Wednesday, October 5th
VEES MAKE IT THREE STRAIGHT WINS
Penticton, BC–The Penticton Vees extended their winning streak to three games after a hard earned 6-1 victory over the visiting Merritt Centennials.
Unlike the previous two home games, the Vees were pushed to the very end by a hard working Centennials team. It wasn’t until just under minutes left in the second period did the Vees giving themselves a two goal cushion.
The scoring in the game was started by Mario Lucia when he snapped home his third goal on the season, on the power-play at 3:06 of the first period. Unlike the previous two games, Penticton was unable to build on an early lead and that would catch up to them later in the first period.
On a power-play of their own, the Centennials tied the game when Brandon Bruce shoveled in a goal after a scramble in front of Michael Garteig. The goal came just over five minutes after Lucia made it 1-0.
The two teams looked destined to be tied heading into the first intermission, until a late goal by Travis St. Denis.
The centreman received a pass from Mike Reilly and slipped behind the Merritt defense and finished off a nice deke to beat Lino Chimienti and give the Vees a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes.
The only goal of the second period was another power-play goal by Penticton. Connor Reilly was given a gift at the side of the net from St. Denis and put home his second of the season and gave his team a two goal lead.
After forty minutes the Vees lead the Centennials 3-1.
In the third period, it was the other two Reilly’s making some noise. First, Mike Reilly scored his third, at 6:59, off a rocket of a slap shot to make it 4-1 Penticton. Then older brother, Ryan scored two goals of his own. The first at 12:08 on a wrist shot glove side. The second, which would finish the scoring, was the first short-handed goal for Penticton, when Reilly jammed in a loose puck at the side of the goal late in the third at 19:11.
The win improves the Vees record to 4-1-0-0 and 3-0-0 at home.
Final Score: 6-1 Vees
Shots: 25-23 Vees.
Power-Plays: Vees- 2/4 Smoke Eaters 1/6
Three Stars: 1) Joey Benik 2) Mike Reilly 3) Troy Stecher
Attendance: 1449
Next home action for the Vees comes Saturday the 15th of October, when the defending BCHL Champions, Vernon Vipers, make their first visit to the SOEC. Puck drop is games is 5:00PM at the S.O.E.C., and Vees Game Tickets can be purchased at the box office during business hours, or online at ValleyFirstTix.com
The pre-game show on EZ Rock AM 800 starts twenty minutes prior to puck drop at 6:40. You can also tune in on MyEZRock.com, and at BCHL.ca where both the audio stream and Pay-Per-View video are available.
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