For the second time in four days the Chilliwack Chiefs got the better of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
In their first game of the Bauer BCHL Showcase Festival at the Chilliwack Coliseum, the Chiefs got two goals from Cooper Moore in a 5-2 win.
That’s the same score they beat the Island division’s fifth place team by last Saturday.
The Chiefs out-shot AV 49-33 in a game that actually started very badly for the home team.
Alberni Valley’s Jackson Munro opened the scoring just 19 seconds in with perhaps the easiest goal he’s ever scored.
Chiefs D Xavier Henry skated back to retrieve a dumped in puck behind his own net, but as he did, it rolled off the toe of his stick into the blue paint. The disc hit the back of Chilliwack goalie Kolby Thorton’s skate and went into the cage.
Munro was the last Bulldog to touch the puck and got credit for the gimmee.
The Chiefs got a lucky play of their own to tie the game at 13:59.
A Chilliwack player attempted to ring the puck around the boards. But instead of going behind the net as planned, the puck hit a seam in the left wing glass and dropped to the ice for Ethan Bowen to collect.
Alberni Valley goalie Jackson Glassford wasn’t fast enough as Bowen fed the puck across the ice to Tyler Cristall, who put it into a wide open net for his first BCHL goal.
The Chiefs threw 24 shots at the Bulldog net in the opening 20.
The Bulldogs regained the lead 6:41 into period two on a snipe by Austin Spiridakis. Flying fast down the right wing, the 17 year old fought off a back-checking Chief and rifled a beauty of a far-side shot past Thorton, fitting the puck under the crossbar where it meets the post.
Chilliwack got that back on the power play. With Kyle Penney camped in the goal-mouth making it difficult for the AV goalie to see the puck, Moore launched a wrist shot that found its way through. It was the fifth of the season for the rookie, tops among all BCHL blueliners.
The Chiefs finally got the lead 7:14 into period three with another power play goal.
This one came off the stick of Chilliwack product Peter Reynolds, who reeled in a cross-ice pass from Nikita Nesterenko and lasered a shot over Glassford’s blocker.
Moore added insurance for the Chiefs with 4:41 to play, blowing a shot past Glassford from the left slot, and Penney added his third of the season with 97 seconds remaining to wrap up the scoring..
The three stars were Moore (first), Glassford (second) and Ethan Bowen (third).
The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Cristall.
The Chiefs are back in action tomorrow (Thursday) night, hosting the Coquitlam Express in a 7 pm start at the Chilliwack Coliseum.
