Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (7-5-1) hope to carry a similar performance from their 3-2 loss to the West Kelowna Warriors last night into their matchup against the top team in the BCHL, the Chilliwack Chiefs (13-4-0) Saturday night.
Trailing 3-2 after one, the Vees controlled play for the majority of the final 40 minutes and would end up outshooting the Warriors by a 54-32 margin as neither team scored after the opening 20.
West Kelowna opened the scoring a minute in as Jack LaFontaine was knocked down behind his net and the puck came to the front of the goal. Eric Linell scored twice just 1:33 apart to give the Vees a short-lived 2-1 lead.
After the Vees dominated for nearly 10 minutes, the Warriors took control over the back half of the period and would score twice during that span. The second goal came on the power play with just over a minute left in the frame.
Penticton outshot West Kelowna 37-14 over the final 40 minutes, including four power plays, but Warriors goaltender Brock Baier turned in a stellar performance to lead his team to victory.
The Chiefs are defending national champions and have gotten off to a far better start this season than last. Through 17 games the Chiefs boast a 13-4 record, including a 5-2 win over the Trail Smoke Eaters Friday night. Last season Chilliwack was 8-7-1-1 through 17 games.
Ethan Bowen and Kevin Wall both scored twice for Chilliwack Friday night as Wall now sits tied for first in BCHL scoring with 24 points.
The Chiefs have been running one goaltender so far this season, as Mathieu Caron has played all but 13 minutes for Chilliwack so far this season. The ice time hasn’t hampered his game at all as he has a .923 save percentage and 2.38 goals against average.
Last season Penticton went 3-0 against the Chiefs, winning 6-3 at the Bauer BCHL Showcase, 2-0 at home and 6-2 in Chilliwack in January.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
David Silye – 6G 16A 13GP
Eric Linell – 8G 8A 15GP
James Miller – 5G 8A 13GP
Chilliwack Chiefs
Kevin Wall – 13G 11A 17GP
Harrison Blaisdell – 10G 7A 17GP
Matt Holmes – 8G 4A 15GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 17.1 per cent (11th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 83.3 per cent (7th in BCHL)
Chilliwack Chiefs
Power play – 16.9 per cent (12th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 87.1 per cent (2nd in BCHL)
Season Series
October 20, 2018 – Vees vs Chiefs
February 2, 2019 – Vees @ Chiefs
