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Vees drop another frustrating game in Trail

Photo Credit: Mike Hockley

Trail, BC: The Penticton Vees (34-14-3-2) appeared poised for a 2-1 win against the Trail Smoke Eaters (21-23-7-3) Wednesday night, but Trail tied the game just seven seconds after the go-ahead goal and then nine seconds into overtime to stun the road team.

The opening period saw plenty of good chances for both teams. The Vees came out with jump, outshooting the Smoke Eaters by a 10-1 margin in the early going. 

Trail slowly cut into the shot total before Brendan Harrogate was assessed a double minor for high sticking. The power play last 1:21 before Trail was called for goalie interference sending the game to four-on-four for a full two minutes.

The media timeout didn’t come until just 39 seconds left in the period, and the Vees took the lead off the next faceoff. James Miller fired the puck intentionally wide from the right points, and it came off the end wall to the front of the net.

David Silye was alone at the top of the crease, and batted the puck out of mid air, off the glove of Donovan Buskey and into the net to give Penticton the lead with 33 seconds left in the period.

Harrogate was called for another high-sticking penalty early in the second but the Vees had two major scoring chances while shorthanded, both turned aside by Buskey to keep the score 1-0.

Jack LaFontaine came up with one of his bigger saves of the game shortly after, denying Tyler Ghirardosi with the right pad after a turnover at the Trail blue line, resulting in the partial breakaway the other way.

The Vees came close to extending their lead in the final minute of the period as Silye hit the post from the right circle off the rush, but the score remained 1-0 through 40 minutes.

Trail tied the game off a strange bounce just 20 seconds into the third. With the puck loose on the goal line, a player from each time swiped at it before it bounced off the glass and over LaFontaine. Owen Ozar batted it out of mid air and into the net to tie the game.

Nearly six minutes into the third Luke Loheit and Ghirardosi dropped the gloves in the neutral zone after pushing each other all the way up the ice. The fight was over before it started as Loheit fell backwards just as the gloves dropped and the linesman jumped between the players by the time Loheit got back to his feet. They were both sent to their respective locker rooms.

During the cleanup, Mason Snell was given a 10-minute misconduct after some choice words to the official.

Late in the period the Vees finally solved Buskey again. After a quick one-touch pass by Evan McIntyre from the right point into the slot, Lukas Sillinger curled the puck away from the defender and fired a shot that appeared to go off the post and in with 2:46 to play.

The Vees blinked off the next face-off and the lead was gone. With the puck near the left-wing boards, Jonathan Smart pinched up to try and clear it. The puck got poked past him sending Trail on a 2-on-1 rush. Carter Jones centred for Ozar who tied the game just seven seconds after Penticton took the lead.

Overtime saw a similar scenario. Off the opening faceoff, Massimo Rizzo fell to the ice and tried to dive out to get the puck. He missed it, and then Silye ran into Rizzo and the two got tied up and fell on top of each other in the face-off circle.

That sent Trail on a 3-on-1 rush into the zone and they ended the game with a three-way passing play, finished off by Carter Jones just nine seconds into extra time.

With the single point the Vees lead atop the Interior Division was pushed to four over the idle Merritt Centennials. That sets up the biggest game of the year at the South OKanagan Events Centre Friday night when the Vees host the Centennials at 7:00.