It’s Saturday night in Kelowna and you have a hankerin’ to watch live hockey.
You’d watch the Rockets, but they’re in Victoria this weekend, part of back-to-back games against the Royals. And the West Kelowna Warriors of the BCHL are in Trail.
What to do then?
How’s this: Trek to Rutland Arena tonight to watch the high-scoring, fun-to-watch Kelowna Chiefs.
In what’s the only junior hockey game this evening in the Central Okanagan, Kelowna is hosting the North Okanagan Knights of Armstrong. Game time at Rutland Arena between the two junior B teams is 7 p.m.
The Chiefs are off to a roaring – if not eye-popping — start this season. In 14 games, Kelowna has only lost once, in overtime. And with 27 points out of a possible 28, the Chiefs are the top team in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
In Okanagan Division standings, Kelowna (13-0-0-0-1) is the runaway leader, 12 points ahead of the second-place Summerland Steam (7-6-1-0-0). North Okanagan (2-8-0-1-0) is well back with just four points in 11 games.
On Tuesday, Kelowna hosted Osoyoos (1-10-1-0-0), and the Chiefs throttled the Coyotes 9-0. In that game, Kelowna started strong, scoring three times in the first 12 minutes. After 20 minutes, it was 5-0, with Kelowna having outshot Osoyoos 31-5. At game’s end, the shot clock was 63-18 for the Chiefs.
Myles Mattila paced Kelowna’s offence with a hat trick and an assists, while Zach Erhardt had three assists. Braeden Mitchell turned aside 18 shots for the shutout win. For Osoyoos, Daniel Paul took the loss, stopping 18 of 21 shots before getting pulled. Bailey Monteith faced 42 shots in relief, stopping 36.
For a simpler understanding of how offensively talented Kelowna is this season, consider this: In league scoring, Kelowna has the top three scorers, and four of the top six overall.
Brody Dale is the KIJHL’s top scorer with 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points, with Erhardt second at 8 goals and 23 assists for 31 points. In third is Devin Sutton with 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points. Ryan Piva of the Nelson Leafs is fourth with 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points, while Lane Paddison is sixth with 8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points.
The Chiefs had Friday off, while North Okanagan lost 6-2 at home to the undefeated Revelstoke Grizzlies (10-0-0-0-0). Jett Saharchuk and Alec McLeod replied for Armstrong, which outshot Revelstoke 46-23 but wound up trailing 2-0 and 4-2 at the period breaks.
Tickets for Chiefs game are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors and $6 for children (ages 5-12), with kids ages four and under getting in for free. There’s also a highly economical family pass (two adults, four children) for $25.
For more about the Kelowna Chiefs, click here. For more about the KIJHL, click here.
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