Defense turned into offense Sunday, as the Penticton Vees backend combined for two goals and eight points in their 7-1 drubbing of the Prince George Spruce Kings at the SOEC.
Tyson Jost (2), Lewis Zerter-Gossage (2), Gabe Bast, Shayne Gwinner and Mitch Newsome scored for the Vees (32-6-2-1).Dakota Conroy and Dante Fabbro each finished with a game-high three points (0-3-3).
Chad Staley scored the only goal for Prince George (18-18-0-4) as they dropped their sixth straight.
Bast opened the scoring on the Vees first shot seventy-eight seconds into the game. The Vees caught the Spruce Kings on a slow line-change and Bast’s shot along the ice eluded Prince George goaltender Jesse Jenks.
Staley tied it late in the first on a rebound in the crease, as the puck trickled through Hunter Miska and Staley was there to swat it across the line at 18:29.
Tyson Jost scored the only goal in the second on a Vees power-play midway through the frame. Fabbro spotted Jost in the right-circle and he fired a shot short-side at 9:27.
The Vees used the power-play to pad their lead early in the third, as Zerter-Gossage scored less than a minute into the frame. A rebound squirted right to “LZG” at the side of the net and he pounced fifty-eight seconds in.
Then the floodgates opened, as the Vees scored three in just sixty-four seconds. The Spruce Kings turned it over on the wall and Gwinner snapped home his first as a Vee at 9:55 to make it 4-1.
Forty-nine seconds later Zerter-Gossage picked up his second of the game after a rush down the left-wing. Fifteen-seconds after that, it was Jost scoring his second on a back-hand deke after a great feed from Demico Hannoun.
Mitch Newsome finished off the scoring with a late power-play goal at 19:14 after Dakota Conroy fed him the puck from the corner.
Final Score: 7-1 Vees
Shots: 42-21 Vees
Power-Play: Vees 3-6 Prince George 0-3
Three Stars: 1) Tyson Jost 2) Dante Fabbro 3) Lewis Zerter-Gossage
Attendance: 1,840
In their three wins this week, the Vees outscored Coquitlam and Prince George 16-4. The Vees are now 9-0-1-0 against the Mainland Division this year, with one more game left against Chilliwack in February. Hunter Miska made 20 saves picking up his league-best 22nd win. Miska was terrific in the first two periods, stopping three PG breakaways, including two in the first.
The Vees are now off until Friday, when the travel to Merritt to face the fourth-place Centennials; puck drop is 7:30pm. Friday marks the start of three straight road games, as the Vees don’t return home until Friday, January 23rd, when they host the Centennials at the SOEC.
