The Cranbrook Bucks will be sleepless in Seattle tonight after suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to the Chilliwack Chiefs in their first game at the 2023 BCHL Showcase.
The Bucks were able to strike early in the first period, Zion Green picked up his first career BCHL goal at 1:07 to put Cranbrook in an early 1-0 lead. Chilliwack tied the game with a Brian Morse power play goal at 7:42. Cranbrook garnered another pair of goals before the buzzer from Jack Silich and Noah Urness to go up 3-1 ahead of intermission.
Chilliwack was able to find even ground through a hard-fought second period. Goals in the final five minutes of the middle frame from Brady Milburn and Nathan Morin pulled the Chiefs even at a 3-3 tie, the deadlock remained active after forty minutes.
Cranbrook goalie Danick Leroux was put to the test through the third period, facing 18 shots from the Chiefs, but it was the Bucks who had the early edge in the final stanza. Bucks captain Donovan Frias tallied a go-ahead goal to put Cranbrook in a 4-3 lead at 8:58. Undaunted, the Chiefs continued to relent on the Bucks goal, and they were finally rewarded at 12:14 when Dylan Kinch scored to put Chilliwack at a 4-4 tie. Overtime was beginning to seem like a certainty, but Chilliwack had other ideas. A late Chiefs power play proved to be Cranbrook’s undoing, as Stone Rolston found the Cranbrook goal with just seventeen seconds remaining in regulation to give Chilliwack a late 5-4 lead. The Chiefs’ lead held through the dying seconds of the third period, and the skated away with a 5-4 victory.
Tuesday’s loss drops Cranbrook’s record to 3-7-1, they’re on a two-game losing streak. Chilliwack outshot the Bucks 40-24, Cranbrook’s power play finished 1/3, their penalty kill finished 0/2.
The Bucks are back in action at the Kraken Community Iceplex on Wednesday for their second and final game of the 2023 BCHL Showcase versus the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
- 3 game goal streak for Donovan Frias.
- 1st career BCHL goal for Zion Green.
- 2 assists for Jarrod Smith.
