Vees still perfect, still No. 1 in Canada

Penticton welcomes Vernon on Friday to start home-and-home series

Unbeaten, untied and still No. 1. Off to a perfect 5-0-0 start to the 2017-18 campaign, the Penticton Vees remain at the top of the 132-team heap in the Canadian Junior Hockey League weekly rankings.

The Vees won their lone weekend contest 2-1 over the visiting West Kelowna Warriors in what was Penticton’s home opener.

The arch-rival Vernon Vipers (7-1-1) surged into the rankings at No. 12, the surprising Trail Smoke Eaters (6-1-1) made a rare appearance at No. 16 and the Island Division leading Powell River Kings earned an honourable mention.

Other teams in the top five this week are Melfort Mustangs (Saskatchewan), jumping one spot to No. 2; Okotoks Oilers (Alberta) up one slot to No. 3, Cobras de Terrebonne (Quebec) up six spots to No. 10, and Thief River Falls Norskies (Superior International league) up a whopping 12 spots to No. 5.

The Vees have played the fewest games in the B.C. Hockey League, though the schedule will pick up in the coming weeks.

It starts this weekend with a much-anticipated home-and-home series with the Vipers, with the teams clashing Friday at 7 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre and Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kal Tire Place in Vernon.

The Vees will play 10 games in October, with six of those set for the SOEC. The Vipers just swept a three-game weekend road trip to Victoria, Nanaimo and Surrey to take sole possession of first place in the Interior Division.

ICE CHIPS: Trail Smoke Eaters F Kale Howarth, a 2017 draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, was named BCHL Player of the Week. The 20-year-old logged four goals and six points in two Trail wins, including a hat-trick in a 6-0 triumph over Chilliwack on Saturday. Howarth leads the league in goals with 10, while his 16 points are just one fewer than teammate Ross Armour, who leads the league with 17 . . . . West Kelowna Warriors (5-3-0) travel to Coquitlam to play the Express in the lone mid-week contest Wednesday at 7 p.m. Coquitlam edged Cowichan Valley 3-2 Sunday to finally tally their first win of the season after six losses and a tie . . . . The Interior Division has been the class of the league so far, going a combined 33-17-1-2. On the flipside, the Mainland Division is 12-20-6-4, while the Island Division is 18-18-1-2.