Week 18 of the BCHL season is now in the books and with the holidays over we look at which teams have been doing the most giving over the course of the season. Leading the league in fighting majors this season are the Trail Smoke Eaters with 67 followed closely behind by the Merritt Centennials with 66 and the Westside Warriors at 64. At the opposite end of the spectrum the Nanaimo Clippers have the fewest fighting majors at 31 followed by the Victoria Grizzlies with 36 and the Vernon Vipers at 37.
Leading the way individually is Jadon Porterfield and Sean Nugent of Trail with 15 and 14 respectively. Closely behind them are Powell River's Kyle Leahy, Langley's Travis Irving, Burnaby's Luke Challier and Cowichan Valley's Jake Bouma all with 13 fighting majors.
The Cowichan Valley Capitals Mickey Spencer is on a nine game point streak good for 12 points. The 19-Year-Old from Gibbons, Alberta has 39 points in his last 39 games after only one point in his first five games of the season. In his second season in the league Spencer has secured a scholarship to the University of Alaska-Anchorage for next season. The Caps are 15-4-0-0 in their last 19 games after starting the season 11-12-0-2.
The Langley Chiefs are 6-1-0-0 in their last seven games after a four game losing streak and being 1-5-0-0 in their previous six games. The Chiefs are also the only team in the league to have not lost in overtime with a record of 4-0-1-0. Amazingly, Colton Beck has all four overtime winners. The 18-Year-Old is from Langley and is having quite the breakout sophomore season in the league with 27 goals and 15 assists after only four and six in 46 games last year.
The Penticton Vees are 5-0-0-1 in their last six games after being 0-3-0-1 in their previous four games. Denver Manderson, Brodie Reid, and Zach Josepher are all on five game point streaks with Manderson totallying 12 points in that span. Reid is a 19-Year-Old from Delta in his third year in the league and will be heading off to Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts next season. Josepher meanwhile is a 20-Year-Old from Wantagh, New York in his second season in the BCHL and he will be off Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan next season.
Travis Statchuk of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks is on a six game point streak good for 12 points. The 18-Year-Old from Wadena, Saskatchewan had 10 points in his first 22 games to start his rookie campaign. The Silverbacks are 15-1-0-1 in their last 17 games and after a 3-5-0-0 start to the season the 'Backs are now 29-3-1-2 in their previous 35 games played.
The Vernon Vipers' Braden Pimm is on a seven game point streak while Mike Collins has points in five straight games. Collins is from Boston, Massachusetts and is currently tied with Travis Ouellette from Penticton for the rookie scoring lead. The 18-Year-Old already has a scholarship to Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts for a couple seasons from now.
The Victoria Grizzlies are 16-2-1-2 in their last 21 games and Shawn Stuart is on a six game point streak. The 19-Year-Old defenseman from Calgary, Alberta is in his second BCHL season and already has ten more points than he did last year in 15 less games.
Patrick Haas, the voice of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, takes a weekly look at the top news from around the BC Hockey League. Each week, Patrick will review the headlines that have fans of the league's 16 teams buzzing.
