Vees power past Cents at home
Pair of goals with man advantage lead Penticton to 4-2 win
The Merritt Centennials came into the game with the BCHL’s topranked power play, but it was Grant Cruikshank and the Penticton Vees doing the damage with the man advantage.
Cruikshank scored twice on the power play and the Vees defeated the Centennials 4-2 in the first game for both clubs after the Christmas break in front of 3,222 fans Friday at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton.
Ty Amonte and Riley Nash also scored and Jonny Tychonick had two assists as the Vees (29-6-1) resumed their roll toward a sixth straight Interior Division pennant.
Henry Cleghorn and Rylan Van Unen scored for the Centennials (12-15-7-2), who are winless in their last six games.
Penticton is now 5-0 against Merritt this season.
Mat Robson was terrific with 32 saves for his league-leading 24th win of the season while Jacob Berger made 33 stops for Merritt.
Cruikshank got the only goal of the first period on a power play as his centring pass glanced in off the skate of a Merritt defender at 11:08.
A key moment came a few minutes later as the Vees killed off a 5-on-3 Merritt power play for 1:27.
Amonte put the Vees up by two at 1:39 of the second period, hoisting a perfect backhander from a bad angle over Berger’s shoulder and just under the crossbar.
Cruikshank sizzled a one-time pass from Tychonick from the right circle into the open side on a power play at 3:54. Nicholas Jones also assisted on Cruikshank’s team-leading 25th of the season.
Cleghorn dove to stab home a rebound on a power play as Merritt cut the lead to 3-1 at 7:21.
Nash restored the three-goal lead at 5:30 of the third, falling to the ice to knock the puck home after some hard work down low by linemates Ty Barnstable and Turner Ripplinger.
Van Unen bagged a disputed goal on a breakaway at 8:37, but the Centennials could get no closer.
ICE CHIPS: Robson, Tychonick and Cruikshank were the three stars . . . . The Vees were without injured blue-liners James Miller and Gabe Bast and forwards Matt Gosiewski and Jamie Armstrong. Penticton called up defenceman Konsta Jaske from the Summerland Steam of the KIJHL and went with just 17 skaters . . . . The Vees are back in action Wednesday as Trail visits the SOEC at 7 p.m.
Warriors 3 Smoke Eaters 2: Connor Sodergren scored with 1:14 left in the second overtime period as West Kelowna edged Trail 3-2 Thursday at Royal LePage Place.
Chase Dubois and Jake Harrison also scored for the Warriors, who outshot Trail 40-36. Ross Armour and Mitchell Barker replied for Trail.
Vipers 4 Silverbacks 2: Goals by Jimmy Lambert, Christian Cakebread, Jesse Lansdell and Jagger Williamson paced Vernon to the win over Salmon Arm Thursday at Kal Tire Place.
Elijiah Barriga and Carter Cochrane replied for the Silverbacks, who were outshot 41-31 in the contest.