division with a 3-2 win over the Wenatchee Wild at the
Town Toyota Center.
Chilliwack led 1-0 after one, thanks to an unassisted goal
by Connor McCarthy at 5:50 that put the Chiefs in the lead.
In the second, Chilliwack would stretch the lead on a goal
by Darien Craighead, assisted by Jordan Kawaguchi at 2:43, giving the visitors
a 2-0 advantage. The Wild would slice in
half about 9 minutes later, as Brendan
Harris (Las Vegas, NV) took a stretch pass from Konsta Jaske (Samammish, WA) and slipped home a goal in tight to
finish off a breakaway. Logan Milliken
(Canmore, AB) drew the second assist on the goal coming at 11:42, cutting the
Chiefs lead to 2-1.
In the third, Charlie
Combs (St. Louis, MO) fired home a wrister from the right circle, bringing
Wenatchee into a 2-2 tie. Blake
Christensen (Lauderhill, FL) and Bryan
Yoon (Parker, CO) assisted, squaring the game and setting the stage for a
big finish. Unfortunately for the Wild, it wasn’t the finish they hoped for.
Kohen Olischefski scored on a sharp angle shot from the right side at 19:04,
assisted by Kawaguchi and Craighead and Chilliwack would hold on for the 3-2
win.
Wenatchee outshot the Chiefs 37-22 on the night. Chase Perry (Andover, MN) made 19 saves
for the Wild, while Aiden Pelino had 35 saves for Chilliwack. Wenatchee went 0-for-4
on the power play and 3-of-3 on the penalty kill. “You never like to lose a
game like that,” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler.
“but I thought both teams played very hard. I thought second and third period
we were much better than we were in the first but I think we found a rival. It definitely
appears we found a rival. Both teams played exceptionally hard.”
With the loss, the Wild slips to 21-10-3-2 on the season, the
Chiefs are now 23-7-1-3. Wenatchee hosts Chilliwack at the Town Toyota Center
to start the 2016 portion of their schedule on Saturday, January 2nd
and Sunday, January 3rd, 7:05pm both nights.
Battle For The Border
3 comments:
Friday was a fun game to watch,few penalties, fast skating good passing NO fights. It seems to me that two Canadian teams start fighting when they are loosing. The coach must condone this and the officials do not control it. Not fun to watch.
Friday was a fun game to watch,few penalties, fast skating good passing NO fights. It seems to me that two Canadian teams start fighting when they are loosing. The coach must condone this and the officials do not control it. Not fun to watch.
Just two ? You haven't seen everyone yet then lol
seriously the league is vastly improved. It still will be a while before the rest of the fighting fades. Too many coaches still old school or Nutz. I'm not sure which.
When I have seen the Wild play the games are fast and clean and physical and very entertaining.
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