PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees could not find the back of the net and beat Jay Thomson through 65 minutes of play as they pick up a point in a 1-0 shootout loss against the Cranbrook Bucks on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The first period was no different than what we have seen so far in this season between the two sides in the opening 20 minutes as for the fifth time in six meetings, the Vees and Bucks headed to 1st intermission scoreless.
Kaleb McEachern turned aside each of the 11 shots thrown his way in the opening period while Jay Thomson stopped all 9 shots he saw in the middle stanza to keep the game at a 0-0 mark heading into the 2nd period.
The Vees started the middle stanza with a force of pressure in the opening two minutes of the frame, including Fin Williams firing a pair of shots on while Thomson was there to kick out the right pad and keep the puck out of the Bucks net.
Penticton continued to force the issue to begin the frame and their next chance came in the way of Devlin O’Brien, who returned to the Vees lineup for the first time in nine games after suffering an injury in the opening game of Penticton’s season on April 2nd. O’Brien found a loose puck on his backhand as he threw a shot at the goal before Thomson slide over with his left pad again to rob the Vees forward of his first goal of the season and kept the game at 0-0.
Tyler Ho was the closest Vee to finding the back of the net in the middle frame, intercepting a pass in the neutral zone and moving in on a 2-on-0 with Ryan Upson as he elected to keep the puck and fired a shot over the blocker shoulder of Thomson but hit the intersection of the post and crossbar as the game remained scoreless.
Bucks Head Coach Ryan Donald called a timeout to settle his team and it settled the frantic pass the 2nd period opened with as the teams skated to a 0-0 tie into the 3rd period. The Vees fired 7 shots on goal and 16 total in the contest with Thomson stopping each of them while McEachern in the Vees net fought off 6 Bucks shots in the 2nd and 17 overall after 40 minutes.
The 3rd period again saw no scoring as the Vees held the Bucks to just one shot in the final regulation period as Penticton forced 6 on goal but the game remained to be a 0-0 draw heading into overtime, the first overtime period of the Penticton Pod.
Jay Thomson stopped each of the 22 shots he faced in regulation as well as overtime for his first BC Hockey League shutout along with Kaleb McEachern, who turned aside the 20 shots he faced in the Vees crease for his 1st BCHL shutout as the game was forced to a shootout with neither team finding the back of the net.
Jacob Quillan was the first shooter for the Vees, being denied by the glove of Thomson before Christian Lowe slowed in front of the net and picked through the five hole of McEachern to give Cranbrook the edge after the first round of shooters.
Liam Malmquist got the Vees on level ground in the skills competition, snapping a shot past the glove side of Thomson before Walker Gelbard scored the eventual game winner, beating McEachern with a shot over the glove hand.
Luc Wilson was the last shooter for the Vees as he attempted to extend the game but Thomson jetted out his left pad on a low shot to preserve the win for the Bucks as the Vees came away with a single point in the defeat.
FINAL SCORE: 1-0 Bucks (SO)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 22-21 Vees
VEES PP: 0/2
VEES PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Walker Gelbard (Shootout Winner)
2) Jay Thomson (22-save shutout)
3) Kaleb McEachern (20-save shutout)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nik Sombrowski (0-0-0)
The Vees (9-1-1-0) will return to action after a Thursday off in the Penticton Pod as they meet the Trail Smoke Eaters (5-5-0-0) on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the game broadcasted live on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as on HockeyTV.com and Shaw Spotlight beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
