FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Saturday, January 28TH
VEES MAKE IT 28 ON THE 28TH; SWEEP ‘BACKS
Salmon Arm, BC- For the second consecutive night, one Vee recorded a hat-trick and for the second consecutive night the Vees thumped Salmon Arm; 8-1 at the Shaw Communication Center.
The win leaves Penticton only one victory shy from tying the 23 year-old BCHL record of 29.
One night after Ryan Reilly recorded a hat-trick against Salmon Arm, Joey Benik did one better, notching his first hat-trick of the season but also adding an assist for a four point night.
The opening goal came off the stick of one Vee who was robbed of a goal one night earlier.
After having his 30th goal disallowed last night, Mario Lucia made no mistake on Saturday, opening the scoring in the first period just over nine minutes in; his shot beat Adam Clark over the blocker for his 30th of the season.
Benik’s line-mate, Steve Fogarty doubled the lead twelve minutes later on an individual rush down the left-wing; Fogarty finished with a back-hand deke through Clark’s legs.
The two goal lead was short lived as Salmon Arm’s Shane Hanna scored twenty-nine seconds later; Penticton took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
In the second period Joey Benik took over, scoring three of the four Penticton goals. Benik scored his first just under three minutes into the period and his last two came just one minute and forty-four seconds apart at the end of the middle stanza.
Tonight was Benik’s second career hat-trick; his first came December 10th, 2010 versus Westside.
Wade Murphy’s wrap-around goal twenty-one seconds shy of the nine minute mark spoiled what would have been a natural hat-trick for Benik.
Murphy’s goal and assist keeps him second in the BCHL scoring race with seventy-five points; two behind Prince George’s Paul De Jersey.
Travis St. Denis and Logan Johnston scored the only two goals of the third period which saw the Vees hold the Silverbacks to just three shots.
FINAL SCORE: 8-1
SHOTS: 34-19 Vees
POWER-PLAYS: Vees 0/1 Silverbacks 0/3
THREE STARS 1) Joey Benik 2) Steven Fogarty 3) Shane Hanna
HARDEST WORKING VEE: Curtis Loik
Penticton looks to tie the BCHL record of 29 straight wins Friday when they host the Chilliwack Chiefs; game time is 7pm and tickets can be purchased at the SOEC box office, or online at www.valleyfirsttix.com
The pre-game show on EZ Rock AM 800 starts twenty minutes prior to puck drop; you can also tune in on MyEZRock.com, and at BCHL.ca where both the audio stream and Pay-Per-View video are available.
CONTACT: FRASER RODGERS
Director of Broadcasting, Media Relations
Penticton Vees Hockey Club
FraserRodgers@gmail.com(250) 809-1390
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