Photo: Darran Chaisson
PORT ALBERNI, B.C.- The Penticton Vees are one win away from their second consecutive Fred Page Cup, after a 6-3 win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in Game Three of the BCHL Final, Tuesday at the Alberni Valley Multiplex.
The Vees lead the best-of-seven series 3-0. Game Four is Wednesday, at 7:00 pm.
Specialty teams had a big night, as they Vees scored two power play goals and one shorthanded.
The second period was key for Penticton, as they scored five times in the middle frame. Josh Nadeau and Aydar Suniev each scored twice in the middle frame. Billy Norcross scored as well. Both of Nadeau’s goals came on the power play.
Dovar Tinling scored, shorthanded, in the opening frame, as the two teams were tied 1-1 after the opening frame.
Penticton shut it down in the third period, as they held the Bulldogs to just nine shots over the final 20 minutes.
Tinling’s shorthanded marker came just before the six minute mark in the first to put the Vees up 1-0. It was Tinling’s seventh goal of the playoffs and his second shorty.
It stayed 1-0 up until the final minute of the first, when the Bulldogs’ Nicholas Beneteau banked the puck off of Luca Di Pasquo with 40 second left to tie it.
Nadeau reclaimed Vees’ lead early in the second period, as he scored the first of his back-to-back goals. His 14th of the playoffs made it 2-1 at 1:54, after his young brother Bradly fired a cross-ice pass right on his tape. His second of the period came on another power play at 10:29 to make it 3-1. A great three-way passing play ended with Suniev finding an open Nadeau in front for his 15th goal.
Norcross extended Penticton’s lead to 4-1 when he got a piece of Joshua Niedermayer’s point shot and tipped it by Campbell Arnold at 11:18 for his second.
The Vees kept coming in the second, as Suniev got his first of two in the frame to make it 5-1 at 14:52. Frank Djurasevic made a great play, side-stepping the forward along the wall, before firing the puck in the middle to Suniev who had a gaping net.
The Bulldogs responded with two quick ones at the tail end of the second to pull within two. Nicholas Beneteau poked in a rebound at 15:16 to make it 5-2, then Brady McIsaac squeezed his shot through Di Pasquo at 16:43 to cut the Vees’ lead to 5-3.
Penticton pushed back, as Suniev scored his second of the period from the high slot at 18:34 to make it 6-3. Suniev’s ninth came after he forced his shot through the goalie’s pads.
GAME NOTES
Josh Nadeau extended his point streak to 13 games with his two-goal performance. He has 27 points over his last 13 games. Bradly Nadeau has an assist in each of last four games. The Vees are now 6-1 on the road in the BCHL Playoffs. Penticton has outscored the Bulldogs 11-5 in the second period in this series.
GAME STATS
Final Score: 6-3, Vees
Shots: 42-31
Vees Scoring:
Vees PP: 2/3
Vees PK: 3/3
Three Stars:
- Josh Nadeau
- Aydar Suniev
- Brady McIsaac
Next Game: May 17th, 7:00 pm, Game Three at Alberni Valley Bulldogs
