On the last night of games before a nine-day Christmas break, there were seven games on the BCHL schedule and in Langley, the Chiefs and visiting Quesnel Millionaires needed overtime to determine a winner in the 5-4 Mills victory.
The Chiefs led 3-0 after the midway point of the second on a shorthanded goal by Brandon Thompson but the Mills got life when Malcolm Gould and Chris Kerr scored just before the end of the second.
Langley seemed to have stanched the flow of Mills momentum as Matt Ius scored midway through the third period to put the Chief up 4-2. But Quesnel refused to quit and got a second goal from Gould and sent in to extra time on Chris Blessing's tally with 10 seconds left.
Captain Skyler Smutek ended things almost halfway through the overtime period on an unassisted tally.
Cowichan Valley hosted Alberni Valley and the Capitals found themselves down four goals before they could respond but still dropped a 5-3 decision to the 'Dogs. Trent Dorais and Konrad Litke in the first and Brandon Adams and Sam Mitchell in the second accounted for the four-goal edge. Caps Chase Kaiser and Tyler Matheson solved Frank Slubowski to get within two but Alberni's Casey Bailey restored a three-goal lead. Caps Stephen Saretsky scored in the third but that was all.
For the second night in a row, the Salmon Arm SilverBacks scored first and held a lead after 20 minutes but also for the second straight night, the Westside Warriors had a big third period to claim a 6-4 win. Jarryd Ten Vaanholt scored both first period goals for the Gorillas but Westside got two early in the second and scored three times in the third including the second of the game for Alex Grieve and Quinn Gould who were first and second star.
In Merritt, the Centennials took advantage of a short-manned Trail Smoke Eaters team to take a 3-2 win. Trail was without top point-getters in Scott Jacklin, Sam Mellor and Travis St. Denis but were tied 1-1 after forty minutes. Evan Stack and Sean Maktaak potted Merritt's goals in the third before Ryan Luiten scored late for Trail.
In Powell River, the Kings went over the 60-point mark in the standings with a 4-1 win over Victoria. The Kings led 2-0 after one on goals from Stephen Schmidt and Matt Garbowsky. Grizzlies forward Joel Lowry cut the lead in half early in the second on an unassisted effort but Garbowsky finished his natural hat trick with power play goals in the second and third to seal it.
In Penticton, the Vees got a goal and three helpers from first star Joey Benik to claim a 5-3 win over Nanaimo. Nanaimo trailed 3-0 before they could get on the board courtesy a Zach Martin marker but Penticton was never really threatened as the teams traded two goals each in the third. Vees blueliner Joey Laleggia had two goals and Clippers third star Andrew Gladiuk had a goal and an assist.
In Surrey, the Eagles scored three times in each of the first and second frames to defeat the Prince George Spruce Kings 7-1. Tyler Morley's second shorthanded effort gave him a hat trick by the end of the second period. Lyndon Martell scored with five seconds left to spoil Andrew Hunt's shutout bid.
