Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (14-7-1-2) scored three times in the opening 7:33 en route to a 7-4 win over the West Kelowna Warriors (15-9-0-1) Wednesday night.
After Kenny Johnson was given a penalty during warmup for shooting the puck into the Warriors net, Penticton started the game down a man. Despite this, the Warriors didn’t register a shot on goal and Penticton opened the scoring moments later.
Off a face-off in the Warriors zone, Cole Shepard found a was able to slide the puck to Ryan Sandelin who beat Brock Baier, who was out of position in the West Kelowna crease. The goal came just 2:05 into the game.
Not even two minutes later, Jack Barnes took a centring feed from below the goal line and pulled the puck to his backhand beating Baier on the blocker side. Peter Muzyka picked up the second assist on the goal, his first point of the season.
The offence wasn’t done there as Massimo Rizzo scored his first of the year on the power play, firing a shot off the post and in on the glove side of Baier, ending his night with three goals on 11 shots.
Kenny Johnson kept the crowd on their feet as he threw a pair of massive open-ice body checks just minutes apart on Parm Dhaliwal and Bennet Norlin. Dhaliwal left the game and didn’t return.
The Warriors got on the scoreboard in the opening minute of the second with a power play goal from Lucas Cullen. He deflected a wrist shot from Lucas Bahn just 52 seconds into the third.
The Vees would regain their three-goal lead in the late stages of the period as Eric Linell fired a wrist shot into the top corner over the glove of Connor Hopkins, who replaced Baier in the first.
The lead didn’t last long as Willie Reim deflected another shot from the slot past Derek Krall just over a minute later to make it 4-2 Vees heading into the third.
Nearly two minutes into the final frame, Cassidy Bowes extended the Vees lead by beating Hopkins on the blocker side with a wrist shot off the rush. It was Bowes’ second goal of the season.
The Warriors would again battle back thanks to a goal from Mike Hardman at 8:48, but Shepard quickly got the momentum back by firing home the rebound off a 2-on-1 with Sandelin just over a minute later.
After Cullen scored his second of the game minutes after Shepard’s goal, Penticton would eventually hit the empty net thanks to Ryan Sandelin to seal the 7-4 win.
Announced attendance for the game was 2,880. With the win, Penticton improves to 10-0 following a loss this season. The Vees now get set to host the Victoria Grizzlies to the SOEC Saturday night for the annual Pink in the Rink night.
