Good news and bad news from Saturday night’s Chilliwack Chiefs game against the Coquitlam Express.
Good news first? The Chilliwack offence exploded for four goals, the most they’ve scored in any game this season.
Bad news next. They gave up nine in a 9-4 loss that leaves them at 1-6-1 seven games into their BCHL schedule.
Chiefs fans can only hope this was the team’s rock bottom moment, and things will get better from here on out.
It certainly can’t get any worse.
Josh Halpenny got the start in net, but barely lasted half a period.
The Chilliwack native gave up two goals on six Coquitlam shots before yielding to backup Lyndon Stanwood.
Ryan Rosenthal had the Express on the board just 45 seconds in. Adam Rockwood got the assist, wheeling out of the right corner and finding Rosenthal in the high slot. The New Jersey native went upstairs for his sixth of the year.
Canon Pieper doubled the Express lead at 12:10 on a stoppable shot that Halpenny should have had, then beat Stanwood on a shorthanded breakaway at 15:35 to give Coquitlam the three goal lead.
Jordan Kawaguchi got Chilliwack on the board at 18:19, chasing a rebound through the goal-mouth and shoveling a backhander past Express netminder Pierce Dushenko.
But Corey Mackin scored a super-softie 12 seconds later, sending the Express to the second period with a 4-1 cushion.
Shots on goal in period one favoured Chilliwack 21-13.
The Express kept pouring ’em in in period two.
Marc Biega scored on a Coquitlam power play at 7:22, beating Stanwood on a wrist shot from the point.
Austin Plevy got the second Chiefs goal at 11:44, driving the net on a shorthanded rush, pulling up and stuffing the puck past Dushenko for his first of the year. But one and a half minutes after that, Rosenthal took a stretch pass from Bo Pieper, got behind Chiefs D-men T.J. Roche and Eric Roberts and tucked the puck inside the right post for his second of the game.
The seventh Express goal was another stoppable shot, with Canon Pieper spinning off a Jacob Hand check and putting a backhand shot through Stanwood.
Shots on goal through two favoured Chilliwack 37-31.
Halpenny checked back into goal to start the third period and promptly yielded the bizarre goal of the game, with a long-distance dump-in by Matthew Berry-Lamontagna flopping over his shoulder and in. Jackson Cressey made it 9-2 at 8:18, beating Halpenny on a sharp-angle shot from below the left faceoff circle.
The Chiefs spent the back half of this game down two defencemen, which didn’t help.
Cooper Rush was tossed in the second period after a hit from behind. Eric Roberts left late in the middle frame after taking a puck to the face, leaving Chilliwack to play with four D-men.
The Chiefs scored the last two goals to make the final score a tiny bit better.
Andrew Silard scored his second of the season on a two-on-one, with an assist to Brandon Volpe. Kurt Black scored his third of the year on a late power play.
The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Silard.
The three stars were Canon Pieper (first), Rosenthal (second) and Kawaguchi (third).
Announced attendance was 1,453.
