I know, a bit late but why not share some thoughts and observations on round one? The Penticton Vees advanced to round two after beating their rivals, the Vernon Vipers in five games in the opening round of the Fred Page Cup playoffs. It was an emotional series, highlighted by some colourful exchanges between the two teams, more so from one side than the other. That was addressed with Head Coach Fred Harbinson, as I chatted with him about round one and you can listen to that interview here.
Two new cuss words in the Vernon vocabulary? Scott Conway. The Vees’ top scorer in round one (5-5-10) absolutely had his way with the Vipers this season. Not only did he average two points per-game in the series with 10 points, he had 17 points against Vernon in six regular season games. Add it all up and he had 16, SIXTEEN goals and TWENTY-SEVEN points in 11 games against the Snakes this year. Savage, as the young kids says these days. Vernon will be happy to know Conway won’t be back next year, as the over-ager moves on to college after this post-season. Coach Harbinson touched on Conway’s dominance of Vernon in that interview and said he hasn’t seen a player have that much success against one team in his coaching career. I think those numbers won’t really sink in until the summer, when the Vees’ playoff run is over and everyone has time to digest the stats. 27, my goodness.
One more note: Conway’s 27 points against the Vipers tied or was better than 13 Vipers’ total output in the regular season.
We knew special teams was going to be critical in the series. In junior hockey, the special teams battle usually separates the winners from the losers. Special teams was under more scrutiny given the nature how Vernon played this year, a team that was physical, hard-nosed but flirted with walking the fine line. I was curious to see if Vernon was going to change their approach in the post-season, given they were 0-6 in the regular season against the Vees and the Vees power-play was humming along at over 30 percent in the season series. Well, the short answer was no, Vernon didn’t really get away from what plagued them in the regular season. Penticton had 22 power-plays in the five games, scoring on seven of them, including two in the series clincher. The Vees scored power-play goals in games one, two and five but what was critical, was when they scored them. Three of the Vees’ seven power-play goals in the series came inside the first four-minutes of the game. In game one, they scored their opening goal just 3:48 in, game two it was 1:29 and in game five, they scored just 1:16 in on the PP. Vernon was not only taking early penalties but against the number one power-play in the BCHL. That’s not a recipe for success. I get they wanted to be physical, get in on the fore-check and force mistakes but they clearly went a bit overboard. What’s the kicker is that fact this happened in three of the five games of the series. Great on the Vees for not wasting the opportunities that were handed to them. The league’s best power-play took care of business and that’s partially why they’re onto round two. To take it one step further, Vernon took a penalty inside the first minute of the game in four of 11 games against Penticton this year; the Vees scored on three of them.
Staying with the special teams for a moment, the Vees’ PK shouldn’t be overlooked. Yes, the power-play had a lot of success but the penalty-kill was just as impressive. Yep, the Vees took more penalties than they liked down the stretch but the PK was 15-for-17 in the series, and after two power-play goals by Vernon in game one, the PK was a perfect 15-for-15 in games two through five. They also scored three short-handed goals, all three coming in a critical game four win. The PK catapulted the Vees to a 3-0 first period lead in game four, which they rode to a 6-2 win and a 3-1 series lead. If it wasn’t for the PK in that game, maybe this series wasn’t over in five games.
Going hand in hand with the early power-play success was the Vees’ good starts in the series. They outscored Vernon 9-2 in the first period in the series and 18-5 if you combined the first and second periods. Penticton was hitting the ground running more often than not and found a way to ride that early game success to a series win.
I know Vernon’s MO was their fore-check, as that’s the message they hammered home in the media, pointing out that’s what was going to lead to success. But, I thought the Vees pressure in the Vernon zone, especially in the last two games, was a big key to their success. After a game three loss, the Vees adjusted their attack and it gave the Vernon D some issues trying to get out of their own end. Guys like Luke Voltin, Demico Hannoun, Nic Jones, Mitch Brooks,Scott Conway and Chris Gerrie (and the list can go on), were puck hounds and created their fair share of turnovers. The one line that really jumped out to me was Hannoun, Jones and Voltin, who were put together in game four. Those three played a really heavy game that caused headaches in the Vernon end. When a guy like Voltin comes at you with a head full of steam, you’re not likely to hang onto the puck for very long; same story with Hannoun. Hannoun hammered home that point with a thunderous hit on Bo Pellah behind the Vernon net in game five. Vernon ran five defenceman for most of the series and that physical toll had to catch up to them. Certain guys ate up a lot of minutes and towards the end, they had to be feeling not only the minutes but the bumps and bruises from Penticton. Hey, the Vees played five D a lot too but they spent considerably less time in their own end than Vernon.
