It’s a showdown of the top two teams in the Interior Division tonight at the SOEC. The Penticton Vees (32-4-1-0) open the 2016 portion of their home schedule tonight against the second place Salmon Arm Silverbacks (22-9-2-2)’ puck drop 6 pm.
Penticton rang in the New Year in style Friday, trouncing the Vernon Vipers 6-0 on New Year’s Day at Kal-Tire Place. Scott Conway headlined the offense, scoring a hat-trick and finished with a game-high five points. Dante Fabbro added a pair of goals on the power-play and Tyson Jost scored the other for the first place Vees.
Assistant Coach Nick Fuher on facing the second-place Silverbacks
Salmon Arm scored a 5-2 win at home Friday over the visiting Surrey Eagles to keep pace with the Vees. Coming into tonight’s game, the ‘Backs are 17-points back of the Vees for top spot in the division but they do have two games in hand.
This is the fourth meeting between the two teams and first in three weeks, after they split a home-and-home set back on December 11th, and 12th. The Vees recorded their first win against the Silverbacks on December 12th, taking a 4-3 double-overtime decision at the SOEC. These two teams meet again, right back in Penticton, a week from tonight. Salmon Arm’s two wins against the Vees have come on home ice.
Conway’s five-point night Friday has him just three back of Nanaimo’s Sheldon Rempal for the BCHL scoring lead. Conway has 34 goals and 74 points in 35 games; he’s played three less games than Rempal too.
Anthony Brodeur will get the start in net for the Vees and still is undefeated on the year, despite what the new BCHL website tells you. Brodeur is 18-0-1-0 on the season, sporting a 2.00 goals-against average and owns a .933 save-percentage.
Carson Bolduc and Taro Hirose each had three point nights for the ‘Backs Friday but the story was when tempers flared midway through the third. Seven and a half minutes into the third period, there was a line skirmish, as all 10 players on the ice, five on each side, were given fighting majors and game misconducts. No word if there will be any suspensions stemming from the line brawl, but if you go by the Junior ‘A’ Supplement, there might be one or two ‘Backs sitting out tonight.
The Vees are also putting their undefeated home record on the line tonight, as they’re 18-0-1-0 at home this season; 17-0-1-0 at the SOEC. Their last regular season loss at home was in February of last year. The Vees have also had a lot of success at home against Salmon Arm in the last few years. They’ve won 12 of their last 15 games against Salmon Arm in the regular regular season at the SOEC; the record stretches back to the 2010-11 season.
There’s a few reasons why these two teams are at the top of the Interior but nothing stands out more than their divisional records. Combined, Penticton and Salmon Arm are 32-6-0-2 against Interior division opponents. The Vees own an impressive 19-3 record and the ‘Backs are 13-3-0-2.
