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Preview: Vees, Silverbacks meet for first of six meetings

Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees (6-4-0) jumped back into the win column in a major way with a 6-2 thrashing of the Merritt Centennials Wednesday night. Now they cap off their string of four straight games against division opponents by heading to Salmon Arm to play the Silverbacks (5-4-1) Friday night.

Wednesday the Vees held a 3-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes thanks to a late flurry of power-play time as Merritt took three penalties, including a double-minor, in the span of 1:21.

The first goal came 4-on-4 as David Silye set up Lukas Sillinger who was alone in front of the net for his third goal of the season. Nearly two minutes later, while on the man advantage, Ryan Sandelin finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play for his sixth of the year with a minute to go in the period.

The Vees weren’t done there as Conner Hutchison scored his first career BCHL goal with a wrist shot through traffic on a 5-on-3 power play with just 12 seconds to go. The shots read 14-6 through one.

After a scoreless second period, the Centennials pulled to within two as Rylan Van Unen jumped on a rebound off Jack LaFontaine’s right pad. 

Seven minutes later James Miller restored the Vees three-goal lead, poking the puck off the Merritt defender’s stick at the blue line and racing in on a breakaway before beating Vincent Duplessis glove side. Hutchison added his second of the game with a one timer on a power play four minutes later

Jack Lagerstrom and Christian Sabin dropped the gloves in the Centennials zone after Sabin pushed Lagerstrom to the ice. The two got tangled up along the boards before shedding the gloves and going toe-to-toe. They were both sent to their respective locker rooms with just under six minutes to play.

Shortly after the fight the Centennials cut into the Vees lead again as Matthew Kopperud intercepted a Vees pass and beat LaFontaine on a mini breakaway.

Miller capped off the scoring as he and Matthew Byrne came in on a two-on-one rush. Miller elected to shoot the puck and beat Duplessis over the blocker as he went down early to cover the post.

Salmon Arm was last in action Saturday night when they hosted the Victoria Grizzlies. Taking a 2-0 lead into the third, the Silverbacks gave up goals just 1:31 apart late in the game. Alex Newhook, a likely first-round pick in this years NHL draft, scored the overtime winner for the Grizzlies.

The Vees and Silverbacks matched up six times last season with the Vees winning five of them. Overall they outscored Salmon Arm by a 31-11 margin.

Team Statistics

Leading Scorers

Penticton Vees

David Silye – 5G 13A 10GP

Eric Linell – 5G 7A 12GP

James Miller – 4G 7A 10GP

Salmon Arm Silverbacks

Justin Wilson – 5G 7A 9GP

Matthew Verboon – 5G 7A 10GP

Hudson Schandor – 4G 5A 10GP

Special Teams

Penticton Vees

Power play – 18.2 per cent (8th in BCHL)

Penalty kill – 85.4 per cent (5th in BCHL)

Salmon Arm Silverbacks

Power play – 20.5 per cent (5th in BCHL)

Penalty kill – 87.3 per cent (3rd in BCHL)

Season Series

October 12, 2018 – Vees @ Silverbacks

November 9, 2018 – Vees vs Silverbacks

January 4, 2019 – Vees vs Silverbacks

January 6, 2019 – Vees @ Silverbacks

February 22, 2019 – Vees @ Silverbacks

February 23, 2019 – Vees vs Silverbacks