Vees no longer ranked nationally

Penticton now listed as an honourable mention

Despite earning five of a possible six points on the road last week, the Penticton Vees fell from No. 19 to an “honourable mention” in the Canadian Junior Hockey League weekly rankings.

The Brooks Bandits from the Alberta league had a lengthy winning streak snapped, but with 40 wins on the season still managed to retain their No. 1 spot in the rankings.

There were no changes among the top four with Georgetown Raiders (Ontario league), Les Cobras de Terrebonne (Quebec league) and Collège Français de Longueuil (Quebec) holding firm. Trenton Golden Hawks (Ontario) moved up two spots into the top five.

Of the BCHL teams, the Wenatchee Wild held on to the No. 10 spot, Chilliwack Chiefs — with 14 wins in their last 15 games — stayed at No. 14, while Victoria Grizzlies moved from honourable mention to No. 19 by virtue of their 2-1 double-overtime win over the Vees on Saturday.

The Vees (34-12-2-1) had a good week with road wins over Merritt on Wednesday and Nanaimo on Friday.

Penticton leads the Vernon Vipers by eight points atop the Interior Division, with the Vees having nine games left and Vernon only seven.

Holding the tiebreaker, Penticton needs any combination of six points gained and Vernon points lost to clinch their sixth straight Interior pennant.

By virtue of weekend results, the Vees assured themselves of finishing no worse than second place in the division and earning a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The Vees will open the playoffs at home no matter what on Friday, March 17.

The BCHL regular season ends Feb. 26 and the first round of the playoffs starts March 3.

The Vees have a busy and challenging week ahead, playing the Trail Smoke Eaters on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the SOEC and Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Trail, before returning home to take on league-leading Wenatchee (38-8-4) in a much-anticipated showdown on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Trail (24-22-4) is trying to hold off West Kelowna and Merritt for third place in the Interior Division and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. In five games versus Penticton this season, Trail has three regulation wins and two overtime losses.

Trail will be coming in off a back-to-back as they visit Salmon Arm tonight.

Also tonight, Vernon visits Merritt and surging Langley travels to West Kelowna.