The Bulldogs were up early Sunday morning in Osoyoos to make way for Chilliwack. While they spent the better part of the day on the bus, they didn’t look like a tired team that was playing their third game in three days. After the Chiefs came out and buzzed on the first several shifts, the Dogs carried the bulk of the play. While they had several good chances around the Chiefs net, they weren’t able to connect on them with the score staying at 0-0 after one with the Dogs leading the shots 13-9.
The Chiefs picked up the pace to start the second, while the Dogs appeared to lose it and tire as the Chiefs took the play to them to open the period, leading to an early power play chance. They would convert on it on a shot from the right circle that was stopped by Jay Deo, but Philip Zielonka found the rebound in the paint and fired it home. Assists went to Ben Masella and Tanner Cochrane at 9:42 of the second. The Dogs would battle back to tie the game shortly afterwards on two great cross-ice passes, the first by Kurt Gosselin to Evan Tironese in the right circle. He would quickly snap it to the back post where Hunter Stewart redirected it under the bar to tie it at 1-1 at 9:42 of the second. It didn’t stay tied long though as the Chiefs came right back and went up 2-1 less than two minutes later on a broken play as Luke Esposito had his first shot blocked onto to have it come right back on his stick where he snapped it through the legs of Jay Deo from the left circle. Assists on the play went to Mathieu Tibbet and Austin Plevy at 11:20 of the second. Just over two minutes later it was 3-1 Chiefs on another broken play and an unfortunate bounce as Jaret Babych drove the net and had his shot blocked by a Bulldogs defender. It would bounce off the end boards and right onto the tape of Austin Plevy who one-timed it from a sharp angle through the legs of Deo as he was trying to get back to the post. Babych picked up the only assist at 13:28 of the second.
The Bulldogs came out and battled hard in the third period, finally drawing a power play after the Chiefs had five straight advantages, including a long 5 on 3. They wouldn’t score on the power play, but they did connect just as the advantage expired as Tryg Strand threw a cross-ice pass to Bo Pellah at the left point where he threw a low hard one on net that was stopped by Gillam, but the rebound was found by Jared Wilson who one-timed it through five-hole to make it 3-2 at 7:06 of the third. The Dogs weren’t able to build on the momentum though, as the Chiefs scored out of the media time out when a faceoff win was one-timed off the far post and in by Tanner Burns. It appeared that the shot was deflected off something. Spencer Graboski picked up the only assist at 10:15 of the third to make it 4-2. Mitch Gillam would come up with a huge save shortly afterwards to keep it 4-2 when he robbed Ryan Lough with his left pad on a cross-ice one-timer. The Chiefs would erase all doubt late in the game on another power play as Jay Deo made a fantastic save on a centering pass only to have the puck bounce out of his glove and appear to go into the net off a defender. Philip Zielonka would get credit for the goal, with assists going to Alexandre Perron-Fontaine and David Thompson at 16:04 of the third for the 5-2 final.
Final shots favoured the Chiefs 38-35 with Jay Deo taking the loss while Mitch Gillam picked up the win. The Chiefs went 2 for 7 on the power play while the Dogs went 0 for 4.
