Vees fall out of top 10
Penticton still 12 points up on Vernon, but now ranked No. 11 nationally
After a pair of home-ice defeats, the Penticton Vees dropped three spots to No. 11 in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s weekly rankings.
The Wenatchee Wild, who now lead the Vees and Victoria Grizzlies by five points atop the B.C. Hockey League overall standings, moved up one spot to No. 7, while Victoria is no longer ranked.
The Vees have two games in hand on Wenatchee and three in hand on the Grizzlies.
Collège Français de Longueuil (Quebec league) continues to hold down the No. 1 spot in the rankings.
The Powassan Voodoos, who had their 25-game winning streak ended after a tie on Sunday, are No. 2, while the Brooks Bandits (Alberta league) are up one spot to No. 3 as they ride an eight-game winning streak.
Steinbach Pistons (Manitoba league) and Trenton Golden Hawks (Ontario league) round out the top five.
The Vees (29-8-1) will look to salvage a split of their four-game homestand as they take on the West Kelowna Warriors in another “Wicked Wednesday” encounter at 7 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Vees lead over second-place Vernon Vipers in the Interior Division has shrunk to 12 points.
Defenceman Kenny Johnson will sit out the final game of his four-game suspension for a check-to-the-head major at Salmon Arm Dec. 17.
The Vees play their first road game of 2017 on Friday, visiting the Merritt Centennials. Penticton is back home on Saturday to take on the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in a 6 p.m. puck-drop at the SOEC.
Meanwhile, the Canadian junior hockey trade deadline arrives today at 8 p.m. The deadline for inter-branch transactions is 6 p.m.
The Vees do have one open card available with which to make a deal.
GM/head coach Fred Harbinson said while he will listen to any offers, the team will likely just sign injured defenceman Sam Rossini to the card with the hope he can play at some point in the post-season.
On Monday, the Vees placed defenceman Greg Brydon on an Okanagan Hockey Academy card. Brydon has to play at least five games with the OHA Prep team before he can suit up again for the Vees.
Veteran defenceman Gabe Bast, returning from a lower-body injury, played his first game with the Surrey Knights Junior-B team Monday in Richmond.
Bast, designated to a Junior-B card last week, must play at least five games with Surrey before being eligible to play for the Vees.
Bast will hope to get Surrey its first win, as the Knights are 0-32-0-2 in their first season of Pacific International Junior Hockey League play.