Vees look to keep home fires burning
Victory puts Vees into 2nd place in Interior Division
After serving a twogame suspension, Vees captain Owen Sillinger returned and made an immediate impact. Sillinger scored his teamleading 20th of the season at 3:14 of the third period as the Vees rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Merritt Centennials 4-3 in another “Wicked Wednesday” matchup in front of 2,888 fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Marcus Mitchell and Taylor Ward scored late in the second period to tie the game and Massimo Rizzo also clicked as the Vees (25-9-2-2) won their third straight game and leapfrogged idle Wenatchee and Trail and into second place in the Interior Division.
Kenny Johnson added two assists for the Vees, who are just five points behind first-place Vernon Vipers with three games in hand.
Matthew Kopperud, Joey Berkopec and Mathieu Gosselin scored for Merritt (1619-2-1), who remained two points ahead of last-place Salmon Arm in the Interior.
Adam Scheel made 18 saves for the Vees, while Jacob Berger stopped 39 shots for the Cents. The Vees have won all four meetings with Merritt this season.
The Centennials opened the scoring at 6:56. Kopperud, driving through the slot, had a shot by Brendan Schneider hit him and glance in under Scheel’s glove.
The Vees took over in the last half of the first period but Berger was up to the task to keep the home team at bay. Berger was knocked sprawling by Vees forward Lukas Sillinger, igniting a wild melee behind the net at 16:25.
Penticton kept coming early in the second and were rewarded with the tying goal at 2:13. Johnson’s point shot was deflected by newcomer Wyatt Sloboshan and Rizzo was right there to rap home the rebound from the edge of the crease.
The Vees kept carrying the play, but Merritt regained the lead at 9:25 on another strange bounce as Berkopec’s innocent shot from the right-wing boards struck the shaft of Scheel’s stick and caromed in.
Undaunted, the Vees struck for two goals in 68 seconds late in the period to tie the game at 3-3.
Mitchell took a nice pass from Dakota Boutin on the rush and rifled a shot over Berger’s arm at 16:13. Chris Klack, returning after a lengthy injury absence, also assisted.
Ward tied it at 17:21, going hard to the net and chipping a rebound of Jonny Tychonick’s point shot just over Berger’s leg.
The Vees outshot Merritt 20-6 in the period and could easily have had a two- or three-goal lead.
Penticton did grab the lead at 3:14 of the third. Johnson made a splendid poke-check to keep the puck alive at the blueline, Ryan Sandelin took it and relayed a perfect feed to Sillinger, who beat Berger with a nifty move to the backhand.
Merritt got Berger to the bench in the last 45 seconds, but didn’t generate much of a push for the tying goal.
The Vees finish up a thus-far perfect four-game homestand with a pivotal matchup against the Trail Smoke Eaters Friday at 7 p.m. Penticton visits the Chilliwack Chiefs on Saturday, also at 7 p.m., in a rematch of last year’s BCHL final.
ICE CHIPS: Sillinger, Johnson and Berger were the three stars … Mitchell and Ward each scored for a third straight game … D James Miller, in his second tour of duty with the Vees after being re-acquired on Sunday, didn’t miss a beat as he took a regular shift with partner Michael Campoli. Campoli is wearing Miller’s old No. 19, while Miller went with No. 32.