PHOTO: Tami Quan/Tami Quan Photography
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The Penticton Vees will play for the Fred Page Cup as they defeated the West Kelowna Warriors by a 6-1 score in Game #4 on Wednesday night at Royal LePage Place and earned the Interior Conference championship.
For the first time in the series, it was the Warriors who gained the lead in the 1st period and score the first goal of the hockey game as Nick Roukounakis pushed West Kelowna ahead by a 1-0 score just after the halfway mark of the opening frame. Charles-Alexis Legault sent a shot to the goal as Kaeden Lane turned that aside before Roukounakis followed up with a goal past the blocker side of the Vees netminder and gave West Kelowna a 1-0 lead at the 10:15 mark of the opening period.
The lead for the Warriors was short-lived and only lasted 38 seconds as Jackson Nieuwendyk evened the score for Penticton at the 10:53 mark of the opening frame with his 6th goal of the playoffs. Nieuwendyk stole the puck from behind the West Kelowna net and took to the front of the goal as he slid the puck through the legs of Warriors goaltender Johnny Derrick to tie the game at one.
Ethan Mann gave Penticton the lead at the 16:37 mark with his first career BC Hockey League playoff goal and pushed the Vees to a 2-1 lead. Nieuwendyk tried to drive the net from the left-wing and pushed the puck to the slot where Mann gathered a shot past the glove side of Derrick to give the Vees their first lead of Game #4 and jump ahead by a 2-1 score into the 2nd period.
A familiar story throughout the series was the dominance of the Vees power play and it added another marker in the middle frame as Casey McDonald found the back of the net for the first time in the series. Grayson Arnott fed a pass to the slot from the left face-off circle that deflected off the stick of Brett Moravec that was stopped by Derrick with McDonald following up on the rebound and beat Derrick for his 4th goal of the playoffs at the 11:38 mark of the 2nd period to give the Vees a 3-1 lead into the 3rd period.
At the 7:20 mark of the 3rd period, Josh Nadeau increased the lead to three goals for the first time in the game, following up on a bouncing puck that hit the post twice before Josh whacked it in past the glove of Derrick for his team-leading 10th goal of the playoffs and a 4-1 lead heading into the final half of the 3rd period.
A pair of empty net goals wrapped up the scoring in the 3rd period for Penticton, beginning with Adam Eisele collecting his 5th goal of the playoffs at the 15:27 mark before Nieuwendyk notched his second of the game and 7th of the playoffs just over a minute later at 16:47 mark to conclude the scoring and help the Vees to a 6-1 victory.
Kaeden Lane turned aside 27 of the 28 shots he faced in his 12th win of the playoffs while Johnny Derrick made 25 saves on the 29 shots thrown his way in his 7th loss of the postseason.
FINAL SCORE: 6-1 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-28 Vees
VEES PP: 1/3
VEES PK: 3/3
3 STARS:
1) Kaeden Lane (28 saves on 29 shots)
2) Jackson Nieuwendyk (2-1-3)
3) Stefano Bottini (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Felix Trudeau (0-0-0)
Attendance: 1,384
The Vees will now play for the Fred Page Cup in the BCHL Final as they will battle the Naniamo Clippers for the 7th time in the two teams history. The schedule for the series is to be determined with the Vees possessing home ice in the best-of-seven set. Keep an eye out on the Vees website and social media for full coverage.
