Chiefs edge Kings

The battle for first place overall in the B.C. Hockey League was decided by a shootout Friday night in Chilliwack.

Cole Donhauser and Brett Willitts each scored on Prince George Spruce Kings goalie Logan Neaton while goalie Nolan Hildebrand shut the door on Kings’ shooters Ben Brar and Layton Ahac to give the Chilliwack Chiefs a 3-2 victory in front of 2,733 spectators at Prospera Centre.

The win gave the Chiefs (21-80-0) a three-point bulge over the second-place Spruce Kings (18-71-2) atop the 17-team league. The two Mainland Division frontrunners will meet again tonight in Chilliwack.

The Kings led this one 2-0 after two periods. Dustin Manz, on a Kings power play, scored the only goal of the first period, 4:16 in. Nicholas Poisson added to the count, 11:24 into the second period.

The Chiefs top two scorers, Harrison Blaisdell and Kevin Wall, cashed in with power-play goals early in the third period to tie the game. Blaisdell scored at 2:19 with the Kings two players short and Wall, who started the game as the BCHL’s leading point-getter, scored his 22nd goal in 29 games, with one Spruce King still in the box. The Chefs went 2-for-4 with the extra man, while the Kings finished 1-for-3.

The Kings fired 41 shots at the Chiefs, who replaced starting goalie Mathieu Caron with Prince George leading 1-0, 2:42 into the second period, after he’d made 14 saves. Hildebrand was the game’s first star with 25 saves. Neaton blocked 24 of 26 shots he faced.