Flames open season tonight with sights set on league title
Penticton won pair of Icebreaker games by combined score of 19-4
The Penticton Flames were scorching hot at the Icebreaker.
Penticton clobbered the Vernon Tigers 8-2 and the Kelowna Raiders 11-2 at the Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League Icebreaker Tournament at the Nor-Val Centre in Armstrong on the weekend.
Coming off their two best regular season performances ever, the Flames will look to get off to a winning start in league play as they return to Armstrong tonight to take on the Armstrong Shamrocks.
The Flames play their home opener Monday against Kelowna at 7 p.m. at Memorial Arena.
The ice was removed from Memorial early this year, enabling the Flames to get in more practices before the season starts.
“We’ve got really good numbers this year,” said Kevin Thompson, back as head coach for a fourth season. “We only had four guys aging out, we’ve had some guys moving into town that are good players, some good players moving up from midget and a real strong returning core.”
Thompson said the team has set high goals this year of winning their first TOJLL championship and also a medal — preferably gold — at provincials.
The Flames leadership core includes newly minted captain Tanner Thompson and assistants Carl Walton and Craig MacLeod. Graduating players from last season Trevor Dermody and captain and league MVP Kaid MacLeod are also helping out the squad.
The coach said veteran goalie Charles Nicholas wants to be a cornerstone for the team and carry them to a title.
“It’s full-attack all the way this year,” said Thompson. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Penticton will play each of the other four teams four times apiece for a 16-game regular season schedule that concludes June 25. All Flames home games will be played on Monday nights at Memorial Arena.
Thompson said Neil Jamieson of Underwriters Insurance is once again on board in a sponsorship role, and helping out with advertising for Flames games.
“Neil has been huge for our program these last few years,” said Thompson, whose wife, April, serves as the Flames general manager.
The Flames host two-time defending champions Kamloops Venom for the first time on May 15. Their final home game is on June 19, also against Kamloops, after which the ice is re-installed at Memorial.
“We’ll have to play our playoff home games in either Oliver or Kelowna again,” said Thompson. “It’s just the nature of the beast. We’re not going to let it slow us down.”