PHOTO: Lisa Mazurek/Lisa Mazurek Photography
VERNON, B.C. – Kaeden Lane turned aside each of the 25 shots he faced in the game while Tyler Ho scored a pair of 3rd period goals as the Penticton Vees earned their 10th Okanagan Cup victory in a 4-0 defeat of the Vernon Vipers on Friday night at Kal Tire Place.
A scoreless first period saw each of the goaltenders come through in a big way as they helped their teams keep the game on an even keel. Kaeden Lane turned aside each of the 8 shots he faced in the frame, including a breakaway stop on Tyler Carpendale in the later stages of the period, knocking down an attempt from the slot with his blocker to keep the game 0-0.
Koen MacInnes made the start for the Vipers and made saves on 12 shots in the opening frame, including a breakaway save as well as he denied Owen Murray on a shot from the high slot after Murray tried to go five-hole. Each team was unsuccessful on the power play in the first period with Vernon being held to an 0-for-2 mark and Penticton failing on their lone 1st period attempt.
The ice started to tilt in favour of the Vees in the second period as Penticton generated a good bevy of chances on their power play to open the period before getting some momentum to result in opening the scoring, coming at the 8:13 mark of the middle stanza with a player who was long overdue for finding the back of the net.
Collecting 13 assists in his first 10 Okanagan Cup games, returning forward Liam Malmquist finally caught a break and buried his 1st goal of the tournament on a giveaway from the Vipers goaltender Koen MacInnes. The netminder came out to play the puck in the right face-off circle and turned it over inside the blue line as Malmquist picked off the pass and took the puck to the open goal where he gave the Vees a 1-0 lead.
Just over two minutes later, Penticton doubled their advantage as Matteo Costantini added to his lead in team scoring with his 16th point of the tournament. Owen Murray gathered the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the offensive end, pushing a pass to the slot as Costantini collected and snapped a shot low to the blocker side of MacInnes for his 5th goal of the Okanagan Cup at the 11:19 mark to extend the Vees lead to 2-0.
Kaeden Lane and the Vees penalty kill remained strong in the middle stanza as Lane pushed aside each of the 7 shots thrown his way in the 2nd period and 15 total through two periods while Penticton killed off two more penalties in the middle frame and were 4-for-4 on the PK through 40 minutes of action.
The Vees added an insurance marker over the midway point through the 3rd period as Tyler Ho registered his second shorthanded marker of the Okanagan Cup. Ho got the inside edge on a Vipers defender and beat him to the puck in the offensive zone before snapping a shot over the blocker side of MacInnes for his 2nd goal of the tournament at the 11:28 mark of the final period to push the Vees ahead by a 3-0 score.
Ho collected his second goal of the period later in the frame, closing out the scoring at the 17:11 mark on another Viper turnover inside of their defensive end. Ryan McGuire forced the change of possession as Tristan Amonte fed Ho from the left face-off circle as he beat MacInnes with a shot over the glove for his second goal of the night to push the Penticton advantage to 4-0.
Kaeden Lane continued to shine, stopping all 10 shots he faced in the 3rd period en route to his second shutout of the Okanagan Cup, turning aside each of the 25 shots he faced in the game in his 4th win of the tournament. Koen MacInnes stopped 28 of the 32 shots thrown his way in his 1st Okanagan Cup loss.
FINAL SCORE: 4-0 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 32-25 Vees
VEES PP: 0/5
VEES PK: 7/7
The Vees (10-1-0-0) head back to the South Okanagan Events Centre for their final round-robin game of the Okanagan Cup tournament as they face-off against the Vernon Vipers (3-5-1-2) for a fourth and final time. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM at the SOEC with the game available to listen to on a FREE live audio stream on the Vees Broadcast Network as well as on pay-per-view at BCHLTV.ca.
