Chiefs earn needed rest after working overtime
Will Calverley and the Chilliwack Chiefs earned a break Monday.
The Chiefs were on a rest day at the RBC Cup national Junior A tournament that they’re hosting at Prospera Centre, coming off a 4-3 overtime win Sunday versus the Ottawa Jr. Senators that featured four goals from team captain Calverley.
“Hopefully I didn’t use up all my puck luck in one night,” Calverley, a second-year Chiefs forward, told The Chilliwack Progress afterward.
Calverley, 19, a Scarborough, Ont., native who is committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology for his NCAA hockey, led Chilliwack in scoring in the regular season with 46 points, including 18 goals, in 55 games.
Ontario’s Wellington Dukes faced Manitoba’s Steinbach Pistons in the lone game of the five-team tournament Monday at Prospera Centre.
The tournament awards three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win and a single point for an overtime loss and Sunday’s victory coupled with Chilliwack’s overtime setback to the Wenatchee Wild in the opener left the Chiefs (0-1-0-1) tied with Ottawa (0-1-0-1) for second spot as of Monday morning, trailing Wenatchee (1-10-0) and ahead of Wellington (0-0-0-1) and Steinbach (0-01-0).
Chilliwack faces Wellington in the 7 p.m. game Tuesday, while Ottawa meets Wenatchee, the BCHL champions from Washington state, in the 2 p.m. matchup.
The top four teams after Thursday’s final preliminary round games make Saturday’s semifinals, while the championship game is Sunday.
Chilliwack was ousted from the BCHL playoffs in the opening round. RBC Cup hosts have made the tournament final three straight springs, including last year when Ontario’s Cobourg Cougars won it all in front of their home fans.
The last BCHL team to captured the banner was the 2016 West Kelowna Warriors, who were successful in Lloydminster, Sask.