(Vees’ broadcaster Fraser Rodgers is back blogging and sharing his opinions about the Vees, BCHL, junior hockey and anything connected to the team. Check back here for weekly updates on Rodgers’ Ramble)
- First, if you haven’t heard, the Vees are teaming up with the Canadian Cancer Society for a special night on October 26th, when they face the Surrey Eagles. It’s “Vees Fight Cancer” night at the SOEC, as they’re raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society. The team will be wearing special pink jerseys and a few people will be cutting their hair at centre ice during the Intermission. Details on the night can be found HERE and if you want to donate to the event, you can do so HERE. We’re trying to raise $1,000, as myself, Fire Chief Larry Watkinson and RCMP Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth will be shaving our heads. So far we’ve reached the halfway mark of our donation goal but we still need your help! Any donation is greatly appreciated!
- Back to hockey and the Vees have finally lost-again. With the win streak ending at nine on Saturday, it was just the second loss of the season for Penticton and their first in 27 days; nearly a month between losses. What makes the loss more rare was the fact it was a shutout and at home. The last time the Vees were shutout, was December 18th, in West Kelowna; that’s 302 days ago. What is more staggering is how long it has been since they were shutout at home. The last time the Vees failed to score in a regular season game at the SOEC was back on February 8th, 2013. That night the Vees lost 1-0 to the Merritt Centennials. That’s 91-games between shutout losses at home. NINETY-ONE. Just let that marinate for a moment. There was nearly 100 regular season home games between shutout losses at the SOEC.
- What’s nearly as crazy is who shutout out the Vees. Nanaimo goaltender Evan DeBrouwer picked up his first BCHL shutout Saturday, kicking-out 46 shots. His story to get to Saturday is something in itself. DeBrouwer walked away from hockey last year, retired, after his 18-year-old season with Smith Falls out in Ontario. Though Nanaimo courted him in the summer, DeBrouwer declined and instead enrolled in University in London, Ontario. He soon realized he made a mistake. The story goes DeBrouwer realized he missed hockey too much and reached out to the Clippers to see if a spot was still open. There was. The problem? The season had already started. The best antidote from his journey to Nanaimo, was this quote from Clippers Head Coach Mike Vandekamp in the local paper, “This is a true story: he actually had cobwebs on his pads when they came out of his bag when he got here.” Cobwebs. Can’t make that stuff up. It was a rough go in his first three starts, sporting a 5.41 goals-against average and a unflattering .810 save percentage. But it appears DeBrouwer has shaken off the cobwebs. He’s 3-0 in his last three starts, owning a minuscule 1.67 goals-against average and a.955 save percentage. He’s the first goalie to shutout the Vees at the SOEC since Merritt’s Tyler Steel. Junior Hockey.
- Back to the Vees and fans shouldn’t be panicking about the loss Saturday. The Vees are still 11-2 in 13 games and STILL are five points ahead of second place Merritt and with a game in-hand. No, you don’t want to lose at home and especially via the shutout but those things happen, sometimes. And very rarely if you’re the Vees. Quite frankly, Vees fans have been spoiled in the last couple of years. Since the start of last season, the Vees are still an incredible 29-2-1-0 at the SOEC. That’s a gaudy .922 winning percentage. If you factor in two games as the “home” team at the BCHL Showcase, the Vees are 31-2-1-0 in the last two seasons. Furthermore, Saturday was their first regular season home loss since January 9th against Salmon Arm- 280 days ago. Lets move the finger off the panic button.
- What was the reason(s) behind the loss Saturday? Great question. I think going to double-overtime in Langley the night before didn’t help, as the team got back into Penticton at 3 AM. I know Nanaimo was in the same boat with a game in Trail the night before but their mentality is different on a road trip. For the Vees players, you have a routine at home and that got disrupted Saturday, as you’re getting back late and likely not getting to bed before 4 am, as you have to unpack the bus and then wind down. So, you sleep in a bit later and things are pushed up as it’s a 6 pm start. Whereas Nanaimo is on the road, they don’t have the distractions of a home game and they can just dial it up for 6 pm. Bottom line, they played a lot of hockey going into Saturday, as it was there third game in four nights. Maybe it eventually caught up to them.
- Hard to point fingers in a game like Saturday, where the Vees dominated the shot clock (46-18) and puck possession. It felt like they signed a long-term lease in the Clippers’ zone. Don’t forget, they outshot the Clippers 18-2 in the second period. Now, one could argue a chunk of the Vees’ 46-shots were from non-threatening areas, but 46-shots, is still 46-shots. The effort was there to get pucks to the net but the Vees I thought struggled getting to second and third opportunities- if there were any. That’s where you have to credit DeBrouwer in net for his excellent rebound control, and the Nanaimo defencemen for their work in front of him. I thought the likes of Sean Buchanan, Myles Cunningham, Taylor Karel and even 6’7 Ian Beck, did a very good job of boxing out in front of the Nanaimo goal. Penticton forwards had a heck of a time trying to get to a rebound if one spilled off of DeBrouwer.
