Season Series
Nov 26th: Chilliwack 2 at Penticton 3 (OT)
Feb 24th: Penticton 3 at Chilliwack 0
Fred Page Cup Schedule
GM 1: Penticton 2 at Chilliwack 4
GM 2: Penticton 5 at Chilliwack 1
GM 3: April 18th at SOEC, 7 pm
GM 4: April 19th at SOEC, 7 pm
GM 5: April 22nd at Prospera Centre, 7 pm
GM 6: April 24th at SOEC, 7 pm *
GM 7: April 25th at Prospera Centre, 7 pm *
*If necessary
The Penticton Vees return home for Game 3 of the Fred Page Cup Final and a chance to grab their first lead of the best-of-seven series.
The Vees evened their series with the Chilliwack Chiefs at one game apiece after convincing 5-1 win Saturday in Game 2. Ryley Risling scored the Vees’ first goal in his return to the line-up after sitting out the last nine games, and Cassidy Bowes scored his first BCHL goal in the first period as well. Duncan Campbell, Nicholas Jones and Chris Klack also scored in the win and Mat Robson made 33-saves for his ninth win and was named the first star.
It was another bounce back performance for the Vees as they improved their record to 18-2-1-3 when coming off a loss. Chilliwack’s home record dropped to 5-5, as they’ve dropped two of their last three at Prospera Centre. The Chiefs may be scuffling a bit at home but that’s certainly not the case on the road.
Coming into Game 3, the Chiefs are a perfect 8-0 as the road team in the BCHL Fred Page Cup playoffs and have won 12 straight road games dating back to the regular season. The Chiefs last loss on the road was way back on Jan 21st in Langley; that’s nearly a three month stretch.
The Vees aren’t half bad at home either, winning six of eight playoffs games at the SOEC, and have won three straight at home dating back to Game 2 against Vernon in the Interior Division Final.
Despite not being in the same division, these two teams have playoff history against one another. The Vees and Chiefs last met in the now defunct BCHL Round-Robin in March of 2015, with the Vees winning twice. Penticton earned a 4-3 overtime win in Chilliwack and a 5-2 win at the SOEC, helping clinch a spot in the 2015 Fred Page Cup Final against Nanaimo.
Penticton did make a couple of line-up changes in Game 2, swapping 20-year-olds Ryley Risling and Mitch Meek, and subbing in Greg Brydon to fill the void on the blue-line. It was a winning formula, so there’s a good chance they go with the same line-up tonight. Mat Robson goes again between the pipes, sporting a 9-7 record to go along with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
Nicholas Jones is still the Vees leader in playoff scoring, with nine goals and 19 points in 16 games and Gabe Bast (14) and Chris Klack (13) round out the top three. Jones is second in the BCHL playoff scoring race and Bast leads all BCHL defencemen in playoff scoring.
AP Cassidy Bowes has fit right in, scoring Saturday and has points in all three games he’s played in the post-season. The 18-yar-old played for the Okanagan Hockey Academy’s Midget Prep Red team this year, collecting 40 points in 31 games in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Chilliwack’s Jordan Kawaguchi leads both the Chiefs and the BCHL in playoff scoring with 32 points in 18 games. The Abbotsford, BC, product has points in six-straight games and already has a goal and four points in this series. Kohen Olischefski is second in Chiefs scoring with 19 points and Jake Smith rounds out their top three with 17.
Mark Sinclair has played all but 16-minutes of the Chiefs playoff run and comes into tonight’s game with a 13-5 record, owning a 2.15 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. He was tagged with the loss Saturday after allowing four goals on 27 shots.
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
