Penticton Vees (17-3-0-1) vs. Vernon Vipers (11-6-1-1)
Venue: Kal-Tire Place
Game Time: 7pm
Listen: EZ Rock AM 800
Watch: www.fasthockey.com
Season Series: Oct 17th 3-1 Vees, Oct 25th 1-0 Vees, Nov 14th at Vernon, Dec 5th at Vernon, Jan 2nd at Penticton, Feb 11th at Penticton, Feb 27th at Penticton.
Vees Road Record: 9-2-0-1
Vees Record vs. Interior Division: 10-2-0-0
Vees Leading Scorer: Lewis Zerter-Gossage 10-15-25
Vipers Home Record: 6-3-1-1
Vipers Record vs. Interior Division: 7-5-1-0
Vipers Leading Scorer: Anthony Latina 9-8-17
One More Road Game: Tonight marks the final game of a four-game road stretch for the Penticton Vees. It started last Friday in Victoria with their Island Division road trip and wraps up tonight at Kal-Tire Place in Vernon. After tonight the Vees will be able to enjoy some home cooking as their next three games are at the SOEC, starting tomorrow against Cowichan Valley. The Vees have only played seven games at the SOEC this season, compared to their 12 road games and tonight is number 13. However, despite all of that the Vees till have an impressive 9-2-0-1 record away from the SOEC.
Reinforcements: Tyson Jost and Cam Amantea return to the line-up and they’ll be a welcomed sight. Jost and Dante Fabbro are back from the 2014 Word Under-17 Challenge but Fabbro won’t play this weekend to rest a lower-body injury he picked up at the tournament. Amantea returns to the line-up after missing four games with a lower-body injury; he was injured November 1st against Trail. Take Anholt draws back into the Vees line-up, as they’ve called up the 16-year-old from the Yale Academy in Abbotsford. Anholt made his Vees debut on Halloween in Surrey; he’s committed for next season.
Divisional Showdown: The Vees play in arguably the toughest division in the BCHL and so far they’ve been up to the challenge. Entering tonight’s action, the Vees are 10-2-0-0 against their own division and 2-0-0-0 against the Vipers. Their only two divisional losses came at the hands of Merritt and West Kelowna but they were 39 days apart. One of the biggest reasons why the Vees are off to great start is their record within their own division. The Vees will need to keep finding positive results because three of their next five game are against the Interior.
Slow Boil: After a slow start by his own admission, Patrick Newell has started to heat up for the Vees. The 18-year-old forward is riding an eight-game point streak after picking up just two goals and six points in his first 13 games. In his last eight games, Newell has three goals and 14 points and has developed great chemistry with Demico Hannoun and Lewis Zerter-Gossage. The California product has four multi-point games in his last six outings.
Power Back in the Power-Play: The Vees power-play has scored at least one goal in seven straight games which is a 40 percent efficiency rating. The surge in power-play success has pushed the Vees man-advantage up to sixth in the BCHL at 23.76 percent. On their Island Division trip they were at 29 percent in the three games; they’ve score two or more power-play goals in five of their last seven games. The penalty-kill is just as good, as the Vees have not allowed an opposition power-play goal in the last three games, killing-off their last 12 penalties. That run of success has pushed the Vees PK into third in the league at 82.61 percent. Remember, the game-winner in the 1-0 win over Vernon on October 25th was scored on the power-play.
Vipers Taking a Page out of the Vees Book: Penticton was the best defensive team in the BCHL in October and early in November it’s the Vipers getting the attention for their defensive play. They’ve posted back-to-back 3-0 shutout wins over Prince George and Trail and both were on the road. They’ve only allowed six goals against in their last five and have posted a 3-1-1-0 record over that stretch. Jarrod Schamerhorn got the shutout win Wednesday in Prince George stopping all 23 shots he faced. Danny Todosychuk returned from his six-game suspension last Sunday and posted a 28-save shutout against Trail. Remember, these two teams have combined for just five goals in the previous two meetings. Scoring will be hard to come by tonight.
Snakes with some Bite: Though the Vipers don’t have one player averaging a point per game this season, they still have plenty of dangerous weapons at their disposal. Anthony Latina has taken over the scoring lead from Thomas Aldworth since these two teams last met. Latina has nine goals and 17 points and is riding a three-game point streak (2-2-4). Liam Coughlin also has points in his last three games, picking up one goal and five points over that stretch. Former Vee Liam Finlay has fit in nicely in Vernon, pickup up four goals and six points in as many games with the Vipers; he has two goals and five points in his last five games.
