Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees jumped out to a lead midway through the first period and never looked back in a 6-3 win over the West Kelowna Warriors Wednesday night. Six different players found the back of the net for the Vees.
Opening the scoring was David Silye as his shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle squeaked under the arm of Cole Demers 8:51 into the opening period.
The game stayed 1-0 until 3:13 into the second period when Lukas Sillinger stole the puck from a Warriors defender then went to the slot. Ryan Sandelin gathered the loose puck and fed it to Sillinger who one timed the puck past a sliding Demers for the short-handed goal.
West Kelowna didn’t waste much time getting the lead back as a shot from the blue line missed wide, but bounced off the end wall and onto the stick of Ryan Doolin who jammed it past a diving Jack LaFontaine just over 30 seconds later.
Jackson Niedermayer restored the Vees two-goal lead after Matt Byrne stole the puck on the forecheck. Niedermayer cut to the slot and his wrist shot was stopped by Demers, but he gathered his own rebound and slid it past the goaltender to make it 3-1 Vees after two periods.
Jack Lagerstrom gave the Vees a 4-1 lead with a perfectly-placed wrist shot from the right circle, beating Demers over the shoulder and hitting the crossbar and in 6:14 into the third.
Once again the Warriors answered quickly as Matt Kowalski found a loose puck right off a face-off and wired it past the glove of LaFontaine just 36 seconds later.
While on a power play, Cole Shepard sent a puck towards the front of the net and Luke Loheit jumped on the rebound to extend the Vees lead to 5-2 before Ryan Miotto found a turnover right in front of the Warriors net and made it 6-2.
West Kelowna added a power-play goal late, but the Vees held on for the 6-3 win.
The Vees finish up their exhibition schedule with a home-and-home set against the Wenatchee Wild beginning Friday night in Wenatchee.
Announced attendance for Wednesday was 1,789.
