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Expect the unexpected and that is exactly what the Chiefs did in the semi-final on home ice in front of a sizable crowd, punching their ticket to the RBC Championship Sunday afternoon.

They entered as the underdog, considering the fact that they were eliminated from the BCHL playoffs March 11th by the Prince George Spruce Kings two

Prospera Centre

months prior that sees the club make a coaching change three days before the start of the championship series.

The BCHL champion Wenatchee came up short, despite the impressive season trying to become the first American team to win this coveted trophy only to fall by a 2-1 loss to the Wellington Dukes in the afternoon game.

The Dukes are coached by John Druce, former NHLer who guided rival Cobourg Cougars to the RBC championship last as the host squad.

As happens in the hockey world coaches get fired or released from their position as was the situation with former Chiefs Coach/GM Jason Tatarnic who was replaced by Brian Maloney who was given three short days to prepare his team for the championship run.

He Maloney is not stranger to his role as he was Tatarnic’s assistant for therian past two seasons, so it’s fair to say he knows the players.

I asked him why the change and he mentioned  “You’d have to ask the ownership group exactly whey they decided to do it at this time and I’ve been around so they all know me and they’re comfortable with me, but it’s still a different voice,” Maloney said. “I’ve been encouraging the guys to ask a lot of questions and the back-and-forth has been really good.

“You know they’re really engaged when they’re asking questions.”

He continued “But my guess would be that the organization felt they owed it to the community and the history of the Chiefs — there’s only ever been one RBC Cup here, and I think ownership’s plan was to give us our best shot at winning this thing.”

One thing about a lay-off is that it gives you time to prepare and  in doing so he (Maloney) helped Tatarnic get in touch with Rocky Thompson who

coached the OHL Windsor Spitfires to the Memorial Cup Championship last season.

Maloney played against Rocky in the AHL and together we put together a six-week program to help keep the pace going as well as putting together a strenuous conditioning and skills program to keep everyone focused on the  task at hand.

Maloney isn’t alone as he  has other notables helping out such as Cam Keith (former Head Coach/GM of Trail), Suneil Karod (Head Coach Victoria Cougars as well as Brad Rihela who spent time with Yale Hockey Academy.

Back to reality – both the Chiefs and the Wild were looking to become the first teams from the same league to play for the Championship trophy dating back to 1990 when the Vernon Lakers upset the New Westminster Royals pulling out a 6-5 O/T vin.

The Championship trophy at that time was called the Centennial Cup, but this time marks the fourth straight time the tournament host team advance to the final, with the host teams winning two of the four times.

Chiefs Pickering notched the winning goal at the 11:16 mark of the third grabbing a loose puck in front of Ottawa’s “tender” Connor Hicks, bringing the crowd to their feet.

While they had the lead, it wasn’t easy to hold on as Chiefs Skyler Brind’Amour was assessed a high sticking double minor with only 4:47 remaining.

It should be noted that the Chiefs finished 4th in the BCHL Mainland standings, ranking 12th overall in the 17-team league and losing out to Prince George in the first round in game seven, but in sports – that means nothing!!

Congratulations to the Chiefs organization on running a first class RBC Championship!!

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