Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees feasted on the Trail Smoke Eaters penalty kill in game two of the Interior Division semifinals, scoring five times on seven opportunities en route to a 7-2 win. Now the Vees head to hostile territory as the Smoke Eaters will look to bounce back in the friendly confines of Cominco Arena.
Up 3-1 early in the second on two goals from Owen Sillinger and one from Jack Barnes, the Vees were given a five-minute power play after Ethan Martini elbowed Barnes’ head into the glass behind the Trail net after a whistle.
After it took a few minutes for the Vees to get set up on the power play, Lukas Sillinger and Jackson Keane scored to give the Vees a 5-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Trail didn’t learn its lesson on the penalty kill, and took three more minors in the third allowing Owen Sillinger to complete his hat trick before Keane added his second of the game with just 19 seconds left in regulation.
Adam Scheel wasn’t overly busy in the Penticton crease, finishing with 23 saves while improving to 6-0 in the Fred Page Cup playoffs. It was a different story for Adam Marcoux who saw his numbers deteriorate to a 3.62 goals against and .880 save percentage through six playoff games.
The Smoke Eaters are 2-0 at Cominco Arena in the post season, winning a wild 6-5 overtime game in their opening game against the West Kelowna Warriors before hammering them 7-2 the next night.
During the regular season, Trail went 17-10-1-0 at Cominco Arena and saw their average attendance increase by nearly 800 fans per game from the 2016-17 season.
Penticton played in Trail three times this year, losing the first meeting 4-1 October 28. It was one of the weaker games for the Vees during the season as they were outshot 38-20.
Nearly a month later the Vees went back to Cominco Arena and grabbed two points thanks to a stellar performance from Scheel who made 32 saves in the 2-1 win.
The final meeting came February 7 with Nolan Hildebrand getting the start in goal. The 19-year-old goaltender turned in his best performance of the year, finishing with 26 saves in a 4-1 Vees win.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Jonny Tychonick – 1 G 9 A 6 GP
Taylor Ward – 5 G 4 A 6 GP
Chris Klack – 4 G 5 A 6 GP
Trail Smoke Eaters
Kale Howarth – 4 G 5 A 8 GP
Tyler Ghirardosi – 6 G 1 A 6 GP
Levi Glasman – 4 G 3 A 6 GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 46.7% (1st in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 94.4% (1st among remaining teams)
Trail Smoke Eaters
Power play – 25.0% (4th among remaining teams)
Penalty kill – 55.2% (Last in BCHL)
Series Schedule
Game one – March 16 South Okanagan Events Centre, Vees 5 Smoke Eaters 3 Boxscore
Game tw0 – March 17 South Okanagan Events Centre, Vees 7 Smoke Eaters 2 Boxscore
Game three – March 20, Cominco Arena
Game four – March 21, Cominco Arena
Game five – March 23, South Okanagan Events Centre 7:00*
Game six – March 24, Cominco Arena 7:00*
Game seven – March 26, South Okanagan Events Centre 7:00*
*If Necessary
