The Penticton Vees (20-5-1-0) make their way to the Lower Mainland for a pair of midweek games, beginning on Tuesday night as they face-off against the Langley Rivermen (11-13-0-1) at the George Preston Arena.
REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE vs. LANGLEY
Tuesday, November 19th @ George Preston Arena (7:15 PM)
Wednesday, January 8th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (6:30 PM)
The Vees enter Tuesday night’s tilt with the Rivermen after triumphs in back-to-back games on the weekend, concluding with a 2-1 overtime victory against the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Danny Weight scored on the power play at the end of the 1st period before Tyler Ho tallied the game winning marker with just 15 seconds remaining in the overtime period. Carl Stankowski made 26 saves on 27 shots in between the pipes for his 4th win in goal.
Penticton and Langley split their season series during the 2018/19 campaign, with each side winning on home ice. The Rivermen opened the season with a 5-2 victory at the George Preston Arena before the Vees came back in late February to even the season set with a 3-1 win at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Vees Leading Scorers:
Jay O’Brien (15-25-40)
Danny Weight (13-19-32)
Lukas Sillinger (11-19-30)
David Silye (8-19-27)
Liam Malmquist (7-12-19)
Vees forward Danny Weight continues to remain hot heading into Penticton’s midweek matchups on the Lower Mainland. The Boston College commit has scored in each of the last four games for the Vees and currently rides a five-game point streak entering tonight’s action. The Lattingtown, New York native has registered four goals and five assists for nine points over that span including contributions on the power play with three of his last four markers coming on the man advantage.
On the back end, defender Steve Holtz extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Tyler Ho’s game winning marker in overtime on Saturday night. The University of Michigan commit has scored two goals and added four assists for six points during his six-game point streak and is tied with Conner Hutchison for the team lead in scoring from the blue line.
Yaniv Perets will get the nod in goal for the Vees in Langley and comes in having won five of his last six starts. The Quinnipiac University commit has held a 2.18 goals against average and .927 save percentage over his last six outings, splitting half of those starts on the road and on home ice. The Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec native sits 4th in the BCHL with his 1.90 GAA and 5th in the league with his .929 SV% while placing in a tie for 5th with 12 victories.
The Langley Rivermen come into Tuesday night after a 4-3 shootout loss on Sunday afternoon against the Cowichan Valley Capitals at the George Preston Arena. Riley Wallack, Colten Kovich and Jonathan Stein each scored in the game for the Rivermen while Joseph Musa and Brendan Budy tallied in the shootout. Braedon Fleming turned aside 21 of the 24 shots he faced in his 1st shootout loss of the season.
Rivermen Leading Scorers:
Brendan Budy (11-23-34)
Jake Livingstone (6-19-25)
Devin Leduc (9-7-16)
Joseph Musa (7-8-15)
Kalen Szeto (3-11-14)
The Rivermen enter the season with 12 players returning from 2018/19 including team captain Tanner Versluis. Forwards Kalen Szeto, Matteo Pecchia, Jonathan Stein, Riley Wallack and Devin Leduc join Versluis up front while Colton Kovich, Stephen Sielsky, Ryan Helliwell, Jake Livingstone and Brian Scoville return on the blue line. Back in goal for his 4th season with the Rivermen is goaltender Braedon Fleming.
After beginning last season at the University of Denver and finishing the year with the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL), forward Brendan Budy is back with the Rivermen and leading the charge offensively. The University of North Dakota commit ranks 4th in the BCHL with 34 points, registering 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points on the season. The Langley, BC native has tallied 48 goals and 87 assists for 135 points in his 130 career games with the Rivermen over three seasons.
Entering his 4th season in the BCHL and bringing 135 games of BCHL experience with him, Rivermen netminder Braedon Fleming has been one of the most heavily used goaltenders this season. The Langley, BC native is second in the league with 1313 minutes played over 23 games played this season, which also ranks 2nd in the BC Hockey League. Fleming is tied for 5th in the league with 11 wins on the year while posting a 2.97 GAA and a .891 SV%.
The Vees and Rivermen drop the puck on the first of their two-game season series at 7:15 PM from the George Preston Arena. The game will be available for broadcast on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as HockeyTV.com with the pre-game show kicking off at 6:55 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
