Vees welcome Capitals on Saturday

Penticton has 4 games before Christmas break, with the next 3 at home

The Penticton Vees will try to keep the home fires burning on Saturday.

Penticton will look for its third straight victory as the Cowichan Valley Capitals make their lone visit to the South Okanagan Events Centre in a 6 p.m. puck-drop.

The Vees (25-5-1) have two wins and an overtime loss in the first three games of a six-game homestand. The Vees are in the midst of playing 10-of-11 at the SOEC, where they are 10-2-1 on the season.

The two teams are meeting for the second and final time this season, with the Vees beating the Caps 4-3 on a Chris Klack goal in doubleovertime in Duncan on Sept. 18.

While the Vees have a whopping 18-point lead on their nearest rivals in the Interior Division, the Caps sit third in the Island Division with a 15-13-2-2 mark as they open a three-game road trip tonight in Trail. The Caps, who have been up and down all season, finish the trip Sunday afternoon in Surrey.

Nicholas Jones leads the Vees with 35 points while Grant Cruikshank is the goal scoring leader with 19 after netting the winning goal in a 3-1 win over Vernon on Wednesday.

Max Newton leads the Caps with 15 goals and 35 assists while Jared Domin also has 15 goals.

The Vees will once again be shorthanded on the blue-line with Gabe Bast (lower-body, indefinitely) and James Miller (upper-body, 4-6 weeks) injured, while Griffin Mendel and Jonny Tychonick were among 11 BCHL players named to Team Canada West’s roster for the World Junior A Challenge Dec. 11-17 in Bonnyville, Alta.

Tychonick and Mendel will miss the remaining four games before the Christmas break, returning to the Vees lineup for the Dec. 30 home game against Merritt.

ICE CHIPS: All WJAC games can be viewed live and free through HockeyTV webcasts at www.hockeycanada.ca/wjac. TSN will carry the gold-medal game on Dec. 17. Canada West is the defending champion . . . . Underwriters Insurance, Penticton Auto Sales and the Penticton Speedway are raffling off a 2003 Nissan Ultima at Saturday’s game. Fans can get $2 raffle tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis . . . . Vees F Jamie Armstrong (mononucleosis) remains out until after the Christmas break . . . . With the 3-1 win over Vernon Wednesday, the Vees improved to 16-0-0 when leading after two periods.