FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FridayDecember 31st
VEES CLOSE OUT2010 WITH DOMINANT 5-1 WIN
PENTICTON, BC ?The Penticton Vees are in first place to open 2011 after a thorough 5-1 victoryover the Westside Warriors. Joey Benik paced the club with a hat trick and anassist in the Vees 26th win of the season.
Joel Rumpel continued his mastery of the Warriors with hisfifth win in as many games against the Vees? South Okanagan rivals. Rumpel hasnow allowed just five goals to Westside this season, sporting a Goals AgainstAverage under one.
With the win, the Vees now move two points clear of the VernonVipers for top spot in the Interior Conference with just a third of the season? 20 games ? remaining on the schedule.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Vees struck three timesin less than four minutes to take control in the second period.
First, Mark MacMillan closed out a great couple shifts witha power play goal ? his fifteenth marker of the season. MacMillan laid-out twoWarriors to set the Vees up on the power play where he chipped in a backhander.
1:29 later Joey Benik potted his first of three on atwo-on-one rush, as he rifled a wrist-shot into the top of the net.
Benik then followed that goal up with a power play marker ashe slid down from the left point to convert a goalmouth pass, just 1:23 afterhis first of the night. The Vees led the game 3-0 after 40 minutes.
In the final frame Benik would lift the crowd of 1,065 outof their seats at the 8:06 mark to put the Vees up 4-0. Garrett Milan led theVees in on a two-on-one, and flung a saucer pass over a sliding Warriorsdefender and into the air where Benik batted in his hat-trick goal.
Benik ? an 18-year-old rookie from Minnesota – leads theVees with 21 goals this season in 40 games played.
Mark MacMillan would add his second of the night when hejumped out of the penalty box to create a two-on-one with Joey Holka, anddeposited a nice pass into the net on a backhand.
MacMillan ? who was drafted by Montreal last June ? now hassixteen goals in 23 games, and finished with three points on the night.
The Warriors would score late on a power play, when MaxFrench found his seventh of the season when the puck bounced off a Veesdefenders skate with just 2:03 to play ? robbing Rumpel of the shutout.
Rumpel finished the night with 30 saves on 31 shots, whileWarriors starter Kevin Boyle was yanked after the fifth Vees goal and finishedwith five goals against on 26 shots. Cole Holowenko stopped the lone shot hesaw in relief.
The Vees power play finished with two tallies on five tries,while the Warriors were good on one of seven opportunities.
The Vees will return to action on New Year?s Day with a roadgame in Vernon. The Vees are two points up on the Vipers for top spot in theConference.
Next Friday the Vees return home to open a home-and-homeseries with the Langley Chiefs, and kick-off eleven consecutive January gamesagainst Coastal Conference foes.
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.
