PHOTO: Garrett James/BCHL
The Penticton Vees (11-2-0-0) are back on home ice to begin a three-game home stand beginning with a matchup against the Vernon Vipers (6-6-0-0) on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE vs. VERNON
Friday, October 4th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (1-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, October 18th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (7:00 PM)
Friday, December 13th @ Kal Tire Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 14th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (7:00 PM)
Wednesday, January 1st @ Kal Tire Place (2:00 PM)
Wednesday, January 15th @ Kal Tire Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 1st @ South Okanagan Events Centre (6:00 PM)
The Vees come into Friday night’s contest after a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Wednesday night at the Shaw Centre. Jay O’Brien and Danny Weight scored the goals for the Vees as Penticton fired 43 shots on goal in the loss. Yaniv Perets turned aside 30 of the 35 shots he faced in his 1st defeat of the season.
Penticton and Vernon play the second of their seven-game season series after a 1-0 victory for the Vees in early October at the BCHL Showcase Festival presented by Bauer at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Cade Webber tallied the lone goal in the game late in the 1st period while Yaniv Perets stood tall, turning aside all 15 shots he faced in the game for a shutout.
Vees Leading Scorers:
Jay O’Brien (8-14-22)
Danny Weight (8-9-17)
Lukas Sillinger (4-11-15)
David Silye (4-8-12)
Colton Kalezic (5-6-11)
The Vees are back on home ice, a place where they have not surrendered a goal thus far in two games. Penticton earned a 3-0 victory over the West Kelowna Warriors in their home opener in late September while picking up a 1-0 win over the Vipers at the BCHL Showcase Festival. The Vees penalty kill has also been strong on home ice, killing off all six penalties they have faced in two games.
Finding the back of the net for the 8th time this season was Vees forward Jay O’Brien, who has scored in three of his last four games and has goals in five of his last seven contests. The Boston University commit is tied with Danny Weight for the Vees team lead with 8 goals and sits 3rd in BCHL scoring with 22 points in 13 games played.
After playing just two games on home ice this season, the Vees will see their next three games at the SOEC including a pair this weekend with tonight’s matchup against Vernon and Saturday night featuring a game against the Nanaimo Clippers. Wrapping up the three-game home stand will be the first Wicked Wednesday of the season and the third matchup between the Vees and Trail Smoke Eaters on October 23rd.
The Vernon Vipers enter Friday night looking for their third win in a row after a pair of victories including a 3-2 triumph against the Merritt Centennials at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena on Wednesday night. Connor Marritt, Jackson Caller each found the back of the net while newcomer Dawson Holt scored the game winning goal with 54 seconds remaining. Reilly Herbst picked up his 3rd win of the season while making 29 saves on 31 shots in the win.
Vipers Leading Scorers:
Matt Kowalski (4-5-9)
Connor Marritt (5-3-8)
Cameron MacDonald (3-2-5)
Connor Sleeth (3-2-5)
Elan Bar-Lev-Wise (0-5-5)
After struggling to score at the BCHL Showcase Festival in Penticton, the Vipers have started to find the back of the net and have been helped, in large part, by the production of fourth-year BCHLer Matt Kowalski. The Vernon, BC native leads the Vipers with 9 points on the season and enters the game riding a three-game point streak, registering 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points over that span including all of those games being multi-point contests.
Solidifying play in between the pipes has been the arrival of goaltender Reilly Herbst, who joined the Vipers a week ago. The Niwot, Colorado native has posted strong numbers with Vernon thus far, boasting a 3-0 record while possessing a 1.13 goals against average and a .952 save percentage. Herbst was brought into the fold in Vernon after having skated with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League last season.
Special teams has been a tale of two worlds for Vernon this season, ranking at the top of the BCHL in penalty killing percentage while they sit 16th in the league in power play percentage. The Vipers have killed off 39 of the 42 penalties they have taken so far this season, coming out to a 92.7% rate while the power play has tallied just 4 goals in 52 attempts and sits at 7.7% on the season.
The Vees and Vipers play in the second of their seven-game season series at the South Okanagan Events Centre tonight. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available at the SOEC Box Office as well as ValleyFirstTix.com. Vees fans will want to be in their seats early as there is an exciting announcement set for just before puck drop.
