Photo: Vicki Brown / Prince George Spruce Kings
The Penticton Vees are off to Round Two of the Rogers BCHL Playoffs, after their 3-2 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings in Game Four, Wednesday night at Kopar Memorial Arena.
The Vees swept the best-of-seven Interior Division Quarterfinal and now wait to see who their next opponent is. Penticton is the first Interior team to advance out of Round One.
It was a come from behind win for the Vees, as they were down 2-0 heading into the third period, before they rattled off three unanswered goals to win 3-2. Zack Stringer, celebrating his 21st birthday, got the comeback started, as he scored half a minute into the period. Callum Arnott then scored back-to-back goals three and a half minutes apart to cap off the dramatic comeback.
“In the third our veteran players stepped up. Start with our goals, Cal [Arnott] had two and [Zack] Stringer had one. Then you look at the penalty kill, that killed off that Prince George power play with two minutes left, and that was led by [Thomas] Pichette,” said Assistant Coach Matthew Vanden Berg post-game.
Goaltender Andrew Ness stopped 15 of 17 shots in the Vees’ crease. He and the penalty kill were excellent in the final two minutes when Prince George was pressing with a six-on-four power play. Ness’ best stop came late in the third, with the Vees leading 3-2, as he denied the Spruce Kings’ Owen Goodbrand on a breakaway.
Goodbrand and Scott Cousins scored for Prince George who led 1-0 after 20 minutes and 2-0 through two periods. 17-year-old call up Ryder Green got the start in net for the Spruce Kings and stopped 38 of 41 shots.
The only goal in the first came just three minutes into the game, when Goodbrand redirected Aidan Souligny’s point shot past Ness for his first of the series at 3:14. The score stayed 1-0 up until the 15-minute mark of the second, when PG scored on a power play to double their lead. Cousins shoveled in a pass from Kilian McGregor-Bennett at the top of the crease to make it 2-0.
Stringer got the Vees on the scoreboard just 34 seconds into the third, as he was the last to touch Francesco Dell’Elce’s point shot. Stringer’s second of the series made it 2-1.
Arnott scored the first of his two goals in the third at 7:24 to bring the Vees back level. Arnott picked up the puck on the wall and quickly fired fire hole on Green, who was caught off guard, as his first of the playoffs made it 2-2.
The game winner and series clincher came at 11:08, after a great play by Stringer behind the net. The veteran forward took the puck away from the defenceman and centered out front to Arnott. His one-timer seemed to go off a Prince George player and knuckle past the blocker of Green. Arnott’s second made it 3-2 with less than nine minutes left.
GAME NOTES
This was the Vees 10th straight playoff series win dating back to the 2022 BCHL Playoffs. The Vees record over that stretch is 40-3, with two of those losses coming in overtime. This marks the second consecutive series sweep for Penticton over the Spruce Kings. The Vees beat Prince George in four games in the second round of the 2022 BCHL Playoffs.
GAME STATS
Shots: 41-17, Vees
Vees Scoring: Callum Arnott (1st, 2nd), Zack Stringer (2nd),
Vees Goaltending: Andrew Ness (W) 60:00 15/17
Power-Plays
Vees: 0/1
Spruce Kings: 1/3
Next Game: The Vees open the second round of the BCHL Playoffs on Friday, April 19th, at the SOEC, against a yet to be determined opponent. Ticket for round two are available at the Valley First box office at the SOEC, and online at www.valleyfirstix.com
