SURREY EAGLES (3-8-0-3) vs. PENTICTON VEES (13-1-0-0)
Venue: SOEC
Game Time: 7pm
Listen: EZ Rock AM 800
Watch: Fasthockey.com
Season Series: September 19th: 11-2 Vees / October 29th at Vees / October 31st at Eagles
Vees Home Record: 6-0-0-0
Vees Record vs. Mainland Division: 2-0-0-0
Vees Leading Scorer: Tyson Jost + Lewis Zerter-Gossage 7-9-16
Eagles Road Record: 0-3-0-2
Eagles Record vs. Interior Division: 1-2-0-1
Eagles Leading Scorer: Ben Vikich 5-4-9
Streaking: The Penticton Vees look for their eleventh straight win Wednesday night when they host the Eagles at the SOEC. The Vees won their tenth in a row with a 3-1 victory in Salmon Arm last Sunday afternoon. The wins haven’t been lay ups, as six of the last seven Vees victories have been decided by just one goal if you take away empty-netters. All 10 wins have come against teams with records of .500 or better. Tonight is the first time this season the Vees will have played a team with a sub .500 record.
Reinforcements: The Vees will be missing three regulars from their line-up tonight. Patrick Sexton is still out with an upper-body injury but inching closer to a return this weekend. Dante Fabbro and Tyson Jost will miss the Vees next seven games, as the two 16-year-olds take part in the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Sarnia, Ontario. With those two out, the Vees will have a pair of highly regarded 15-year-olds in the line-up. Jordy Bellerive will play on a line with Steen Cooper and Josh Laframboise and Griffin Mendel will be paired with Gabe Bast on the blue-line. Bellerive and Mendel play for the Okanagan Hockey Academy’s Midget Prep team. Bellerive leads the team in scoring and Mendel is second in scoring by defensemen.
Houdini like Effort: Tonight’s game can be considered a “trap game” for the Vees, as they’re playing a non-divisional opponent who is 17 points behind them in the standings. However, the Vees can’t take this Eagles team lightly, as they’ve shown they can play the role of spoiler. Two out of their three wins have come against Langley and Salmon Arm and two of their last four losses have been decided by just one-goal. The Eagles have some weapons up front in the Likes of Chase McMurphy, Darius Davidson and Joseph Drapluk. The Vees will have to channel their inner Houdini
No Shortcomings in Net: One bright spot for the Eagles this year has been the play of starting goaltender Christian Short. The Woodbridge, Ontario product has faced the most shots in the BCHL coming into Wednesday’s action. Short has faced 510 shots in 12 game, which are 59 more shots than the next closest goaltender. His workload has been staggering, as he’s seen 42.5 shots on average through a dozen starts. Despite his team giving up 4.5 goals against per game, Short has maintained a respectable .900 save-percentage.