Speaking of the Vees defencemen, they did a heckuva job of muzzling the Vernon attack. Remember, the Vees had to play this series without both Gabe Bast and Colton Poolman. That’s two veteran defencemen who would be big minute guys if in the line-up. I know Vernon was without Latrell Charleson, but missing those two could have been a significant blow for the Vees. However, like all season, it was a “next man up” mentality, as guys liked Dante Fabbro, David Eccles and Dixon Bowen absorbed the additional minutes. I though Eccles and Fabbro were horses in the final two games and Bowen really found a way to elevate his game. How impressive was Bowen on the blue-line?Well, Coach Harbinson went out of his way to note his play during our round one recap interview. It’s crazy to think a little over a month ago Bowen was not even playing the position; he was a forward up until February. The kid had never played defense at any level, came to Penticton as forward but went back to the blue-line when the team needed help. The experiment has already paid off and then some. He’s a gifted skater who can lead the rush in a similar fashion to Fabbro and has a cannon of a shot. That great skating also helps him win puck battles with his body positioning. Even rookies Seamus Donohue and Griffin Mendel shook off some early series jitters and buckled down when it mattered. They were in their first post-season, adapted to the environment and started to elevate their game in the clutch.
Quick note on Fabbro. He, after having a breakout playoffs last spring, is at it again. He seems to play his best hockey when it matters the most and that has to make NHL scouts excited. Last year he was arguably the Vees best defencemen in their run to the RBC Cup and was named the top rear-guard there too. Well, he played a lot in round one, picked up six assists and was everywhere. His diving block at the end of game two summed up what he means to the team. Fabbro, like Jost and the Vees top guys, is incredibly competitive and that’s why they have so much success. Can’t wait to see what he can do this round and with Poolman coming back to off-load some of the minutes. With Poolman back, it was free up Fabbro on the offensive side of things. I bet he’ll make some noise from the blue-line.
The team defense in general was impressive, as the Vees found a way to shutdown the Vipers big guns. Liam Finlay, Jimmy Lambert and Odeen Tufto were held to just two points in the final three games of the series and all three were shutout in games four and five. Not only was the Vees defencemen good in their own end but the forwards were right there too. The backtracking, meaning the effort by the Vees forwards to come back and take pucks away was superb. Time and again, we saw them lift sticks, block shots and passes and rub out Vipers forwards along the boards. That 200 foot game is what coaches preach about and the Vees took it to heart in round one. When you have all five guys tracking back in their own zone, getting goal side, it makes everyone’s life that much easier.
Depth is everything in the post-season and no better example was in net. Anthony Brodeur, who was great in two games, went down with an injury in game three. In steps Zach Driscoll, who wins the final two games of the series, shuts out Vernon in game five and only allowed four goals in the series; he had a .942 save percentage in his three starts. Driscoll won all five starts he had against Vernon this year, picking up shutouts in three of those games. Goes to show the depth the Vees have, when the BCHL’s Top Goaltender comes in for Brodeur and shuts the door. Not saying there was a clear-cut number one but the Vees had quite the two-headed monster in goal. Not sure how long Brodeur is out but the Vees can breathe a little easier knowing they’re in good hands with Driscoll. Great for him to get the shutout in game five but even better that he did it in front of mom and dad who came up from Minnesota for the game; what a night for that family.
One last note on adjustments: Have to commend the Vees staff and players for their response after game three. They bounced back by winning games four and five and by a combined score of 11-2. They were 7-0 in the regular season coming off a loss and now on same track in the playoffs. This team hates losing and the competitiveness is apparent.
