Win one for Fred: Vees beat Victoria on coach’s birthday
Penticton doubles Victoria 4-2, remains unbeaten after 9 games
The celebration was a little louder than usual after the game as the Penticton Vees got president, GM and head coach Fred Harbinson another home-ice victory for his 46th birthday.
Goals by Lukas Sillinger, Grant Cruikshank, Dakota Boutin and Chris Klack paced the Vees to a 4-2 triumph over the Victoria Grizzlies in BCHL action Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre, as the Vees remained unbeaten on the season with eight wins and a tie. Owen Sillinger added two assists.
“It’s always nice to get the wins for the organization and our great fans, but it was a special to get this one for Coach Fred,” said Klack, who earned first-star honours. “For all he does for this franchise, nobody deserves it more.”
After a hard-fought come-from-behind overtime win over a divisional rival in the cramped confines of Merritt’s Nicola Valley Arena on Friday, it was a wide-open game on the big SOEC ice surface against another fast, skilled team in Victoria.
“We were able to spread the zone a lot more,” said Klack. “It was two fast teams, there were a lot of odd-man rushes and breakaways. It was a fun game to be a part of.”
Cruikshank scored on a clear breakaway from the red line in the first period, and Klack got his goal in similar fashion to give the Vees a 4-1 lead just 1:11 into the third period.
“I tried to spread (goalie Zachary Rose) open and go five-hole with the backhand but he got over there pretty good and luckily it just slid by his pad,” said Klack, who also had an assist.
Justin Michaelian and Lucas Clark scored for Victoria (7-5-0), who also lost in Trail on Friday.
Adam Scheel made 19 saves for the win, while Rose stopped 29 shots for the Grizzlies.
“Scheel was big for us, especially in the third period,” said Klack. “He only had seven shots in the first two periods, but he kept dialed in and came up huge as he has all season.”
Lucas Sillinger and Cruikshank scored in the first half of the opening period as the Vees came out flying after the big OT win on Friday.
Michaelian got one back before the period ended, but a huge blunder by Rose gifted the Vees what proved to be the winning goal at 10:26 of the second period.
The Victoria goalie went behind the net to play a dump-in, but with Boutin and Jackson Keane converging on either side, Rose played the right puck onto Keane’s stick. A sliding Keane nudged the puck to the crease and Boutin was right there to stab it into the wide-open net.
Klack made it 4-1, but Clark quickly got one back off a bad Vees turnover at 3:48, hoisting the puck over a sprawled Scheel on his third attempt.
“They had a bit of a push after they got the second goal but we handled it pretty well,” said Harbinson, in his 11th season with the Vees.
The coach said the Vees played with a lot more urgency and energy than they did for stretches of the game in Merritt.
“The guys were really jacked up playing in front of our home fans,” said Harbinson. “We played with much more pace. Both teams skated well. (Victoria) has some really talented guys over there as well.”
Harbinson said the Vees are enjoying their unbeaten run to start the season.
“Hey, why not?” said Harbinson. “We’re learning a lot of different things along the way and finding ways to win hockey games. It’s all about learning and getting better every day.”
Klack said the two weekend wins — especially the stirring comeback win in Merritt — were big confidence-builders for the Vees. “We want to keep that zero in the loss column as long as we can,” said Klack. “There’s a winning culture here and we come expecting to win every night.”
The Vees look to keep the wins coming on Wednesday as the Langley Rivermen make their only visit of the season to the SOEC in a 7 p.m. puck-drop.
Vipers 2 Kings 0: Jack Judson and Brett Stapley scored and Ty Taylor made 35 saves for the shutout as Vernon knocked off visiting Powell River.
Judson scored in the first period and Stapley late in the second as Vernon (9-3-0-2) stayed in first place in the Interior Division, though the Vees still have five games in hand.
Mitch Adamyk made 34 stops for the Kings (8-2-1-0), who remained in first place in the Island Division.
Wild 4 Warriors 2: August Von Ungern’s goal with 4:58 broke a 2-2 tie and Wenatchee went on to beat West Kelowna 4-2 on Friday at Royal LePage Place.
Daniel Chladek, Chad Sasaki and Jasper Weatherby, with a shorthanded empty-net goal with 22 seconds left, also scored for the U.S. team.
Willie Reim and R.J. Murphy replied for West Kelowna.
Austin Park made 27 saves for the win, while Nik Amundrud stopped 37 shots for the Warriors.
On Sunday, the Warriors rebounded to score a 4-1 home-ice win over the Nanaimo Clippers at RLP thanks to a 34-save effort from goaltender Cole Demers.
ICE CHIPS: Attendance Saturday at the SOEC was 3,078 . . . . Vees’ Klack, Nicky Leivermann and Keane were named the three stars.