PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees used a shorthanded hat-trick from Tyler Ho and seven unanswered goals to help them to a 7-1 victory in Game #1 of their best-of-seven Interior Division Quarter Final against the West Kelowna Warriors on Thursday night.
The Vees started the game with plenty of pressure inside the Warriors zone but it was West Kelowna who found the back of the net at the 3:13 mark to take a 1-0 lead. John Evans got behind the Vees defense and beat Vees goaltender Yaniv Perets on a partial break to give the visitors a one-goal lead in the 1st period.
Penticton continued to push for the equalizing marker and tied the score at the 9:54 mark of the opening frame as Liam Malmquist scored the first playoff goal for the Vees. Conner Hutchison juked around a defender on the right-wing side and threw a shot off the right pad of Warriors goaltender Johnny Derrick before Malmquist banged home the rebound in the slot for his 1st goal of the postseason and a 1-1 tie just under halfway into the period.
Down two men on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, the Vees collected their first lead of the hockey game at the 17:54 mark of the opening period with a strong play from Colton Kalezic. The Vees forward chipped the puck past a Warriors defender and moved the other way on an odd-man rush as he fed Tyler Ho on the right side, who tapped in his 1st goal of the playoffs shorthanded to give the home side a one-goal advantage.
Later in the power play, in the final minute of the period, West Kelowna pressured with a chance in front of the net, going off the stick of Brendan Pigeon and into the left pad of Perets. The Warriors dug at the puck, pushing it across the goal line but not before the referee blew his whistle, blowing the play dead. After review, the call on the ice stood and the game remained 2-1 in the Vees favour heading into the second period.
The 2nd period saw the Vees come out strong and garner a 3-1 lead at the 2:38 mark of the middle stanza on a scramble in front of the Warriors net. Derrick made a great save as he slid across to rob Danny Weight on the glove side before Weight regained control and sent a pass from below the goal line to the left face-off circle as Evan McIntyre buried his 1st of the playoffs into an open goal for the two-goal lead.
The Vees increased their lead to three goals with Ho collected his second shorthanded goal of the contest on another odd man rush. Ho led the rush down the left side as he passed off to the right wing where Hutchison returned the feed back to Ho on the blocker side and beat Derrick for his second of the game and a 4-1 Vees advantage at the 10:01 mark of the 2nd period.
1:25 after that, Jay O’Brien pushed the Vees lead to 5-1 with his first goal of the playoffs, taking a rebound off of Derrick’s left pad on a Lukas Sillinger shot and outwaiting the netminder to his glove side as he lifted a shot off the crossbar and into the back of the net at the 11:26 mark.
The lead was extended to 6-1 at the 1:55 mark of the 3rd period as the Vees began the final frame on a 5-on-3 power play. Just as that expired, Weight took a rebound at the bottom of the left face-off circle and zipped a shot over the glove side of Derrick for his 1st of the playoffs and a 6-1 lead, also ending the night of Derrick as Riley Morgan came on to play the remainder of the 3rd period.
Penticton capped off the scoring in the 3rd period as Ho finished off his shorthanded hat-trick with his third goal of the night at the 12:41 mark of the final frame on a rebound, collecting the puck after a Kalezic shot bounced to him in the slot and beat Morgan up and over the glove side to take a 7-1 lead, the eventual final score.
Yaniv Perets turned aside 22 of the 23 shots he faced in his 1st win of the playoffs while Johnny Derrick started the game for the Warriors, pushing aside 27 of the 33 shots thrown his way in his 1st playoff loss before Riley Morgan stopped 9 of the 10 shots he faced in the 3rd period in relief.
FINAL SCORE: 7-1 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 43-23 Vees
VEES PP: 1/7
VEES PK: 9/9
3 STARS:
1) Tyler Ho (3-0-3)
2) Danny Weight (1-2-3)
3) Colton Kalezic (0-3-3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Conner Hutchison (0-3-3)
Attendance: 2,618
The Vees and Warriors will face-off in Game #2 of their best-of-seven Interior Division Quarter Final on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre with the Vees leading the best-of-seven series by a 1-0 margin. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Valley First Box Office as well as online at ValleyFirstTix.com.
