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GAME RECAP: Four Different Three-Point Efforts Help Vees To 6-2 Victory Over Eagles At BCHL Showcase

PHOTO: Garrett James Photography

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – The Penticton Vees got three-point games from Bradley Nadeau, Josh Nadeau, Thomas Pichette and Casey McDonald to help them to a 6-2 victory over the Surrey Eagles on Thursday afternoon at the Chilliwack Coliseum.

After playing a night game on Wednesday, the task was tall for the Vees to have a strong enough push to try and collect their fifth consecutive win to start the season and got off to a terrific start with Thomas Pichette scoring his first career BCHL goal just 53 seconds into the hockey game.

Bradley Nadeau made a strong chip play to the middle of the ice in the neutral zone as Pichette gathered just outside of the blue line and raced past the defenders for a partial break away as he zipped a shot over the glove shoulder of Eagles goaltender Max Prazma to give Penticton an early 1-0 advantage.

The Eagles started to get some momentum going as the period went along and were able to get back in the game and tie the festivities at the 12:53 mark of the opening frame. Michael Abgrall sent a pass from below the goal line to the right face-off circle as Jacob Slipec went to a knee and fired a shot over the glove side shoulder of Vees netminder Kaeden Lane to even the score at 1-1.

The 2nd period is where the Vees really started to take the game over, outshooting the Eagles by a 15-2 margin over the course of the 20-minute frame and were rewarded with a pair of goals as the Nadeau’s found their rhythm to give Penticton the lead once more.

It started with Josh Nadeau, tallying his 4th goal of the season at the 5:29 mark of the middle frame. Bradley Nadeau sent a pass from the left face-off circle to the front of the net as Josh flipped his stick to redirect the puck over the glove side of Prazma to give Penticton a one-goal lead again at 2-1.

After Josh scored, Bradley would make his mark as he scored his 3rd goal of the season and has now scored in three consecutive games to give the Vees a 3-1 lead. Josh let a shot go from the right face-off circle that was kicked out by the right pad of Prazma before Bradley pounced on the rebound, beating the blocker side of the Surrey netminder to push the Vees ahead by a 3-1 margin into the 3rd period.

The Vees continued their strong play into the 3rd period and Casey McDonald gave Penticton a three-goal advantage at the 2:14 mark of the final frame. McDonald took a pass from Fin Williams on the goal line and slipped a shot past the glove side of Prazma for his 2nd goal of the season and a 4-1 Vees lead.

McDonald was at it again just about two and a half minutes later with his second goal of the game at the 4:57 mark of the final period, sliding a puck through the legs of Prazma off a strong chip pass from the stick of Spencer Smith as he made his way in from the left wing and scored his second goal of the game for a 5-1 lead.

With his 4th goal in the last three games, Luc Wilson helped Penticton to a four-goal advantage with the third goal of the final period for the Vees as Jackson Nieuwendyk worked hard below the goal line to send a pass to the front of the net where Wilson batted home the loose puck for a 6-1 lead at the 8:21 mark.

Jacob Bonkowski got a goal back for Surrey, scoring with 4:45 remaining on the power play to finish with a 6-2 final score in favour of the Vees. Kaeden Lane turned aside 13 of the 15 shots thrown his way in his 3rd win of the season while Max Prazma stopped 31 of the 37 shots he faced in his 4th loss of the season.

FINAL SCORE: 6-2 Vees

SHOTS ON GOAL: 37-15 Vees

VEES PP: 1/5

VEES PK: 2/3

3 STARS:

1) Bradley Nadeau (1-2-3)

2) Casey McDonald (2-1-3)

3) Josh Nadeau (1-2-3)

Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Thomas Pichette (1-2-3)

The Vees (5-0-0-0) will continue their stretch of games away from home as they make the trek to the North to face-off against the Prince George Spruce Kings (4-1-0-0) on Wednesday night at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the game available on Bounce Radio 800 as well as streamed online on BCHLTV.ca beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 PM.