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Cowichan Valley edges Chilliwack

Saturday night turned out to be an entertaining one at the Chilliwack Coliseum despite the home side on the wrong end of a 1-0 score. It was Minor Hockey Night in the building with just under 2500 in attendance who were buzzing and itching to get out of their seats for a Chiefs goal. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.

After a slow start in pace in the early goings of the game both teams were able to generate some chances in the offensive zone but the game stayed scoreless after twenty minutes of play.

Chilliwack outshot Cowichan Valley 9 – 7 after one period of play. Both teams took a penalty in the period and it turned out to be the only power-play the Chiefs game in the entire game.

More of the same in the middle frame as no goals were to be had by either side despite some great chances by both teams. The Chiefs outshot the Caps 13-8 in the second period but couldn’t solve goaltender Zach Borgiel.

One of the Chiefs best chances to score came in the third period as Brett Rylance found a wide open Xavier Henry coming in from the left point but the tall rearguard missed. Then nearing the midway mark of the period, 16-year old Caps forward Kobe Verbicky scored on a bit of a broken play in front of the Chiefs goal. It was his first career BCHL goal and it was a big one. The Chiefs gave it their all for a full sixty minutes and carried the bulk of the play for most of the game but ran into some solid goaltending and some real good defence by Cowichan Valley.

It was the first time the Chiefs were shutout on home ice since December 8, 2018 when they lost 5-0 to Powell River.

Chilliwack went 0-for-1 on the power-play while Cowichan Valley went 0-for-3. Mathieu Caron stopped 21 of 22 shots faced while Borgiel (named 1st star) stopped 28 of 28.

The Chiefs next game is Friday November 22 in Penticton followed by a date in Trail the next night to take on the Smoke Eaters. You can catch the play-by-play action with Vanni De Bartolo and Tyler Garrah for both of the games beginning with the pre-game show Friday at 6:35pm.

The Chiefs return home November 28 when they play host to Powell River.

Written by: Vanni De Bartolo, Chiefs Play-by-Play broadcaster

 

Photo provided by Fotoshotz aka Darren Francis.