Vees fall in semifinals at RBC Cup national championships
Penticton bows out of tourney with 3-1 loss to host Cobourg Cougars
After a thrilling and emotional playoff ride that included three Game 7 and six elimination-game wins, the Penticton Vees came up one bounce short at the RBC Cup.
Theo Lewis scored on a broken play with 8:05 to play as the host Cobourg Cougars shaded the Vees 3-1 in the national Junior-A hockey championship semifinal game on Saturday afternoon.
The Vees carried the play for long stretches, carved out numerous quality chances and also hit three goalposts in the last 24 minutes of the game in a bitterly disappointing loss to end their season.
“Our margin for error has been thin throughout the year,” said Vees president, GM and head coach Fred Harbinson. “I’m not sure you can say the law of averages caught up to us, but you need to build a lead when you have that zone time and scoring chances.
“We were a great defensive team all season, but for whatever reason we struggled at times to put the puck in the net. For all we created, we could only put one in today. It’s real tough right now.”
Daniel McKitrick on a power play and Spencer Roberts into an empty net also scored for the Cougars.
Former Surrey Eagles defenceman Nicholas Minerva — dealt to Cobourg in January — collected two assists.
Captain Nicholas Jones on the power play scored for the Vees.
The shots on goal (28-28) were quite deceiving, with Stefano Durante stopping 27 shots for the Cougars and Mat Robson blocking 25 for the Vees.
After a scoreless first period, the relentless Vees finally broke through at 11:13 of the second as Jones neatly diverted a slap pass from Chris Klack past Durante, with Massimo Rizzo also assisting.
But McKitrick tied it at 15:05, taking a backdoor feed from Minerva with five seconds left on a power play and lifting the puck over a fallen Robson.
The Vees promptly re-applied the pressure and first Ty Amonte and then Duncan Campbell sizzled shots from the slot that beat Durante on the blocker side but caromed out off the goalpost.
Harbinson believed the Vees’ momentum and pressure would reap dividends in the final 20 minutes.
“We’ve been in those situations so many times,” said Harbinson. “The guys weren’t nervous at all. We had a lot of confidence.”
The Vees again carried the play for the first half of the period, but it was the Cougars who would break through.
Minerva lugged the puck to the left circle and threw a shot towards the net that hit Jones skate and bounced across the crease to Lewis stationed at the right of Robson to slam into the open side.
Penticton got a power play with 5:12 left and Durante had to be spectacular to hold the fort.
With 1:40 to play, defenceman Gabe Bast — the lone member of the Vees’ team that lost in the 2015 RBC Cup semifinal at Portage, Man., in double-overtime — waltzed in off the right point and hammered another shot that beat Durante on the blocker side but rattled off the inside of the post and out.
The Vees got Robson to the bench for an extra skater with 1:27 left, but Roberts out-raced defenceman James Miller to an alley-oop clearance and managed to force the puck over the line to make it 3-1 at 18:53.
After calling a timeout, the Vees again pulled Robson and had three more good chances to get one back before time finally ran out.
Harbinson said he couldn’t be prouder of his squad, which participated in a total of 92 games this season — almost half of which were decided by one goal.
“Winning the B.C. championship in probably the toughest league in the country, getting (to the RBC) and coming as close as we did, it’s not a failure of a year by any stretch,” said Harbinson. “You just feel sad for this group of guys who gave absolutely everything they had to the program and our city right from Day 1.
“There are a lot of teams in our league and across the country that would have done anything for the kind of season we had.”
Harbinson gave Cobourg credit for taking advantage of its opportunities.
“They had a month or so off before (the RBC Cup) and they used that rest and playing at home to their advantage,” said Harbinson. “They’re a good team and they’ve given themselves a chance to win a national championship.”
ICE CHIPS: The Cougars will play the Brooks Bandits in today’s final, which will be televised live on TSN at 2:30 p.m. PT. Brooks blanked the Terrebonne Cobras 4-0 in the other semifinal. . . Jones for the Vees and Lewis for Cobourg were named players of the game. Jones was also named Most Sportsmanlike Player at the tourney, while Brooks D Cale Makar was named MVP for the second straight year . . . . Vees F Duncan Campbell returned after missing one game due to suspension. Campbell, F Nicholas Jones, F Ryley Risling, F Taylor Sanheim, D Gabe Bast, D Mitch Meek and G Mat Robson are the Vees’ graduating 20-year-olds . . . . The Vees will fly back to Penticton on Monday and are expected to arrive around 5 p.m.