FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FridayDecember 17th
VEES AND VIPERSTIE 1-1 IN PENTICTON
PENTICTON, BC ?The Penticton Vees are still in top spot in the Interior Conference after a 1-1tie ? the second consecutive Friday night the Vees have ended all-square withan opponent.
Joel Rumpel was named the game?s first star making 39 saveson the night including a penalty shot in double overtime on Vipers leadingscorer Dylan Walchuk. Rumpel has now started six of the Vees last seven gamesand has allowed just 8 goals over those six tests.
The Vipers started the night with a strong opening twentyminutes and ended up leading 11-2 on the shot clock, though the game hadn?t yetseen it?s first goal.
In the second frame, the Vees scored on their second powerplay of the night to take the lead, when Joey Holka banged in the rebound on aJoey LaLeggia shot. For Holka the goal was his fourteenth of the night, and theVees led 1-0 with just four shots on net 1:44 into the second period.
The Vipers continued to press the Vees on a night where theynearly doubled the home team on the shot clock, and they found their equalizerin the third period.
Malcolm Lyles led the Vipers into the Vees zone on athree-on-two rush and found Kyle Murphy in the slot who zipped in the loneViper tally on the night.
The game would head to overtime where nothing was settled infive minutes of four-on-four hockey. In double OT ? three-on-three ? the Veesgot a huge performance out of Joel Rumpel who stopped Dylan Walchuk on apenalty shot that was awarded following a stick being knocked out of the StevenWeinstein?s hands.
Blake Voth wasn?t to be out-done by the Rumpel on this nighteither, making 21 saves on 22 shots.
The Vees finished with a power play goal on fouropportunities, while the Vipers were held off the score sheet in fouropportunities.
The game would finish tied, for just the second time allseason for the Vees, but just like last Friday?s tie with Salmon Arm, the fansin attendance were treated to a great game. 2,003 fans showed up to watch thetop two teams in the Conference do battle.
With the single point, the Vees hold onto their one pointedge on the Vipers for top spot in the Interior Conference. The Vipers have nowseen overtime in an incredible fourteen of their 38 games.
The Vees will close out their pre-holiday schedule onSaturday as they face the Nanaimo Clippers who are closing out a four game roadtrip through the Interior.
You can purchase game tickets at the S.O.E.C. box office, atValleyFirstTix.com, or at London Drugs in the Cherry Lane Shopping Centre.
