FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, February 22, 2013
Penticton, BC– It took just ten seconds to turn the game on its head, as Sebastian Pare and Regan Soquila scored ten seconds apart in the third period, vaulting the Centennials to 5-2 win over the Penticton Vees. The two goals in short succession gave the Cents’ a three-goal cushion and a lead that they would not relinquish, skating to their fourth straight win against the Vees.
The loss sees the Vees lead atop of the Division shrink to four points, with the Cents’ still holding a game in-hand.
Despite seven goals between the two teams, the opening period was a defensive struggle as the two held each other in-check. The Vees best chance in the scoreless period was off the stick of Mike Rebry. Brad McClure dished a pass out front to Rebry from behind the net, but his quick shot was kicked-out by the left-leg of Tyler Steel.
A play along the Vees wall late in the first, came back to sting the Vees early in the second. Bryan Sinz was given a game misconduct late in period when he was assessed a check-from-behind penalty at 19:32; putting the Vees down a defenseman and down a skater to start the second.
The Cents’ capitalized on the man-advantage early in the middle frame, as Regan Soquila jumped on a rebound. Tyler Martin’s shot from the right-wing was stopped by Chad Katunar, but Soquila was there for the rebound and a tap-in fifty-five seconds into the second.
The Vees fore-check helped draw them even just past the twelve-minute mark. The Cents’ coughed-up the puck at their blue-line and Brad McClure made them pay with his 26th at 12:11; McClure beating Steel between the legs with a wrist-shot.
Seconds after the goal the Vees ran into penalty trouble and once again the Cents’ capitalized. Derek Huisman redirected a pass at the top of the crease into open-net just seventy-seconds after the Vees equalized. Huisman just got enough stick on a Regan Soquila pass from the circle, to deflect the puck past a down and out Chad Katunar to put the Cents’ back up by one; the Cents’ holding a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.
After a tight-checking first forty minutes, the goals came fast and furious in the third. Sebastien Pare put the Cents’ up by a pair of goals after he finished off a two-on-one rush. With the Vees caught up ice, Pare took a pass from Scott Patterson and deked-out Chad Katunar for the Cent’s third goal at 5:07; Pare’s second in as many games against the Vees. Off the ensuing face-off, Payton Schaefer retrieved a loose puck in the Vees corner and hit a streaking Regan Soquila with a pass. Soquila wasted little time getting the puck off his stick, as he buried his second of the game at 5:17; two goals in just 10 seconds.
The goal seemed to deflate the Vees and spelled the end of Chad Katunar’s night, as he was replaced by Nic Renyard; Katunar surrendering four goals on 20 shots.
Both teams traded goals late in the third on a Vees power-play. Derek Huisman scored his second of the game into an empty-net from the neutral zone. The Vees pulled Renyard, creating a six-on-four man-advantage, trying to chip away at the Cents’ lead. Huisman however intercepted a pass at his blue-line and made no mistake with the short-handed marker at 14:07.
On the same Vees power-play, Cody DePourcq got a late consolation goal for the Vees. DePourcq banged-in a rebound in the Cents’ crease for his twelfth of the season at 14:40.
FINAL SCORE: 5-2 CENTS’
Shots: 34-24 Vees
Power-Play: Vees 1-3 Cents’ 2-4
Three Stars: 1) Tyler Steel 2) Regan Soquila 3) Richard Sabourin
Attendance: 2, 465
GAME NOTES
Both Bryan Sinz and Jedd Soleway received game misconducts for two separate check-from-behind penalties; Soleway tagged with his in the third period. The Vees record drops to 34-14-0-3 and their home record slips to 19-7-0-1 with the loss.
UP NEXT
Tomorrow, the Vees jump on the bus and head to Trail to face-off with the Smoke Eaters at Cominco Arena; puck-drop is 7:30. It’s the first meeting between the two teams since November 21st, and starts a stretch where the two will play four times in the final two weeks of the regular season.
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