Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (12-5-1-2) have won three games in a row after Wednesday’s 7-1 thrashing of the Surrey Eagles, and now head into West Kelowna to play the Warriors (14-9-1-0) who are looking to rebound from a loss of their own on Wednesday.
The Vees offence exploded Wednesday, scoring seven times in a game for the first time since February 24, 2016, when they beat Surrey 11-0. Grant Cruikshank scored twice and picked up an assist in the first period before being ejected from the game after taking the Vees second goalie interference call of the night. He was automatically suspended one game and will miss tonight’s game.
Other goals in the first period came courtesy of Nicky Leivermann and Ryan O’Connell, both of them power-play goals. The Vees would finish the night 4-for-7 on the man advantage.
After Surrey found the back of the net in the second period, Jack Barnes, Taylor Ward and Jared Nash scored in the final frame to give the Vees the 7-1 win. Adam Scheel faced just 11 shots during the game including none in the third period.
The Warriors were also in action Wednesday night as they travelled north to Vernon. The game went into overtime before Jimmy Lambert scored an unassisted goal 1:04 into double overtime to give the Vipers a 3-2 win. West Kelowna was outshot 50-31 on the night.
Penticton and West Kelowna met just two weeks ago at Royal LePage Place; a 4-3 Warriors win. That night, Cassidy Bowes scored with six minutes left in regulation to tie the game at three, but the Warriors came down and scored a minute later to regain the lead for good.
The win ended a 10-game losing streak against Penticton for West Kelowna dating back to last season. While the Warriors sit two points above the Vees in the Interior Division standings, the Vees have four games in hand.
The two rivals will finish off their six-game season series before the Christmas break as they’ll meet four times before December 16. Penticton won the first game 2-1, the home opener September 29.
Team Statistics
Leading Scorers
Penticton Vees
Owen Sillinger – 6 G 13 A 20 GP
Nicky Leivermann – 3 G 13 A 19 GP
Jonny Tychonick – 5 G 8 A 20 GP
West Kelowna Warriors
Jared Marino – 7 G 12 A 24 GP
Chase Dubois – 9 G 8 A 22 GP
Parm Dhaliwal – 5 G 12 A 24 GP
Special Teams
Penticton Vees
Power play – 20.8% (6th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 87.9% (1st in BCHL)
West Kelowna Warriors
Power play – 19.2% (9th in BCHL)
Penalty kill – 83.5% (6th in BCHL)
Season series
September 29, 2017 – Vees 2 vs Warriors 1 Boxscore
November 3, 2017 – Vees 3 @ Warriors 4 Boxscore
November 17, 2017 – Vees @ Warriors
November 29, 2017 – Vees vs Warriors
December 8, 2017 – Vees @ Warriors
December 15, 2017 – Vees vs Warriors
