Layoffs can and will hurt teams unless you have a program in place that has every member of the team buying into the program, from the trainers, to the players in addition to the coaching staff.

Such was the case with every member of the Chilliwack Chiefs considering the fact that they faced close to nine weeks off.

The untimely layoff came following the first round in the BCHL playoffs to Prince George Spruce Kings in game seven.

Loss or not as the host team they managed to pull off an impressive 2018 RBC Cup win after trailing by a goal in the third period coming back to defeat the Wellington Dukes by a 4-2 margin.

In conversation with Chiefs Head Coach, Brian Maloney he mentioned to me

Maloney & Family

“I told them to believe in themselves and stay with it. I knew our conditioning would take over and I felt we had the legs to make a push in the third.”

He continued “The team didn’t get fancy, they didn’t try to win it on every shift. We just kind of controlled the puck, wore them down a bit and the results started to show for us.”

Following a heart-breaker of a 2-1 overtime loss to Wenatchee Wild in their RBC Cup opener, the Chiefs managed to go undefeated for the remainder of the tournament.

To the shock of many they defeated the Ottawa Jr. Senators 3-2 in their semi-final that set up the championship match-up with Wellington.

They started strong, but at times seemed tired and lifeless giving Wellington several chances while trailing 1-0 after Wellington got an early marker on the board.

Windsor’s Ted McGeen managed the only goal of the opening period, but the seconds would see the Chiefs and Dukes trade goals.

The third saw Chilliwack come to life with the tying goal early in the third as Corey Andonovski (Uxbridge, Ont.) would be the hero collecting the game-winning goal at the 11:28 mark.

Following the game Andonovski mentioned “I saw one of our guys going and he chipped the puck in. It took a funny bounce off the glass and popped out right to me and I tried to get a quick shot away and I was lucky enough to get it through on the second little poke I had.”

He was named player of the game for the Chiefs in addition to having both Tommy Lee and Andonovski led the offense for Chilliwack with one goal and one assist each.

Chiefs Captain and Toronto’s Will Calverley scored the game-tying goal with under five minutes into the third period that saw the Chiefs continue to press.

Chiefs Skyler Brind’Amour,  Anthony Vincent and Bryan Allbee each added an assist while Goaltender Daniel Chenard managed to recorded 26 saves in the win.

Wellington’s Mitchell Martan gave Wellington the lead on a shorthanded marker in the second while Andrew Rinaldi managed the assist on the Dukes’ first goal.

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Wellington’s “Tender” Jonah Capriotti  calls Hamilton Ontario home in the off-season he managed to stop 31 shots in a losing effort

John Druce, Wellington’s Head Coach mentioned “We executed very well in the first half of the game, we got a couple breaks, got a couple goals and took the lead as we knew this team wasn’t going to give up and quit. They’re very well-coached over there and they have a high skill-level. I’m very proud of my boys, they came out and played really hard.”

Thanks to the volunteers who made this such as success and congratulations to the Chiefs on the win.

Shots on Goal

Chiefs               9    14     12     35

Wellington      11     7     10     28