Vees face Warriors in home opener tonight
The waiting is over — the defending BCHLchampion Penticton Vees will raise three banners and play their home opener against the arch-rival West Kelowna Warriors tonight.
Around 3,000 fans are anticipated as the Vees raise the (Fred Page Cup) BCHL championship, the Interior Division playoff and Interior regular season banners to the rafters of the South Okanagan Events Centre.
It’s a sixth straight Interior pennant, fourth Interior playoff and third BCHL championship banner in the last six years for the Vees, who also have an RBC Cup national title, a Western Canada Cup and a Doyle Cup banner sprinkled in there, too.
“It’s a big building,” said Vees president, GM and head coach Fred Harbinson. “There is always room for more (banners). That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Harbinson, in his 11th season at the helm, said he has never seen the excitement as high as it’s been going into this year’s home opener.
He said the club seat party at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre on Tuesday was packed, and the traditional season ticket BBQ party outside the SOEC on Wednesday was jammed with hundreds of people lining up 45 minutes before the start of the event that began at 4:30 p.m.
Fans got to pick up their tickets, meet and mingle with the players and coaching staff, and enjoy some BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs and beverages.
“There is definitely a real buzz in the air . . . everywhere you go, people are excited about seeing us play at home,” Harbinson said. “I know the players are pretty darned fired up and ready to go. They’ve been excited for weeks and now the moment has arrived. Hopefully we get the nerves out of the way early and play a real good game.”
Harbinson said — including Season’s Membership tickets — 2,600 tickets have already been sold for the game as of noon hour on Thursday.
Even without playing at home, the Vees come in as the only unbeaten team in the 17-team league with a perfect 4-0-0 record. West Kelowna also has eight points with a 4-2-0 mark.
Harbinson said the Warriors will be hungry after losing 5-2 in Langley on Tuesday. He said West Kelowna played the Vees tough in a 7-5 pre-season triumph by Penticton at the SOEC on Aug. 30.
“That’s a real good hockey team, a big rival from 45 minutes down the road and two important divisional points on the line,” said Harbinson.
Penticton gets a huge boost tonight with the season debut of forward and co-captain Grant Cruikshank, who led the team in goals as a rookie in 2016-17. Cruikshank was recovering from an upper-body injury sustained in last season’s playoff run.
“Grant has looked fantastic in practice,” said Harbinson. “He’s in such terrific physical shape, it looked like he’s been here with us since training camp. He won’t miss a beat out there.”
Cruikshank will slot in on the Vees’ top line with fellow veterans Chris Klack and centre Owen Sillinger, the other co-captain who leads the team in goals with four.
“That’s what we’ll start with . . . those guys looked sharp together in practice,” said Harbinson. “Sillinger is primed to have a great year. He’s comfortable, he knows the league, he’s got his brother (rookie forward Lukas) playing on the team and his family with him now in Penticton. He does so many things for us besides just score goals.”
The Vees have already showed they are capable of producing more offensively than last year’s championship-winning team. They’ve already scored at least six goals twice, whereas they did so just four times the entire 2016-17 campaign.
At last week’s Showcase, Penticton overcame deficits in both games to win, something the Vees struggled to do at times last year.
“We’ve got four good lines and scoring up and down the lineup,” said Harbinson. “Another big factor though is having a group of defencemen that can all skate and move the puck really well to the forwards. We’re getting more (offensive) zone time and we’ve got a lot of guys who are creative and guys who have good sticks around the net.”
The coach wasn’t, however, taking anything away from last year’s team.
“Last year we had to really grind, but I tell you what — I’d do it all over again if we could win another championship,” Harbinson said.
Rookie Adam Scheel gets the start in goal tonight as the Vees continue to largely rotate their two goalies.
Nolan Hildebrand started both games at the Bauer BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack last weekend, but was pulled from the opening game after surrendering two tough goals against Alberni Valley. Scheel came on and the Vees rallied to win 3-2.
“I just wanted to get Hildy right back in there and he had a nice bounce-back game (against Chilliwack),” said Harbinson.
The Vees will be without forward Taylor Ward (upper-body) and defenceman Greg Brydon (lower-body), leaving them with one extra healthy body for tonight’s game.
Ward, a big power forward and a key player in his third season with the Vees, is progressing ahead of schedule from the injury he sustained in practice just prior to the Showcase.
“It’s still pretty doubtful we’ll have him back for the two games (against Vernon) next weekend,” said Harbinson. “He’s not far away though.”