Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (23-11-1-2) put on a strong, 60-minute performance against West Kelowna Warriors (22-15-0-1) with a 7-2 win Friday night. They’re hoping for a repeat performance tonight as they finish off the 2018 portion of the schedule at Royal LePage Place.
James Miller opened the scoring on a breakaway in the first period and Luke Loheit scored his second in as many games shortly after to give the Vees a 2-0 lead after one. The ice was heavily tilted in Penticton’s favour with the shots 17-6 through 20 minutes.
After an early push by the Warriors, the second period was much of the same as the Vees rattled four more goals to take a huge lead.
First was Mason Snell firing a slap shot through traffic that beat a screened Conner Hopkins to make it 3-0. Less than two minutes later Massimo Rizzo redirected a rebound off his skate into the net to make it 4-0. The ended the night for Hopkins who was replaced by Brock Baier.
Baier lasted less than three minutes before getting scored on as Jack Lagerstrom’s wrist shot from the right circle snuck through his pads and slid over the goal line to make it 5-0.
Just 1:14 later, Lukas Sillinger took a drop feed from Ryan Sandelin and skated right down the slot in the Warriors zone before firing a shot off the post and in to make it 6-0. West Kelowna finally answered on the power play as Mike Hardman’s pass went off Miller’s skate and into the net with 1:15 remaining.
After an early power-play goal by West Kelowna in the third, Sillinger scored on a 5-on-3 power play for his second of the game to make the final score 7-2. Derek Krall finished with 21 saves in the Penticton net, picking up his sixth win of the season.
Following the game, Cassidy Bowes, long-time season ticket holder Jon Race and Penticton native Chris Woods had their hair chopped off, ending Bowes’ fundraising for children’s cancer research. Thanks to an anonymous donation, Bowes’ total fundraising ended at $9,678.69, surpassing his goal of $9,292.
The Vees now head up the highway to West Kelowna to wrap up the season series with the Warriors, looking to even it at three wins apiece. Penticton will be on their Christmas break afterwards, and not have another game until January 4 when they host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
James Miller – 16G 30A 37GP
Eric Linell – 20G 21A 39GP
David Silye – 13G 28A 33GP
West Kelowna Warriors
Mike Hardman – 27G 20A 38GP
Chase Dubois – 16G 29A 38GP
Willie Reim – 17G 26A 37GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power Play – 20.1 per cent (4th in BCHL)
Penalty Kill – 82.1 per cent (8th in BCHL)
West Kelowna Warriors
Power Play – 22.0 per cent (2nd in BCHL)
Penalty Kill – 81.0 per cent (9th 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 7 vs Warriors 4 Boxscore
December 21, 2018 – Vees 7 vs Warriors 2 Boxscore
December 22, 2018 – Vees @ Warriors
