PHOTO: Darren Francis/Fotoshotz
The Penticton Vees (21-6-1-0) return to home ice as they look to get back in the win column with a matchup against the Chilliwack Chiefs (12-8-4-1) on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
2019/20 REGULAR SEASON VS. CHILLIWACK
Saturday, October 26th @ Chilliwack Coliseum (4-3 Vees/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 21st @ South Okanagan Events Centre (7:00 PM)
The Vees come into Friday night’s matchup looking to get back into the win column after a 7-2 loss to the Coquitlam Express on Wednesday night at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre. David Silye and Tyler Ho tallied goals in the defeat for the Vees while Yaniv Perets stopped 12 of the 17 shots he faced in his 4th loss of the season before Carl Stankowski turned aside 12 of the 14 shots thrown his way in relief.
Penticton will look for the season sweep of Chilliwack after an entertaining battle between the two sides in late October saw the Vees come away with a 4-3 overtime victory at the Chilliwack Coliseum. Colton Kalezic, Lukas Sillinger and Evan McIntyre scored in regulation before Steve Holtz blasted the winner on the power play in overtime. Carl Stankowski stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced in goal for the win in between the pipes.
Vees Leading Scorers:
Jay O’Brien (15-27-42)
Danny Weight (13-19-32)
Lukas Sillinger (11-19-30)
David Silye (9-20-29)
Colton Kalezic (8-12-20)
An assist on David Silye’s 2nd period goal in Coquitlam extended Jay O’Brien’s point streak to four games and has included a point in 12 of his last 13 games. The Boston University commit has registered a goal and six assists for seven points over his four-game point streak while tallying 7 goals and 13 assists for 20 points over the last 13 games, which has him ranked 2nd in the scoring in the BCHL with 42 points.
Another point streak continued for the Vees on Wednesday night as forward Tyler Ho has now registered a point in three straight games. The Surrey, BC native has tallied a pair of goals and an assist for three points over that three-game span and has made an immediate impact with his new team. Two of the four goals that Ho has scored in a Vees uniform have been game winning tallies, including an overtime marker the last time Penticton was on home ice last Saturday against Wenatchee.
Penticton is currently in the midst of a four-game stretch that sees competition against the Mainland Division, including versus a Chiefs team that they have defeated earlier this season. The Vees hold a record of 4-1-0-0 this season against the Mainland Division with the stretch of non-divisional games finishing off on Wednesday night when the Vees host the Prince George Spruce Kings at the SOEC.
The Chilliwack Chiefs enter Friday night’s game looking to get back into the win column, as well, after falling by a 1-0 score last Saturday night against the Cowichan Valley Capitals at the Chilliwack Coliseum. It marked the first time the Chiefs have been shutout this season with Mathieu Caron turning aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced in the game in his 3rd loss of the season.
Chiefs Leading Scorers:
Ethan Bowen (8-17-25)
Nikita Nesterenko (8-13-21)
Joey Larson (9-11-20)
Kyle Penney (9-9-18)
Peter Reynolds (6-10-16)
Peter Reynolds made his return from the Under-17 Challenge, playing for Team Canada, and had a five-game point streak snapped in the loss to the Capitals on Saturday. The Boston College commit tallied three goals and two assists for five points in five games before heading off for the U-17’s and leads all 2003-born players in scoring with his 6 goals and 16 points on then season.
Scoring from the back end has helped Chilliwack to their 12 wins on the season and no one has put more pucks in the back of the net from the blue line than defender Cooper Moore. The 128th overall selection in this year’s NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings leads all BCHL defenders with 8 goals on the season while placing in a tie for 14th in points amongst all defensemen. The University of North Dakota commit has points in three of his last four games coming into Friday, scoring a goal and adding three assists for four points over that span.
The power play has been a big source of offense for the Chiefs this season, scoring 28 of their 84 goals on the man advantage. Chilliwack comes into Friday night possessing the BCHL’s best power play, operating at 26.4% on the season, scoring 28 goals on 106 attempts. The Chiefs have gone 4-for-20 on the man advantage over the last five games, spanning over the month of November, working at a 20% clip.
The Vees and Chiefs conclude their season series from the South Okanagan Events Centre with a 7:00 PM face-off. Tickets are available for purchase at the Valley First Box Office as well as online at ValleyFirstTix.com.
