The Comox Centre Mall Bantam Tier 2 Chiefs finished off their regular season needing to beat Saanich in order to secure the banner. With a win, they would be tied in points for first place with Campbell River. The Chiefs had won two of their three league games against Campbell River, which would break the tie.
The Chiefs scored on their second shift, with AP Dylan Slater popping one in, assisted by Spencer Lapp and Brad Crisp. Saanich answered with a power-play goal at the end of the first, then scored twice more early in the second and the Chiefs found themselves down 3-1.
Crisp shot, Lapp tipped it, Keegan Kernachan and Braydon Williams had a whack and Lapp finally scored to bring the Chiefs within one. The energetic Carson Moyes broke free to have a shot on goal, got his own rebound and Dom Dietrich shot and Brayden Bennett scored to tie the game at 3-3.
After going down 4-3 after the ice clean, Evan Whitehead and Keaton Dion combined to set up Tanner Jones, who used the defender as a screen and sniped one to tie the game. Isaac Alksne sent Bennett up the right wing and he launched one past the goaltender to put the Chiefs up 5-4. Grant Woods played a defensive game free of mental errors and had a nice, sliding poke-check to nullify the rush.
Cole Moore and Liam Reid were stellar on the penalty kill. There was no looking back for the Chiefs as Slater potted his second assisted by Crisp and Dietrich, Moyes (Bennett, Alksne) added one and Crisp (Lapp) got his second to finish with an 8-5 win. Jared LeBlanc and Ethan Schovanek shared goaltending duties for the win.
The North Island playoffs began with a game against Chiefs’ nemesis, Cowichan. Despite winning the league, the Chiefs had two ties and a loss against Cowichan and were itching to rectify the situation.
After a scoreless first period, Blake Duncan took a shot from the point that bounced off the goalie to Whitehead behind the net. He found Jones in front, who put it top shelf. Cowichan’s hard-hitting defensive game kept the Chiefs on their toes. AP Tyson Slater had a good stick on defense to keep the opposition off-balance.
Cowichan tied it up at the end of the second period and LeBlanc had a big save on a breakaway midway through the third, flashing the leather to keep the game deadlocked. After some tireless penalty killing, it seemed fitting that Lapp found himself in the slot to bang home the rebound on a Crisp shot for the game winner in a close, well-played match. The Chiefs will play Peninsula this weekend, with the top two teams from the North Island advancing to face the top two teams from the South.
