It will be East vs. West for the 2018 RBC Cup … the Chilliwack Chiefs and Wellington Dukes earned semifinal wins Saturday, and will face off Sunday at the Prospera Centre for Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

WELLINGTON DUKES 2, WENATCHEE WILD 1
Jonah Capriotti was absolutely spectacular in a 50-save performance, backstopping the Dukes into the championship game with a narrow semifinal win over the previously-unbeaten Wild on Saturday afternoon.

Daniel Panetta scored the third-period winner for the Dukes, who are into the national final for the first time in franchise history after falling in the final four in each of their first two trips to Canada’s National Junior A Championship, in 2003 and 2011.

“It was fun and it’s on a huge scale at nationals; you’re not going to get any bigger than this. This is probably the only game that I can remember where [my play] been the most valuable to the team and the most lop-sided. Our team put in a good effort. I think everyone did their role well and we got a couple bounces, and that’s all we needed. It was good for our team and I’m happy about the opportunity to go forward tomorrow.”
-- Jonah Capriotti, Wellington Dukes

CHILLIWACK CHIEFS 3, OTTAWA JR. SENATORS 2
Kaden Pickering broke open a tie game with 8:44 to go, and the Chiefs punched their ticket to the championship game with a thrilling semifinal win over the Jr. Senators on Saturday night.

Daniel Chenard, named Top Goaltender on Friday, made 26 saves for the Chiefs, who are the fourth consecutive host team to reach the final and will try Sunday to become the third in that stretch to claim Canada’s National Junior A Championship, joining Portage (2015) and Cobourg (2017).

“Tonight it was our penalty kill. We had to kill a couple double-minors, but it’s been like that all year. Our penalty kill has been stepping up and the guys have been buying in, blocking shots and swarming pucks. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. We have to give credit to [Ottawa]. They played us twice and they played hard both games. It’s nice to see the guys getting rewarded for all the hard work they’re putting in.”
-- Brian Maloney, head coach, Chilliwack Chiefs

LEADING SCORERS
Jasper Weatherby (Wenatchee) 3G 5A 8P
Will Calverley (Chilliwack) 5G 1A 6P
Finn Evans (Ottawa) 3G 3A 6P
A.J. Vanderbeck (Wenatchee) 2G 3A 5P
Zak Galambos (Wenatchee) 4G 0A 4P

LEADING GOALTENDERS
Mathieu Caron (Chilliwack) 1-0 / 1.00 GAA / .963 SV%
Seth Eisele (Wenatchee) 2-0 / 1.04 GAA / .941 SV%
Daniel Chenard (Chilliwack) 3-1 / 1.71 GAA / .939 SV%
Austin Park (Wenatchee) 2-1 / 2.16 GAA / .889 SV%
Jonah Capriotti (Wellington) 2-3 / 2.46 GAA / .934 SV%

STAR OF THE DAY
Jonah Capriotti – Wellington Dukes

NEXT GAME
Wellington Dukes vs. Chilliwack Chiefs (4 p.m. PT) – CLICK HERE for statistics