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Preview: Vees Host Surrey Eagles in Home Finale

The Penticton Vees (48-6-1-0) wrap up their home schedule tonight at the SOEC when they host the Surrey Eagles (7-45-2-1) at 7pm. It’s the last “Wicked Wednesday” of the season, as tickets are just $5, beer is $3.75 and Penticton Auto Sales is raffling off a 2004, fully loaded Nissan Murano SE.

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It’s also the Vees’ annual Awards Night, immediately following the game they will be handing out their player awards on the ice; the ceremony will be carried on the radio and on Fasthockey Pay-Per-View.

The Vees are looking for their 10th straight win tonight and their 26th win at the SOEC; one of their home wins came at the BCHL Showcase. The Vees haven’t had this many home wins in the regular season since the 2011-12 season when they won 29 of 30 games at the SOEC; they played a 60-game schedule back then. Penticton is coming off a 5-0 shutout of the Victoria Grizzlies last Saturday and they haven’t dropped a home game since January 9th.

Surrey almost pulled off the upset in Vernon last night, as the Eagles had a 2-0 second period lead, before Vernon came back to win 3-2 on double-overtime. Justin Laforest was the game’s first star, despite the loss, as the Surrey goaltender was pelted with rubber, kicking out 58 of 61 shots.

The Vees haven’t seen the Eagles since the second weekend of the regular season, when they scored a 6-2 win at South Surrey Arena. Penticton has won their last four home games against the Eagles, as the last time Surrey won at the SOEC was during the Fred Page Cup Final in 2013.

Gabe Bast’s long wait is over. The Vees’ defenseman will dress tonight and play in his first game since September 25th. The 19-year-old has missed the majority of the season with a lower-body injury and will be one of seven defensemen in the line-up. Darius Davidson, Demico Hannoun and Domenic Masellis will suit out tonight due to injury.

Scott Conway has a couple impressive streaks going into tonight’s game. The 20-year-old has points in 20 straight overall and points in every home game this season (27). Tyson Jost has points in his last 13 and goals in six straight.

After tonight, the Vees wrap up their regular season schedule on the road in Merritt Friday and Salmon Arm Saturday.