PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, BC. – The Penticton Vees played their annual Peaches Cup intrasquad game on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre with Team Blue topping Team White by a score of 6-3.
A week before the exhibition season kicks off, the Vees played their annual Peaches Cup intrasquad game, featuring both rostered and affiliate players for the 2021/22 season.
In some players first game-like action in over a year and a half, the pace was high all night with both teams showing strong energy from the opening puck drop. Thomas Pichette was first to kick off the scoring, snapping a shot past the glove side of Team White goaltender Colin Purcell just under 9 minutes into the game to give Team Blue a 1-0 lead.
Ryan Hopkins chipped in from the backend with a marker for Team White to even the score heading into the 2nd period. Hopkins was given a pass from the right-wing side off the stick of Bradley Nadeau and snuck it past Team Blue goaltender Kaeden Lane to tie the game 1-1 moving into the middle stanza.
The 2nd period was dominated by Team Blue as they scored twice to take a two-goal lead with Casey McDonald making a nice play to give his team the lead back. McDonald gathered the puck inside the right face-off circle and toe-dragged around the defender and snapped a shot past the blocker side of Purcell to give Team Blue a 2-1 lead.
Josh Nadeau added to the scoring to give Team Blue a two-goal advantage late in the period on a play that included Pichette and veteran Luc Wilson, a line that was very good all night. Nadeau gathered the puck in the right face-off circle and zipped a shot past the blocker side of Purcell to give Team Blue a 3-1 lead.
Tij Iginla added his name to the score sheet in the 3rd period with the first of two goals in the final period, getting a feed from Smyth Rebman in the left face-off circle across the ice to Iginla as he buried a shot through Purcell to push Team Blue ahead by a 4-1 tally.
Team White, coached by Fred Harbinson and Cam Barker, mounted a comeback and got themselves back into the game with Jackson Nieuwendyk wrapping the puck around the glove side of Lane and pushed it past the goal line for a 4-2 game.
Team White got themselves back to within a goal courtesy of a great pass from Bradley Nadeau, who chipped a loose puck to the middle of the ice with Beanie Richter skating through the middle and flipping a backhand shot up and over the glove side of Lane to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Iginla struck again with his second goal of the game and did so in nice fashion as he buried a shot off the rush on the right side, wristed a shot over the glove side of Purcell that pushed Team Blue’s lead to 5-3.
Ethan Mann finished the scoring off in the game with an empty net marker in the final minute to solidify the score in favour of Team Blue in a 6-3 fashion.
The Vees will make their exhibition debut on Friday, September 24th at the South Okanagan Events Centre against the Vernon Vipers at 7:00 PM. Single game tickets are now on sale and available at the SOEC Box Office and online at valleyfirsttix.com.
The Vees will begin their 2021/22 season on Friday, October 8th in renewing a historic rivalry against the Vernon Vipers at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Season tickets for the upcoming campaign are now available to purchase with ticket packages available for as low as $9 per game. Contact Director of Ticketing and Merchandise Laura Carleton by phone at (250) 493-8337 ext. 4 as well as email at laura@pentictonvees.ca.
