The Penticton Vees (12-1-0-0) will look to capture the inaugural Okanagan Cup trophy as they host the Vernon Vipers (4-6-2-1) in the Okanagan Cup Final on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
PENTICTON VEES OKANAGAN CUP SCHEDULE:
Friday, September 25th vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (7-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, September 26th vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (8-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, October 2nd vs. West Kelowna Warriors (3-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, October 3rd @ West Kelowna Warriors (3-2 Vees/SO) (BOXSCORE)
Wednesday, October 7th vs. Vernon Vipers (4-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, October 10th @ Vernon Vipers (4-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, October 16th @ West Kelowna Warriors (7-3 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, October 17th vs. West Kelowna Warriors (6-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, October 23rd vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (3-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, October 24th @ Salmon Arm Silverbacks (4-2 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 6th @ Vernon Vipers (4-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, November 7th vs. Vernon Vipers (6-3 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Semi Final: Friday, November 13th vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (5-2 Vees) (BOXSCORE)
Final: Saturday, November 14th vs. Vernon Vipers (6:00 PM)
Penticton punched their ticket to the Okanagan Cup Final after picking up a 5-2 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Connor Bouchard scored twice in the contest for the Vees while Quinn Hutson, Jacob Quillan and Luc Wilson tallied singles in the win. Yaniv Perets was very good in between the pipes for the Vees, turning aside 35 of the 37 shots thrown his way in his 8th win of the tournament.
The Vees and Vipers come into the Okanagan Cup Final after going head-to-head in four matchups during the round robin with Penticton earning victories in each of the games. The Vees earned a pair of wins over the Vipers in early October before completing a weekend sweep just seven days ago, registering 4-0 and 6-3 victories over the weekend of home-and-home action.
Vees Okanagan Cup Leading Scorers:
Matteo Costantini (5-14-19)
Quinn Hutson (10-7-17)
Liam Malmquist (1-14-15)
Luc Wilson (5-7-12)
Owen Murray (1-11-12)
The newest of Vees found their biggest success of the tournament in the semi-final as forward Connor Bouchard made his presence felt with a pair of goals and an assist for three points. The Penticton, BC native is on loan from the Western Hockey League and the Tri-City Americans, with the Vees until the end of December. Bouchard posted 10 goals and 34 assists for 44 points in 54 games with the Americans last season and was an affiliate player with the Vees during the 2016/17 season.
Owen Murray continued his point streak on Friday night with an assist to increase to three games. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst commit leads all defensemen in the BC Hockey League in points from the blue line, registering a goal and 11 assists for 12 points in 13 games played. The Decker, Manitoba native has registered five assists in his last three games and currently sits third on the Vees in helpers with his 11.
Six points in his last two games has Vees forward Quinn Hutson riding high heading into Saturday night’s Final. The Chicago, Illinois native has posted four goals and two assists for six points in his last two games, scoring a hat trick and adding an assist a week ago against the Vipers to round out round robin play. The Boston University commit is tied for the lead in goals in the BC Hockey League with Victoria’s Cody Monds with 10 and sits 5th in the league in scoring with 17 points.
The Vernon Vipers made their way to the Okanagan Cup Final after a 2-0 shutout victory against the West Kelowna Warriors on Friday night in their semi-final matchup. JoJo Tanaka-Campbell scored midway through the 1st period, which ended up standing as the game winning marker while Cameron MacDonald added an empty net tally. Koen MacInnes turned aside each of the 31 shots he faced in his 1st shutout of the Okanagan Cup and his 1st win of the tournament.
Vipers Okanagan Cup Leading Scorers:
JoJo Tanaka-Campbell (4-3-7)
Nicholas Kent (0-7-7)
Cameron MacDonald (3-3-6)
Hunter Donohoe (1-4-5)
Ryan Shostak (1-4-5)
31 saves in the semi-final from Koen MacInnes helped vault the Vipers to a berth in the Okanagan Cup Final on Saturday night in Penticton. The Burnaby, BC native posted a 2.84 goals against average and a .901 save percentage in 24 games with the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and has been good in the crease for the Vipers in his three appearances in the Okanagan Cup. McInnes has posted a 1.62 GAA and a .938 SV% in three games with Vernon, allowing five goals along with a shutout.
The Vees and Vipers conclude the Okanagan Cup and will crown a winner of the tournament tonight at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM with the game available to watch on Shaw Spotlight as well as on pay-per-view at BCHLTV.ca. There is a FREE audio stream available, as well, on mixlr.com/pentictonvees–2.
