BCHL’s best going head to head
Plenty of offensive fireworks on tap as two highest-scoring teams meet in second round
By luck of the draw, the top two teams from the B.C. Hockey League regular season are meeting in the second round of the Junior A circuit’s playoffs.
The Mainland Division’s Wenatchee Wild (45-9-4-0) and Chilliwack Chiefs (41-11-6-0) kick off their best-of-seven set Friday in Wenatchee, the north-central Washington State city that became home to the BCHL’s 17th franchise prior to last season.
You could argue that this would play as a league finale, although Wenatchee general manager-coach Bliss Littler and his Chilliwack counterpart Jason Tatarnic both maintain — as you’d expect — that there are multiple teams capable of claiming the league banner two playoff rounds from now.
The Interior’s Penticton Vees (4113-3-1) were third overall in league play, eight points in back of the Wild and two behind the Chiefs. The Island’s Victoria Grizzlies (37-12-54) trailed the Vees by three.
“I really think anybody left could win it, and that’s not me just trying to be political,” said Tatarnic. “There are some very good teams in our league this year. It just happens that us and Wenatchee are in the same division.”
Littler said: “I think it’s going to be a great series. I think it’s going to be one that the BCHL will be proud of.”
The Wild were 27-0-2-0 on their Town Toyota Center home ice in the regular season. The Chiefs handed them their first defeat on Dec. 30, taking a 4-3 decision in double overtime. Chilliwack handed them a second setback on the very next night, scoring a 7-6 overtime triumph on their way to celebrating New Year’s Eve.
Chilliwack, not surprisingly, had the second best home ice mark behind Wenatchee, with a 23-4-20 record. The Chiefs dropped a 4-3 decision to Wenatchee on Oct. 22 at their Prospera Centre.
The Wild wound up 2-2-2-0 against the Chiefs in league play. The teams haven’t met since that New Year’s encounter, so that’s also at play.
Wenatchee, behind league leading scorer Brendan Harris (23-75-98) and No. 3 man Charlie Combs (5133-84), topped the BCHL in goals, with 294. The Chiefs, who featured scoring parade runner-up Jordan Kawaguchi (38-47-85) and No. 6 finisher Kohen Olischefski (24-52-76), were second in the loop, with 243.
“We’re both puck possession teams, we both have a nice amount of skill,” said Littler, whose squad finished second in goals against (135) in league, compared to fifth for the Chiefs (165). “We both play with pace, we both like to get up and down the ice.”
The Wild became the BCHL’s first American-based operation since the Bellingham Ice Hawks, who were active from 1990-95. They’re one of four U.S. teams in the 132team Canadian Junior Hockey League, the most notable being the Buffalo Jr. Sabres of the OJHL.
Wenatchee made the second round of the BCHL playoffs last season, where they were ousted, oddly, by Chilliwack in five games. Chilliwack eventually advanced to the league championship, losing in six games to the West Kelowna Warriors, the eventual RBC Cup national champions.
Wenatchee is among the BCHL leaders in attendance. They drew an announced crowd of 4,300 for a first-round playoff game against the Prince George Spruce Kings, for instance. The franchise played up its U.S. roots in the marketing last season, with tag lines like “Border Wars,” but Littler says the Wild have purposefully gone away from that this season.
“We’re a proud member of the BCHL,” said Littler, who’s in his fifth year with Wild and moved over with them from the North American Hockey League. “We want to be the best team in the league, not the best American team.”
The Chiefs beat the Langley Rivermen in six games in the first round. The Wild advanced with a six-game victory against the Spruce Kings.