Injury bug takes another bite out of Penticton Vees
After losing close to 250 man-games to injury during the BCHL regular season, the Penticton Vees hoped their luck would change in the playoffs. So far, not so much. The Vees lost defenceman Nicky Leivermann to a frightening injury in the first-round, four-game sweep of the Coquitlam Express, and on Tuesday were dealt another huge blow as forward Cassidy Bowes suffered an upper-body injury in practice that will keep him out for at least the entire second-round series against the Trail Smoke Eaters that starts Friday in Penticton.
The 19-year-old from Kelowna fell awkwardly near centre ice, immediately departed and went to hospital to be examined.
Vees GM/head coach Fred Harbinson said more will be known by today, but added Bowes will miss the Trail series and possibly longer, depending on the prognosis.
“Someone will have to step in on one of our top (two) lines or we’ll have to do it by committee,” said Vees GM/head coach Fred Harbinson. “Obviously it’s not ideal losing another player, but we’ve been dealing with it since before training camp.”
Bowes had one assist in three games against Coquitlam, missing one game after being suspended for being late to a team meeting. A playoff hero in the Vees’ run to a BCHL championship as an affiliated player last year, Bowes had 16 goals and 33 points in 49 games this season.
Harbinson said the injury is “similar” to one that sidelined Bowes for nine games earlier this season.
Harbinson said the Vees have had a great week of practice and feel good about themselves going into the Trail series, with Game 1 on Friday at 7 p.m. and Game 2 on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Games 3 and 4 are Tuesday and Wednesday in Trail.
“Not to be insensitive, but the guys are kind of numb to the whole injury thing right now,” said Harbinson. “We’ve rarely gone two weeks without someone going down. We can’t cry about it. There is too much at stake.”
Leivermann was hurt when he was pushed head-first into the end boards and stretchered off the ice in Game 3 in Coquitlam.
The gifted defenceman, picked by Colorado in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, has made great strides since the injury but has not resumed practising.
“He’s out indefinitely . . . that’s about all I know at this point,” said Harbinson.
Forward Ryan Sandelin, who missed the last three games of the regular season and the entire four-game series against Coquitlam with an upper-body injury, is getting close to a return.
Sandelin has practised with a non-contact jersey since last week, and will find out from the doctor today if he can join in full-contact practice in the two days before the series starts.
“He’s close,” said Harbinson, noting forward Ocean Wiesblatt is also available to draw back into the lineup to give the Vees the requisite 18 skaters.
The Vees are of course without forward/cocaptain Grant Cruikshank and defenceman Ryan O’Connell, both on season-ending injured reserve.
The Vees did not have a single skater play in all 58 league games, though forward Jared Nash played in 57 and was a healthy scratch in one game. Captain Owen Sillinger and his younger brother, Lukas, each played in 56.
ICE CHIPS: The Chilliwack Chiefs lost a seven-game, first-round series to the Prince George Spruce Kings, which left them with a 61-day break before hosting the RBC Cup national championship in May. Harbinson said it’s a tough situation for the Chiefs, one of the top teams in the league for several years before struggling this season. “If I was in that situation, I would probably send the kids home for a few weeks,” said Harbinson. “It would be hard to just practice for two straight months.”