Penticton, BC: Luke Loheit scored with 53 seconds left in regulation to lift the Penticton Vees (22-11-1-2) to a 2-1 win over the Vernon Vipers (12-15-6-3) Wednesday night.
The first period saw no goals scored, but Jackson Niedermayer left the game after taking a heavy hit from Vipers defenceman Landon Fuller along the boards. Fuller was given a two minute boarding call on the play. Niedermayer didn’t return for the rest of the night.
After a scoreless first period, Lukas Sillinger opened the scoring for Penticton. As he and Ryan Sandelin came into the Vernon zone 2-on-1, Sillinger took the pass from Sandelin on his forehand before pulling it to his backhand and sliding it past Bradley Cooper just 52 seconds into the second period.
Penticton had numerous power play chances over the course of the game, and despite plenty of good scoring chances the man advantage would go 0-for-5.
Against the flow of play the Vipers tied the game. After blocking a James Miller slap shot near the blue line, the Vipers skated ahead into the Penticton zone.
A three-way passing play ended with Josh Latta redirecting a centring pass past Jack Lafontaine and into the net to tie the game with 11:11 remaining in regulation.
The goal didn’t deter the Vees who stayed the course and continued to fire pucks toward Cooper. It finally paid off in the final minute.
Jack Lagerstrom came into the Vernon zone down the right wing and threw the puck on net. Cooper fumbled the puck and couldn’t catch it, so the rebound came right to the slot where Loheit was heading and he was able to get his stick on it and put it into the open net to give the Vees the lead with just 53 seconds left.
The goal stood up as the winner as the Vees outshot Vernon 37-24 and held on for the 2-1 win in front of exactly 3,000 fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Penticton now wraps up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with a home-and-home series against the West Kelowna Warriors (22-14-0-1) beginning Friday at home.
Following the conclusion of Friday’s game, Cassidy Bowes and long-time Vees season ticket holder Jon Race will have their hair cut on the ice to signal the end of Bowes’ GoFundMe campaign, raising money for children’s cancer research.
