A win tonight at home and the Vees clinch their second consecutive Ryan Hatfield Memorial Trophy, as Interior Conference Champions. The Vees let that opportunity slip away on Tuesday in West Kelowna, as the Warriors rallied from three goals down in the third period and won 5-4 in overtime. However, by a show of hands, who would have taken a 3-1 series lead after four games? That’s what I thought.
If the regular season was any indication, the Vees are team that is good at bouncing back. They were 14-4-0-2 in the regular season when losing the game before; that’s a .750 winning-percentage. But many will argue the regular season holds little weight in the playoffs and the Vees know they can’t rely on past experiences.
There were plenty of positives for the Vees in the game four loss, as Sam Mellor scored his first two goals of the series. Cody DePourcq scored his first goal of the playoffs and John Siemer finished with three assists. But positives don’t show up in the win column.
There might be more good news, as it looks like Mike Rebry will return to the Vees line-up. Rebry hasn’t played since going down with an injury in the first period of game one. Rebry’s presence will help the Vees in the face-off circle, where his absence has been felt. Cam Amantea is still day-to-day after he suffered an upper-body injury in game two. That means AP Josh Blanchard of the Okanagan Rockets will again skate alongside Cody DePourcq and Travis Blanleil.
The Warriors were down to their final twenty-minutes of their season on Tuesday but put together a comeback to remember. We wouldn’t be here talking game five if it wasn’t for their three-goal rally in the third. David Pope, Marcus Basara and Max French all scored to draw even and force overtime. Pope has been on fire since returning from injury, as he leads all Warriors in scoring in the series with four goals and five points.
Brennan Clark is eligible to return tonight after serving a two-game suspension for his hit on Cam Amantea in game two. No word at press time on the Warriors line-up but Brent Lashuk has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury.
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