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GAME PREVIEW: Vees Host Bucks To Conclude Regular Season

PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography

The Penticton Vees (17-1-0-1) conclude their regular season and finish action at the Penticton Pod as they host the Cranbrook Bucks (3-15-0-1) on Sunday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

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2021 REGULAR SEASON VS. CRANBROOK

Saturday, April 3rd vs. Cranbrook (6-3 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Friday, April 9th @ Cranbrook (5-3 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Monday, April 12th @ Cranbrook (4-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Thursday, April 15th @ Cranbrook (7-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Sunday, April 18th vs. Cranbrook (5-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Wednesday, April 21st @ Cranbrook (1-0 Bucks) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, April 24th vs. Cranbrook (3-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Friday, April 30th vs. Cranbrook (5-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Monday, May 3rd @ Cranbrook (5-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Sunday, May 9th vs. Cranbrook (4:00 PM)

Penticton finished their season series with the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday night at the SOEC and did so in an emphatic way in a 7-0 shutout victory. Frank Djurasevic scored a pair of goals while Liam Malmquist, Tyler Ho, Jacob Quillan, Stefano Bottini and Tristan Amonte added singles in the win. Kaeden Lane collected his league leading 5th shutout of the season with a 22-save blanking and good for his 14th victory of the season.

The Vees and Bucks finish off their season series and regular season of action with Penticton having won eight of the nine meetings between the two sides, including a 5-1 victory the last time out on Monday night at the SOEC. Tristan Amonte, Grayson Arnott, Liam Malmquist, Jacob Quillan and Tom Richter each tallied in the game while Kaleb McEachern turned aside 12 of the 13 shots he faced in his 3rd win of the season.

Vees Leading Scorers:

Luc Wilson (14-14-28)

Jacob Quillan (12-14-26)

Liam Malmquist (8-17-25)

Ryan Upson (6-14-20)

Fin Williams (5-13-18)

The scoring stretch of Vees forward Jacob Quillan continued on Saturday night as the Quinnipiac University commit scored in his fifth consecutive game in the 7-0 win over the Smoke Eaters. The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native also extended his current point streak to seven games with another three-point performance, his second in a row. Quillan has scored 6 goals while adding 8 assists for 14 points over his 7-game stretch of consecutive points.

It’s back-to-back two-point performances for the Vees leading scorer Luc Wilson, who now sits in a tie for 2nd place in league scoring heading into the final game of the season. The Minnesota State-Mankato commit has collected four goals and six assists for ten points over his last six games and sits tied for 2nd in the league in goal scoring.

The Cranbrook Bucks come into Sunday evening’s season finale after a galvanizing 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday night at the SOEC. AJ Vasko tallied his first career BCHL hat-trick while Noah Leibl and Nick Dobson added singles in the victory. Nathan Airey turned aside 32 of the 36 shots he faced in his first career BCHL win.

Bucks Leading Scorers:

AJ Vasko (5-4-9)

Zeth Kindrachuk (3-6-9)

Walker Gelbard (2-7-9)

Nik Sombrowski (3-3-6)

Rhys Bentham (2-4-6)

The Bucks earned their third win of the season on Friday night and a large part of that victory came from rookie forward AJ Vasko, who registered his first career BCHL hat-trick as part of a five-point effort in the win. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native scored the Bucks last three goals, including the game-tying marker with just 30 seconds left and the game-winning goal coming with 8 seconds to go in regulation.

The Vees and Bucks will meet for the tenth of ten times this season on Monday night from the SOEC. Puck drop is slated for 4:00 PM with the game available on EZ Rock AM 800 beginning with the pre-game show at 3:40 PM as well as BCHLTV.ca and Shaw Spotlight.