FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, December 28, 2012
WARRIORS SPOIL THE PARTY; SNAP LOSING SKID
PENTICTON, BC– The West Kelowna Warriors got a monkey off their back on Friday night, in a 5-2 win over the Penticton Vees at the SOEC. The win is the Warriors first against the Vees since December of 2010, snapping a losing skid over two years old.
Before tonight, the Warriors last win over Penticton was back on December 1st, 2010; a run of 14 games without a win over their interior rival.
The Warriors outscored the Vees 4-1 in the final two periods, including a short-handed goal early in the second period that seemed to swing the game in their favour.
It was the Vees opening the scoring late in the first, when Wade Murphy banged in a rebound for his 16th of the season at 16:49. Mike Rebry, playing his first game in over two months, failed to stuff the puck past the pad of Tyler Briggs, but Murphy followed up and buried the rebound to give the home team the lead.
The Vees couldn’t carry the one-goal lead into the Intermission, as Brennan Clark tied the game within the final minute of the period. Off a face-off, Reid Simmonds stole the puck from behind the Vees net and centered to a streaking Clark, who wired a shot past Chad Katunar at 19:06.
The Vees had an opportunity to reclaim the lead early in the second period on the power-play but Shawn Hochhausen had other ideas. The Warriors forward forced the puck free at his own blue-line and busted down the right-wing on a partial breakaway. Hochhausen skated into the circle and zipped a wrist-shot past the outstretched arm of Katunar at 1:09; the fourth short-handed goal surrendered by the Vees this season.
Sam Mellor drew the Vees level minutes later with an absolute rocket from the high-slot. Brock Balson from the right-wing slid the puck to Mellor at the top of the circles, and he blasted his 12th over the arm of Briggs at 5:15.
The celebration was short lived, as Seb Lloyd put the Warriors ahead and for good seconds later. On the next shift after the Mellor tally, Lloyd put a shot off the post from the hash-marks at 5:49. Lloyd moved between the circles and was fed a pass from the point and made no mistake, going post and in on the glove-side for his fourth goal against the Vees in five games.
The Tribe added two more in the third period to put the game to bed. Josh Monk doubled the Warriors lead minutes into the frame. Monk’s wrist-shot from the blue-line eluding the glove of Katunar at 3:21; the puck appeared to be deflected by Matt Anholt at the top of the crease.
Anholt guaranteed himself a spot on the scoresheet in the closing moments of the game. With the net empty, the Vees turned the puck over in the slot, allowing Anholt to skate down on an empty net and put the finishing touches on a Warriors win at 18:33.
FINAL SCORE:5-2 Warriors
Shots: 40-24 Warriors
Power-Plays: Vees 0-2 Warriors 0-2
Three Stars: 1) Seb Lloyd 2) Max French 3) Matt Anholt
Attendance: 2,060
The loss drops the Vees record to 22-9-0-3 and their home record slips to 12-5-0-1. Friday’s game was just the fourth loss when the Vees score first, their record now sitting at 13-2-0-2 when doing so.
The Vees and Warriors conclude the weekend home-and-home series tomorrow, Saturday, December 29th at Royal LePage Place; puck drop is 7pm. The Vee return to the SOEC in the new year, when they host the Surrey Eagles on January 5th. Tickets are available at the Valley First box office, or online at www.valleyfirsttix.com
CONTACT: FRASER RODGERS
Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations
Penticton Vees Hockey Club
FraserRodgers@gmail.com (250) 809-1390
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