What’s On Tap
The Penticton Vees (24-5-0-1) six-game home stand continues tonight when they host the Vernon Vipers (15-12-0-3) at the SOEC; puck drop is 7 PM.
This is the fourth of seven meetings between these two long-time Okanagan rivals and the second meeting at the SOEC. They last played on the Remembrance Day long weekend, as both teams won on the road. Vernon posted a 3-2 win in Penticton on November 11th, and the Vees bounced back a night later, scoring a 3-1 win in Vernon. In fact, through three games, the road team has won every single game in the season series.
After tonight they meet again exactly a month from today, January 7th, in Penticton.
LAST TIME OUT
The Vees snapped a mini two-game losing streak Saturday, posting a 3-1 win over the visiting Powell River Kings in their annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Chris Klack trigged the avalanche of bears with his tying-goal midway through the first, and Grant Cruikshank and Ty Amonte added two more as the Vees picked up their 10th win at home.
Vernon hasn’t played since last Friday, where they too won in their Teddy bear Toss game, thumping the West Kelowna Warriors 6-1. The Vipers have won three straight and have outscored their opponents 16-2 in those three games. In fact, the Vipers have won three-in-a-row for the first time since the beginning of the season, when they won their first three games.
THE INFIRMARY IS FULL
Injuries continue to pile up for the Vees, especially on the backend as the blue-line has been hit hard. Gabe Bast was placed on the Injured Reserve this week with a lower-body issue and fellow blue-liner James Miller suffered an upper-body injury last weekend and will be out for 4-6 weeks. The Vees will also be without Griffin Mendel and Jonny Tychonick, as the two defencemen are at Team Canada West camp in Alberta, for the World Junior A Challenge.
Penticton signed 18-year-old Penticton native Greg Brydon this week to help the depleted blue-line. Brydon played in 23-games with the Powell River Kings this season, picking up an assist to go along with 23 penalty-minutes. The Vees will also have two AP’s on their blue-line in 18-year-old Konsta Jaske from the Summerland Steam, and 15-year-old Jackson Van De Leest from the Okanagan Hockey Academy next door.
There’s some bit of good news as veteran Mitch Meek appears to be ready to play this week and is a game-time decision tonight. Meek suffered an upper-body injury against Chilliwack on November 26th, and had missed the last three-games.
The Vipers are also dealing with a couple of injuries as forward Jagger Williamson is still on the shelf with an undisclosed injury. Williamson was actually hurt in the Vipers loss to Penticton on November 12th and hasn’t played since. Jandric suffered a lower-body injury in early November on Vernon’s road trip on Vancouver Island.
SCOUTING REPORT
Penticton has won seven of their last 10 but has split their last three games, going 1-1-0-1 against Trail, Salmon Arm and Powell River. The Vees are an impressive 11-2-0-1 against the Interior Division, posting a 3-1-0-1 record at the SOEC.
One Vee that is heating up is Ty Amonte as the rookie forward has four goals in his last three games and is tied for second in goals on the Vees with 11. Nicholas Jones continues to lead the Vees in scoring with 35 points in 30 games.
Mat Robson will start in goal tonight and the 20-year-old sports a 19-6 record, to go along with a 1.94 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. In three games against Vernon he has an impressive .927 save percentage.
Vernon has tinkered with its line-up since they last played Penticton, as they’ve brought in goaltender Darion Hansen, defenceman Cameron Trott and forward Luke Gingras. Hansen has been terrific in three starts, posting a 3-0 record, whilst owning a miniscule .67 goals-against average, to go along with a .979 save percentage.
Trott was acquired a couple of weeks ago from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in exchange for fellow defenceman Carter Stephenson, and Gingras was signed after he was released from the Saskatoon Blades.
The Vipers’ Steven Jandric and Brett Stapley both come into tonight’s game riding seven-game point streaks. Jandric has 11 points in his last seven, Stapley 10.
HEAD TO HEAD
Penticton 4 @ Vernon 2 (Oct 28th)
Vernon 3 @ Penticton 2 (Nov 11th)
Penticton 3 @ Vernon 1 (Nov 12th)
Vernon @ Penticton Dec 7th
Vernon @ Penticton Jan 7th
Vernon @ Penticton Jan 25th
Penticton @ Vernon Jan 27th
Vees vs. Vernon (Goals-Assists-Points) Vipers vs. Penticton (Goals-Assists-Points)
Taylor Ward 3-2-5 Jagger Williamson 0-4-4
Grant Cruikshank 0-3-3 Niko Karamanis 2-0-2
Nicholas Jones 0-3-3 Connor Clouston 0-2-2
Chris Klack 1-1-2 Steven Jandric 1-0-1
Duncan Campbell 0-2-2 Jimmy Lambert 1-0-1
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tonight’s game can be heard on EZ Rock AM 800 locally, on the iHeartRadio Canada app for your iPhone, iPad, smartphone and tablet. The game is also available via a webcast at www.HockeyTV.com
