Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (14-5-1-2) offence has been firing on all cylinders with 28 goals over their last three games, and they’ll need to keep that up for Wednesday’s game against the league-leading Trail Smoke Eaters (19-5-1-0).
Following an 11-3 route of the West Kelowna Warriors Friday night, the Vees returned home to welcome the Cowichan Valley Capitals to the South Okanagan Events Centre, delighting the crowd to a 10-1 win.
Owen Sillinger and Jonny Tychonick both recorded four points on the night while Nolan Hildebrand was still busy making 36 saves in the win. Hildebrand’s record improved to 6-1-0 on the year.
Despite the 21 goals in two nights, the Vees scored just two of them on the power play. The team has rocketed up into sixth place in the BCHL for total goals with 86, while their opponent tonight has an astounding 110.
Trail’s offence is led by the duo of Kale Howarth and Ross Armour as they both sit at the top of the BCHL scoring race with 39 points.
The Smoke Eater’s last weekend consisted of a pair of come-from-behind wins. Friday night Trail found themselves down 3-0 to the visiting Alberni Valley Bulldogs nearly 11 minutes into the second period. The home team then scored three times in under three minutes to tie the game, and would go on to win 6-4.
The following night the Smoke Eaters were on the road in Salmon Arm and were losing 3-2 with under two minutes remaining regulation. Trail would then get goals from Andre Ghantous and Tyler Ghirardosi just six seconds apart to win 4-3.
Wednesday’s game will be the second meeting of the season between the Interior Division rivals; the Vees were at Cominco Arena October 28 in a 4-1 Trail win. Penticton was down 2-0 after two despite being outshot 28-12.
Jackson Keane scored 45 seconds into the third period, but that would be the lone bright spot for the Vees as Trail scored twice under a minute apart late in the frame.
Penticton is riding a four-game winning streak heading into Wednesday’s game while Trail has won three straight. The Smoke Eaters sit first in the Interior Divison, and BCHL, with 39 points on the year. The Vees have 31 points, but have three games in hand on Trail.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Owen Sillinger – 9 G 17 A 22 GP
Jonny Tychonick – 5 G 16 A 22 GP
Nicky Leivermann – 6 G 14 A 21 GP
Trail Smoke Eaters
Kale Howarth – 14 G 25 A 25 GP
Ross Armour – 15 G 24 A 25 GP
Levi Glasman – 13 G 16 A 24 GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 21.6% (4th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 87.5% (1st in BCHL)
Trail Smoke Eaters
Power play – 23.3% (2nd in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 82.3% (8th in BCHL)
Season series
October 28, 2017 – Vees 1 @ Smoke Eaters 4 Boxscore
November 22, 2017 – Vees @ Smoke Eaters
January 12, 2018 – Vees vs Smoke Eaters
January 20, 2018 – Vees vs Smoke Eaters
February 7, 2018 – Vees @ Smoke Eaters
February 9, 2018 – Vees vs Smoke Eaters
