The Penticton Vees (40-13-1-2) head down to the lower mainland to wrap up their BCHL regular season schedule, starting tonight against the Surrey Eagles (17-36-0-4); they face the Chilliwack Chiefs Friday.
The Vees are coming off a 5-1 win Tuesday in West Kelowna and have won six of their last seven games. The Eagles are playing their season finale and are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Merritt Centennials Wednesday; the Eagles are one of three teams eliminated from the BCHL Fred Page Cup playoffs.
Two nights ago the Vees’ special teams highlighted the win, as they scored three times on the power-play and added a short-handed goal for good measure. After trailing 1-0 through the first 20-minutes against the Warriors, the Vees got second period goals from Jamie Armstrong, Grant Cruikshank, Ty Amonte and Nicholas Jones. Chris Klack scored the Vees fifth goal, again on the power-play, in the third period.
The Eagles have had a tough go of late and have won just three games since the calendar has flipped over to 2017 and have just two wins in their last 10; they’ve lost their last three.
Tonight is the second and final meeting between these two teams, as the Vees won 3-0 back on October 26th, at the SOEC. The Vees are 18-8-0-1 on the road and have won four of their last five road games; they have points in all five. The Eagles are much better at home this year as 12 of their 17 wins have come at South Surrey Arena.
The BCHL announced its nominees for their league awards Thursday and three Vees are up for nominations. President, General Manager and Head Coach Fred Harbinson is the Interior nominee for Coach of the Year, Mat Robson is up for the MVP award and Grant Cruikshank is nominated for the Most Sportsmanlike award. The full list of nominations can be found here.
Nolan Hildebrand will get the start tonight and is 6-3 on the season, owning a 2.89 goals-against average and sports a .902 save percentage; Hildebrand is coming off a loss against Salmon Arm Saturday.
Massimo Rizzo will be in the line-up tonight, playing alongside Jamie Armstrong and Taylor Ward. The 15-year-old AP plays at the Burnaby Winter Club and is dressing in his third game this season with the Vees.
Joe Leahy, Sam Rossini, Mitch Meek and Taylor Sanheim remain out of the Vees’ line-up. Greg Brydon will be back on the blue-line for the third straight game and will be paired with Kenny Johnson.
Nicholas Jones has a seven point lead on Cruikshank for the team scoring lead, with 59 points in 56 games; he had a team-best 36 assists. Cruikshank scored his team-best 31st goal on Tuesday and has the second most goals of any rookie in the BCHL; he scored against Surrey earlier this year.
20-year-old Darius Davidson is going to win the Eagles scoring race, as leads his team in goals (30), assists (30), points (60) and power-play goals (11). This is his final BCHL game, as he goes off to American International College next fall. Behind Davidson is Paul McAvoy (45) and former Vee Desi Burgart (44).
It has been a crowded crease for the Eagles this year, as they’ve had five different goaltenders spend time in the net. Daniel Davidson has started the last two games but does 20-year-old Keelan Williams get the start tonight in his last night in junior hockey?
Tonight’s game can be heard on EZ Rock AM 800 locally, or via the iHeartRadio app on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone and or tablet. The game is also available via the BCHL webcast at www.HockeyTV.com
