Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees extended their season by another game with a 4-1 win in game five over the Cowichan Valley Capitals Saturday night, and now look to do it again in game six Monday night.
Massimo Rizzo was the driving force behind the Vees win on Saturday, scoring twice and adding two assists to factor in to all the Vees offence.
A scoreless first period saw Cowichan outshoot Penticton 13-9, but the Vees struck early in the second. Rizzo intercepted a cross-ice pass in the Capitals zone before quickly firing a wrist shot under the glove of Pierce Diamond.
The Capitals goaltender appeared to be wiping sweat off his face as the play developed. He could be seen quickly putting his mask back on just as Rizzo’s shot came through.
Less than four minutes later, Rizzo struck again. After a great shift in the offensive zone, Evan McIntyre took a pass and skated down the slot before sliding it to Rizzo on the goal line.
The Vees captain dropped down to one knee and beat Diamond on the glove side to extend Penticton’s lead while the Capitals called their 30-second timeout after the goal.
Cowichan got a goal back before the period was over off a shorthanded rush. David Melaragni skated into the Vees zone down the left wing on a two-on-one rush and beat Jack LaFontaine over the blocker to cut the Vees lead in half.
Rizzo was at it again to restore Penticton’s two-goal lead in the second. Skating into the Capitals zone down the left wing, Rizzo send a perfect backdoor pass to David Silye who tapped the puck into the open net for a power-play goal.
Lukas Sillinger extended the Vees lead just over a minute into the third, toe dragging around Dimitri Mikrogiannakis before firing a shot over Diamond’s blocker to make it 4-1.
The Capitals took 10 penalties in game five after taking 15 combined through games one to four. Tensions boiled over in the final minute as Sillinger caught Capitals captain Vincent Millette with a hit in the Vees zone.
Sillinger was jumped by two Capitals players before Peter Muzyka came to his defence, dropping the gloves with Mikrogiannakis. Sillinger was assessed a five-minute blow to the head major on the play, but the automatic four-game suspension has since been rescinded by the BCHL and he is eligible to play in game six.
The crowd of 3,706 helped propel the Vees to victory Saturday night, and Penticton will look to reward their faithful fans by winning game six and forcing a deciding game seven which would be played Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Massimo Rizzo – 3G 3A 5GP
David Silye – 2G 3A 5GP
Ryan Sandelin – 1G 3A 5GP
Cowichan Valley Capitals
Niko Selivanov – 3G 3A 5GP
Paul Selleck – 2G 3A 5GP
David Melaragni – 2G 1A 5GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power Play – 20.0 per cent (5/25)
Penalty Kill – 92.9 per cent (13/14)
Cowichan Valley Capitals
Power Play – 7.1 per cent (1/14)
Penalty Kill – 80.0 per cent (20/25)
Series Schedule
Game one – Vees 1 vs Capitals 4 Boxscore
Game two – Vees 4 vs Capitals 1 March 2, 2019 Boxscore
Game three – Vees @ Capitals March 5, 2019 Boxscore
Game four – Vees @ Capitals March 6, 2019 Boxscore
Game five – Vees vs Capitals March 9, 2019 Boxscore
Game six – Vees @ Capitals, March 11, 2019
Game seven – Vees vs Capitals March 13, 2019*
