Vees ride special teams to victory
Penticton scores 3 power-play goals, 1 shorthanded in 5-1 win in West Kelowna
The Penticton Vees capped off a seven-game sweep of the season series against the West Kelowna Warriors — and special teams were once again pivotal.
Grant Cruikshank scored his team-leading 31st goal while the Vees were shorthanded and Penticton scored three times on the power play to beat the Warriors 5-1 Tuesday at Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna.
Ty Amonte, Jamie Armstrong, Nicholas Jones and Chris Klack also scored for the Vees (40-13-2-1), who exploded for four unanswered second-period goals to overcome a 1-0 deficit.
The Vees have notched eight shorthanded goals on the season and, remarkably, six of them have come against the Warriors. The Warriors failed to score on 27 power-plays chances against the Vees this season.
Defencemen James Miller and Gabe Bast each tacked on two assists as the Interior Division pennant-winning Vees forged two points ahead of Victoria Grizzlies for third place overall in the BCHL.
Quin Foreman replied for the Warriors (27-27-2), who remained tied with Trail for third place in the Interior with each team having two games left.
Mat Robson made 33 saves for the Vees, while Gabriel Morency stopped 30 shots for the Warriors.
Foreman put the Warriors ahead with an unassisted tally at 13:15 of the first period — his 25th of the season.
But it was all Vees in the second as they outshot the Warriors 17-8 and scored four goals.
Armstrong tied it on a power play at 2:18 and Cruikshank put the Vees ahead for good with his patented snap shot from the slot at 6:31.
Owen Sillinger forced a turnover and teed up Amonte for his 17th of the season at 14:17, then Jones bagged his 23rd on a five-onthree power play with 8.3 seconds left in the period.
Klack netted his 13th on the power play at 11:53 of the third. The Vees were 3-for-5 on the power play; the Warriors 0-for-4.
Cruikshank, Amonte and Bast were the three stars in front of a good crowd of 1,186.
The Vees close out the regular season with road games at Surrey on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Chilliwack on Friday at 7 p.m. Since they have a bye in the first round of the playoffs, the Vees won’t see action again until opening the second round at home on March 17.
West Kelowna finishes up with road games at Merritt on Friday and Salmon Arm Saturday. The Warriors open at home as they will play one of those two teams in the first round of the playoffs starting March 3.
ICE CHIPS: The Vees were once again without D Mitch Meek (hand), D Joe Leahy (head) and F Taylor Sanheim (upper-body). All three will not return until the playoffs. . . . The Warriors were without injured D Nicholas Rutigliano and D Scott Allen. Suiting up in their place were affiliated players D Connor Horning and D Jonas Gordon.