Coquitlam, BC: The Penticton Vees found their offensive touch in game two of their Interior Division quarter final against the Coquitlam Express with a 9-2 win, and now look to push the Express to the brink of elimination.
Much like game one, the opening period Saturday was tightly contested. Chris Klack scored a power-play goal to give Penticton the lead less than two minutes in, and Massimo Rizzo scored a highlight-reel goal with under six minutes to play.
Just over a minute after Rizzo’s goal, Adam Scheel was an inch away from making a jaw-dropping stop off a rebound chance, but Haydn Delorme’s sharp angle shot went off Scheel’s glove and into the net to make it 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Coquitlam had 12 shots in the first period, nearly matching their total from game one when they fired 19 on Scheel, but only 13 through the first 58 minutes.
From the outset of the second, the Vees took over. Allowing just 10 shots on goal through the final 40 minutes, Penticton showed why they were the top team in the BCHL with their performance over the last two periods.
Jackson Keane restored the Vees two-goal lead, tapping in a centring feed from Marcus Mitchell 4:26 into the period. Less than five minutes later, Taylor Ward showed off some nice hands in tight, gathering a loose puck at the top of the crease before pulling it to his backhand and sliding it past Brock Hamm to make it 4-1.
Dakota Boutin flew down the right wing and roofed a shot over Hamm’s glove with 6:37 to play in the period before Rizzo fired home a feed from Ward below the goal line with under two minutes left.
It was more of the same in the third as Ward scored on the man advantage just 1:10 in before Mitchell did the same at the 5:01 mark. Ward capped off his hat trick by sweeping a rebound into the net off Clay Stevenson with 12:22 to play.
Coquitlam stopped the onslaught as Eric Linell beat Scheel on his own rebound for his first of the playoffs, but the Vees easily held on for the win to take a 2-0 series lead.
The series now shifts to the Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre, where the Express recorded nearly three times as many victories than they did on the road. Coquitlam went 11-15-1-2 at home this yea, but 8-8-0-2 after Jason Fortier was hired November 27.
Penticton won 5-1 in Coquitlam during the regular season, and hasn’t lost there since November 22, 2013.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Taylor Ward – 3 G 3 A 2 GP
Massimo Rizzo – 2 G 2 A 2 GP
Nicky Leivermann – 0 G 4 A 2 GP
Coquitlam Express
Eric Linell – 1 G 1 A 2 GP
Jack Lippis – 1 G 0 A 2 GP
Christian Sanda – 1 G 0 A 2 GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 3/11 (27.3%) – T-5th in BCHL
Penalty kill – 6/6 (100.0%) – T-1st in BCHL
Series Schedule
Game one – March 2, 2018 Vees 2 vs Express 1 Boxscore
Game two – March 3, 2018 Vees 9 vs Express 2 Boxscore
Game three – March 6, 2018 Vees @ Express
Game four – March 7, 2018 Vees @ Express
Game five – March 9, 2018 Vees vs Express*
Game six – March 11, 2018 Vees @ Express*
Game seven – March 12, 2018 Vees vs Express*
*If Necessary
