PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
The Penticton Vees (10-0-0-0) head back out on the road, looking to make it 11 straight wins to begin the season, in their lone trip to visit the Powell River Kings (7-6-0-0) on Friday night at Hap Parker Arena.
REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE vs. POWELL RIVER
Saturday, October 12th @ Weyerhaeuser Arena (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 15th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (6:00 PM)
The Vees come into Friday night’s affair after earning their 10th straight win to begin the regular season with a 5-3 victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Colton Kalezic scored twice in a span of 20 seconds to begin the game while Jackson Niedermayer, Jay O’Brien and Lukas Sillinger tallied singles in the win. Derek Krall turned aside 26 of the 29 shots he faced in his 5th win of the season.
Penticton picked up the season series sweep over Powell River in the 2018/19 campaign, posting a win on the road and at home in the month of January. The Vees hosted the Kings early in the month, earning a 5-3 victory at the South Okanagan Events Centre before travelling to the Sunshine Coast two weeks later and secured a 4-3 win at Hap Parker Arena to conclude the season set.
Vees Leading Scorers:
Jay O’Brien (6-11-17)
Danny Weight (6-6-12)
Colton Kalezic (5-6-11)
Lukas Sillinger (3-8-11)
David Silye (3-6-9)
The Vees are coming into this weekend set against the Island Division looking to keep their win streak going, having won each of their first 10 games to start the season. Penticton leads the BCHL in goal scoring with 48 tallies while being tied with the Nanaimo Clippers for the league low in goals against, having surrendered just 17 goals this season.
Colton Kalezic kept rolling on his current stretch of strong play, which has grown into a five-game point streak and now sitting 3rd in team scoring with 5 goals and 11 points. The Northern Michigan University commit has scored 4 goals and added 5 assists for 9 points over his last 5 games, including a two-goal, two-assist effort in the Vees 5-3 win over the Wild on Saturday night. The four-point night marked the second multi-point game of the season for the Toronto, Ontario native.
Penticton has had a good stretch of play when making their lone trip to Powell River as the Vees have not lost in each of their last seven games played at Hap Parker Arena in the regular season, along with a pair of playoff games during the Fred Page Cup Final in 2012. Over those seven contests, the Vees have six wins and a tie against the Kings, with the last game they did not collect any points out of in Powell River taking place on January 25th, 2011.
The Powell River Kings enter play on Friday night after a nine-game road trip, finishing up with a 7-2 loss to the Victoria Grizzlies on Saturday night at The Q Centre. Reilly Moran and Levi Glasman each tallied in the loss for the Kings while Matteo Paler-Chow started the game, stopped 5 of the 9 shots he saw in his 6th loss of the season before Eric Clark came on and made 18 saves on 21 shots in relief.
Kings Leading Scorers:
Levi Glasman (6-10-16)
Christian Buono (1-9-10)
Ethan Schmunk (4-5-9)
Reilly Moran (5-3-8)
Ben Wozney (1-7-8)
Head Coach and General Manager Tyler Kuntz heads into his second season at the helm of the Kings and has eight players returning from last year’s team that advanced to Game #7 of the Island Division Finals including defender and captain Jack Long. Forwards Nolan Krogfoss, Christian Buono, Rowan Miller, Levi Glasman and Ethan Schmunk return up front while joining Long on the backend is defenseman Ben Wozney. Matteo Paler-Chow is back for his third season in between the pipes.
In his second season with the Kings, forward Levi Glasman has continued to produce offensively, scoring 6 goals and adding 10 assists for 16 points, which has him ranked 6th in the BCHL in scoring. The Lacombe, Alberta native collected 47 points in 42 games last season with the Kings after being acquired from the Trail Smoke Eaters early in the year. Glasman recently secured his collegiate future, committing to Colgate University for the 2019/20 season.
Home ice advantage is always a big key and the Kings have used Hap Parker Arena to collect four wins in four tries so far this year. Powell River has outscored their opponents by a 24-12 margin over their first four games on home ice this season and have scored 5 or more goals in each of those contests. The Kings are coming home after a nine-game road trip, which has seen them play away from Hap Parker Arena since September 15th.
The Vees and Kings will drop the puck at 7:00 PM from Hap Parker Arena in the first of their two-game season series on Friday night. The game will be broadcasted live on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as HockeyTV.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
