Vees drop 1st-place showdown with rival Vipers
The Penticton Vees lost the battle but are still positioned nicely to win the war.
Jesse Lansdell logged a goal and two assists and linemate Jagger Williamson collected three helpers as the Vernon Vipers topped the Vees 5-2 in front of 3,348 fans on Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Niko Karamanis had a goal and an assist giving the line with Williamson and Lansdell eight points as Vernon (35-13-1-4) pulled into a tie with the Vees for first place in the Interior Division as well as the BCHL overall standings.
Cassidy Bowes and Owen Sillinger scored for the Vees (35-11-2-3), who trailed 1-0 and 4-2 at the period breaks.
Ty Taylor made 31 saves for the win, while Adam Scheel stopped 29 shots for Penticton, who had a four-game win streak halted and lost for just the second time in 16 games in 2018.
The Valley rivals split the season series with each team winning twice with two games tied. Vernon would hold the potential tiebreaker by virtue of outscoring the Vees 16-13 in the six games.
The Vipers virtually had to win Saturday to have any hope of ending the Vees’ BCHL record run of six straight Interior pennants. Penticton has seven games left while Vernon has just five.
The third-place Wenatchee Wild (34-14-4-1) are two points behind the co-leaders with five games remaining.
Vernon got the jump as Karamanis scored on a broken play at 9:51.
The visitors got another fortunate bounce to take a 2-0 lead at 1:15 of the second as Trott’s shot from the right circle went off Vees blueliner Michael Campoli and barely over the line.
Penticton edged within 2-1 at 10:40 of an entertaining second period as Massimo Rizzo picked off a clearing attempt and laid a splendid pass to Bowes in the slot for a wrist shot between Taylor’s pads.
The Vipers restored the two-goal lead just 14 seconds into a power play at 13:51. Williamson fooled everyone by faking a shot and putting a perfect pass on Young’s stick for a one-timer from the left circle into the open side.
But the Vees got that one back just 46 seconds later on a power play of their own as Sillinger walked out from the right corner and again beat Taylor through the five-hole. Wyatt Sloboshan and Jonny Tychonick had the assists.
Vernon got a huge goal with 1:53 left in the period to make it 4-2. A weak shot by Josh Latta bounced off a Vees’ defender right to Brown, who was able to chop it past Scheel.
The Vees seemingly gained some momentum early in the third period after killing off a double-minor for spearing to Sillinger.
But the Vipers again had the answer as a clearing pass around the boards bounced off a skate right out to Lansdell to rap home and close out the scoring at 8:31.
Lansdell, Williamson and Bowes were the three stars.
The Vees play a home-and-home series against the Coquitlam Express (14-35-1-3) beginning with the final “Wicked Wednesday” game of the season at the SOEC starting at 7 p.m. The teams — who would also face-off in the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today — meet again on Friday in Coquitlam.
RANKINGS: After winning two of three games this past week, the Vees stayed No. 14 in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s weekly rankings.
Vernon parlayed a 3-0 week to move back into the rankings at No. 17.
The top four remained unchanged for a third straight week with Carleton Place, Ont., Canadians No. 1 followed by Okotoks Oilers, Nipawin Hawks and Steinbach Pistons. The Spruce Grove Saints jumped five spots to round out the top five.