- In hockey and sports in general, you hear the term “it’s just one of those nights,” from time-to-time and I think Saturday could fall into that category. It seemed the puck wasn’t going to bounce the Vees way and there’s a couple of instances that come to mind. One, the Clippers’ opening goal, after a missed point-shot, took a fortuitous bounce off the end-wall. Maybe it was intentional, but Adam Pilotte’s point-shot missed on the glove side, only to smack off the wall behind the net and out the other side to a open Tristan Crozier. It literally was set up on a silver platter for Crozier, who had an open net to tap the puck into. That was the game’s only goal for nearly 45-minutes of action. Another bounce that went against the Vees was in the second and at that same net the Clippers scored on in the first. Ty Amonte made a great play from the corner to quickly fire a rocket-pass to the crease for Turner Ripplinger. However, the puck hit off Ripplinger’s skate instead of his stick and slid painfully wide; he was staring at a gaping net. If he gets a good piece of it, it’s a 1-1 game in the second and who knows how the game unfolds. One more example that made Vees fans snap their heads back and throw their hands into the air in frustration, came late in the third period. Down 2-0 and pressuring in the Clippers zone, the Vees looked to have a goal to get themselves back in it. During a scramble in the crease, the puck squirted to Ty Barnstable on the glove side, who was staring at the net with the goalie laying on his back. Barnstable’s shovel attempt slid underneath the arm of DeBrouwer on the goal-line and stayed out. What made that play frustrating was one, I don’t think DeBrouwer even knew where the puck was and two, Barnstable only had to raise it six inches off the ice for it to go in. Just one of those nights indeed.
- I’ve said it before that I’m not one to condone fighting but I do believe there’s a time and a place for it still in hockey, and Jared Nash and Nanaimo’s Adam Pilotte provided us with a memorable bout. After Nanaimo went up 2-0, Nash was trying to spark his team and engaged in a scrap with Pilotte at centre ice. The two put on a show, as both threw a flurry of left-hands that kept landing but neither combatants buckled. It created quite the moment, as the two kept throwing and kept standing until they finally ran out of gas. I don’t think I’m over the top to say it was one of the best fights I’ve seen at the SOEC. Nash’s first two fights have garnered plenty of buzz and rightfully so. Best news out of it? Both fighters skated away without injury- outside of some welts.
- Looking at the bigger picture, it was still a successful week for the Vees, as they grabbed four of six points and remain first place in the BCHL; one point up on Wenatachee. If you’re going to lose, best happen to a non-divisional opponent and that was the case Saturday. I personally think Nanaimo is a much better club than there near .500 record going into Saturday’s game indicated. They’re a young team this year, with 11 players 18-years-old or younger. It can take younger teams awhile to get where they need to be at this level, especially in the first five weeks of the season. I also think the same of Langley, a team the Vees beat twice last week. Langley’s record I don’t think reflects how tough they are to play against. Remember, they’ve gone through the ringer when it comes to injury, and when (if) they get healthy, I think they’ll start stringing some wins together. Four of six points last week is a .667 winning percentage, a percentage that gets coaches contract extensions at the professional level.
- Are the Vees somewhat offensively challenged? Sure. That’s no secret, as Fred Harbinson said in our pre-game chat Friday, they’ve talked as a group about how scoring won’t come easy. he quickly pointed out this team resembles the one of two years ago that won the BCHL and Western Canadian Championships. That season the Vees finished fifth overall in goals for but first in goals against. Their top scorer was Patrick Newell who had a modest 47 points; he finished outside of the top 20 in BCHL scoring. This year is similar, as the Vees top scorer, Ty Amonte, is ranked 21st in league scoring with 15 points. Through 13 games the Vees are 11th in goals for with 44 but second in goals against with 27. Their goals-against average right now is identical to that of two years ago (2.08). As the saying goes, defense wins you championships and the Vees are one of the best defensive teams in the BCHL. We’re not going to see this team go off for five, six goals a game but you’re not going to see them give up more than two a game very often. They’ll be fine.
- How money are the Vees in OT? With their win Friday in Langley, they’re 4-0 in extra time this season and 11-0-1-0 in their last 12 OT games going back to last season. Their one blemish was a 4-4 tie with Alberni Valley last December. This team just keeps finding ways to get the job done when the extra point is up for grabs. Do they practice four-on-four and three-on-three a lot? Something I have to look into. They certainly have an awareness for the space and time that comes with OT, and know what to do with it.
- Obviously skill can be a deciding factor but more importantly they know how to defend in extra time. Friday’s OT goal was a great setup by Ty Amonte. He comes back down to the side of his net to dive at a puck and poke-check Langley’s Max Kaufman who was trying to come out front from goal-line. Amonte then gets up, and from behind the goal, wraps the puck around the boards to spot Owen Sillinger open at the Vees’ blue-line. Yes, Penticton may have gotten away with a trip earlier in that shift when Ryan Barrow went down, but you can’t fault them for playing to the whistle.
- Through five weeks, has the Interior lost the title as “The Best Division in the BCHL?” Look at the Island Division, as four of the five teams have .607 or better winning percentage and only two points separates first from fourth. The big surprise has to be the Cowichan Valley Capitals who are fourth but have a 7-4-2-1 record; they keep getting points. The Caps were in stormy waters in the off-season with their ownership situation up in the air but that’s been resolved and now they’re winning games. I feel October and November is the moving period in the BCHL, where the pretenders are separated from the contenders. I’d be curious to see how the Island Division looks in four weeks.
