Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (13-7-1-2) had plenty of chances against the West Kelowna Warriors (15-8-0-1) Tuesday night, but Brock Baier’s 41 saves along with a number of goal posts held Penticton at bay in a 3-1 loss. Now the Vees host the Warriors looking for an opposite result.
James Miller rang a slap shot off the post in the opening minutes of the game Tuesday night, a sign of things to come for Penticton as they hit at least four of them over the course of the 60 minutes.
Parm Dhaliwal opened the scoring for West Kelowna, capitalizing on a turnover behind the Vees net with 4:55 left in the opening frame.
The Warriors would pad their lead early in the second as Lucas Cullen walked out from the goal line and slid a puck past Derek Krall, who was great in net finishing with 41 saves.
Mike Hardman then jumped on a rebound off Krall’s left pad to push West Kelowna’s lead to 3-0 just over halfway through the second period.
Frustrations boiled over in the third period as Kenny Johnson dropped the gloves with Eric Olson, Miller and Willie Reim got tangled up below the goal line in the Vees zone later in the period as well.
Drew Elser would snap the shutout bid for Baier by firing home a rebound off a Jack Barnes shot on a 2-on-1 rush. It was Elser’s first game back in the lineup after missing over a month with injury.
The loss snapped a short three-game winning streak for Penticton, but they’ll quickly have a shot at redemption when they welcome the Warriors to the South Okanagan Events Centre Wednesday night. Penticton will look to keep their trend of bounce back performances in tact as they’re 9-0 following a loss this season.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Eric Linell – 14G 15A 25GP
David Silye – 8G 20A 23GP
James Miller – 12G 14A 23GP
West Kelowna Warriors
Mike Hardman – 17G 11A 24GP
Willie Reim – 10G 18A 23GP
Chase Dubois – 7G 18A 24GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power Play – 20.0 per cent (7th in BCHL)
Penalty Kill – 83.3% per cent (7th in BCHL)
West Kelowna Warriors
Power Play – 20.7 per cent (4th in BCHL)
Penalty Kill – 79.2 per cent (12th in BCHL)
Season Series
October 19, 2018 – Vees 2 @ Warriors 3 Boxscore
October 27, 2018 – Vees 3 vs Warriors 5 Boxscore
November 13, 2018 – Vees 1 @ Warriors 3 Boxscore
November 14, 2018 – Vees vs Warriors
December 21, 2018 – Vees vs Warriors
December 22, 2018 – Vees @ Warriors
