Langley, BC: The Penticton Vees (37-12-2-3) comeback fell a goal short in Langley last night before Brendan Budy hit the empty net to seal a 5-3 Rivermen win, but the Vees have to refocus for their 4:00 pm game against the Surrey Eagles (25-21-6-2) to finish off their road trip.
The Vees found themselves in a bad spot Saturday night, down 3-0 after the opening 20 minutes despite outshooting Langley 13-10. Trevor St. Jean and Budy scored 61 seconds apart before Spencer Berry found the back of the net in the final minute.
Penticton appeared to score a power-play goal to cut it to 2-1 at the time, but the net came off its peg as Braeden Fleming moved to his blocker side and his skate hit the post.
Once the puck dropped in the second period, it was quite clear the Vees knew they had their work cut out for them as they were clearly the stronger team over the final 40 minutes.
After giving up a power-play goal to Angus Crookshank, Adam Scheel was pulled in favour of Nolan Hildebrand, who say just four shots on net during his 27 minutes of relief. Nicky Leivermann scored on a rebound with 2:11 remaining in the period to make it 4-1 heading into the third.
The Vees continued the onslaught and Jordan Henderson made it 4-2 with a wrist shot off the rush, beating a screened Fleming for his fourth of the year with 7:10 gone in the period.
After killing off a high sticking penalty to Lukas Sillinger, Taylor Ward scored off a rebound to cut the lead to 4-3 with just over five minutes remaining.
Penticton killed off another penalty less than a minute after the goal to keep the game close, and pulled Hildebrand for the extra attacker. Off an offensive zone faceoff, the Vees had control but a pass across the blue line rolled off Ward’s stick and Budy was able to force it out to centre before hitting the empty net.
The loss was just the third in 2018 for the Vees, who saw their lead atop the Interior Division trimmed to two points after Wenatchee and Vernon picked up wins yesterday. Penticton still has a game in hand.
The Eagles meanwhile were off yesterday after playing the Mainland-leading Prince George Spruce Kings Friday night. Surrey found goals from five different players as they downed the Spruce Kings 5-2, ending a seven-game losing streak.
Despite the slide, the Eagles are still tied with both Langley and the Chilliwack Chiefs for second place in the Mainland Division, as home ice advantage is still up for grabs for the opening round of the playoffs.
The Vees and Eagles met at the South Okanagan Events Centre November 15, a convincing 7-1 win for Penticton. Scheel faced just 11 shots over the course of that game.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Owen Sillinger – 30 G 29 A 51 GP
Jonny Tychonick – 9 G 35 A 45 GP
Taylor Ward – 19 G 22 A 42 GP
Surrey Eagles
Ty Westgard – 15 G 52 A 52 GP
Johnny Wesley – 35 G 28 A 52 GP
Desi Burgart – 22 G 24 A 49 GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 21.2% (3rd in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 86.3% (1st in BCHL)
Surrey Eagles
Power play – 14.0% (16th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 78.6% (14th in BCHL)
Season Series
November 15, 2017 – Vees 7 vs Eagles 1 Boxscore
February 18, 2018 – Vees @ Eagles
