By Nick Greenizan
At the beginning of the B.C. Hockey League season, there may not have been many people who looked at the Chilliwack Chiefs and saw a bona fide, championship contender.
They were one of the league’s youngest teams, and were coming off a season that ended in heartbreaking fashion – a Game 7 road-game loss to Prince George in the first round of the playoffs.
“To be honest, we didn’t know where we’d be at the start of the year,” said Chiefs head coach Brian Maloney. “We had a lot of holes to fill from last year. We didn’t know what to expect, but we just tried to build a good culture and see where it went.”
Fast forward a few months and the Chiefs are the Ron Boileau Trophy winners as the league’s top regular-season team with a record of 42-15-1-0 – an achievement that will give them home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
They begin their playoff run Friday against the Langley Rivermen.
The Chiefs lost just six games at home during the regular season, so Maloney expects home-ice advantage to help them. In a league as competitive as the BCHL, it’s important to make the most of every edge you can get, he said.
“We’ve been a little better at home, like most teams,” he said. “So it’s definitely good for us. We have some pretty darn good teams we’re going to have to go through if we want to get anywhere in the playoffs, so any advantage we can get is going to help us.”
Team captain Skyler Brind A’mour, who was a member of the team that lost in Game 7 last year, is excited at the prospect of playing big games in front of a home audience.
“Our fans are awesome – they’re loud every night, and the playoffs are a whole different animal, so it’s going to be even louder, I bet.”
Though expectations were tempered at the start of year, Brind A’mour said he could tell the team had a chance to be successful early on. After opening the season with two losses, the team began to gain steam, eventually reeling off several prolonged win streaks en route to the top of the Mainland Division.
“Coming into this year, expectations outside of our locker room probably weren’t the highest. It was one of those years people thought we might rebuild, but the guys came together quick and we carried some good momentum throughout the season,” he said.
“Right from the start, the guys came together fast. Not just on the ice, but off the ice, too. We kind of said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a pretty good team here. Let’s see what we can do.’”
Matched up against Langley in the first round, Maloney said he’s expecting a tough series, even though the Chiefs swept the Rivermen during the regular season.
“It’s an honour to finish first in the league, but by no means do we think we’re the best in the business. There’s a lot of great teams in this league that can win on any given night,” he said. “(Langley) is a team that makes you earn every inch of ice out there.”
For his part, Brind A’mour said his job as one of the team’s veterans will be to keep the young squad calm, focused and playing the same way that saw them find regular-season success.
“You just tell the guys to relax a little bit. Sometimes, the playoffs come around and everyone tenses up, but it’s the same game,” he said. “We had a great year, but that’s over now, and now it’s time to get to work.”
