Points rain on Okanagan’s teams
Fans of high-scoring hockey had plenty to cheer about Friday night as the Penticton Vees hung an 8-2 licking on the West Kelowna Warriors.
Owen Simpson opened the scoring just 38 seconds after the puck dropped and the Vees took a 6-1 lead into the first intermission.
Simpson finished with a team-high three points. The Vees also got goals from Jackson Nieuwendyk, Billy Norcross, Brett Moravec, Josh Nadeau, Aydar Suniev, Spencer Smith and Beanie Richter.
Jaiden Moriello and Ben MacDonald replied for West Kelowna.
Despite the lopsided score, the shots were only 29-24 in favour of Penticton.
Luca Di Pasquo picked up the win for the Vees, while Angelo Zol and Cayden Hamming split the loss for the Warriors.
Penticton’s scoring machine kept rolling Saturday night in Merritt, with Simpson once again notching the first goal – albeit eight minutes into the affair.
Suniev, with two, and Norcross, Nieuwendyk, Josh Nadeau and Bradly Nadeau also tallied for the Vees, who led 3-0 and 5-1 at the intermissions.
Hanky Levy stopped 20 of 22 shots in
Penticton’s win, while Connor Sullivan took the loss with a 36-save effort.
The Vees (38-3-0-1) were back in action for a Monday matinee against the Cranbrook Bucks (29-11-1-2), whose were second in the Interior Conference standings but 16 points back of the Vees. The result wasn’t available by press time.
WEST KELOWNA 5, TRAIL 2
Coming off a big loss the previous night in Penticton, the West Kelowna Warriors took out their frustrations on the Trail Smoke Eaters with a 5-2 win on Saturday.
Riley Sharun netted a pair, while Michael Salandra and Kailus Green added singles for the Warriors, who led 2-1 and 3-1 at the intermissions.
Hamming turned aside 24 of 26 shots fired at him in the West Kelowna cage.
The Warriors (23-16-4-1) were in Merritt for a Monday matinee against the Centennials (11-26-3-2)
VERNON 6, POWELL RIVER 5 (SO)
It was a wild Friday night in Powell River as the visiting Vernon Vipers scratched out a 6-5 shootout win on first leg of a punishing three-game road trip.
The Vipers built a 2-0 lead after the first period and stretched it to 3-1 after 40 minutes.
The fireworks started in the third period as the clubs combined for five goals, including a Kings marker with just 46 seconds left that sent the game to overtime, which solved nothing.
The contest was finally decided by a shootout, with Connor Elliot scoring the lone goal to win it for Vernon.
Lee Parks scored twice, while Reagan Milburn and Julian Facchinelli also tallied for the Vipers, who got a 34-save performance from netminder Ethan David.
NANAIMO 3, VERNON 2 (OT)
After surrendering the game’s first goal just 36 seconds into the match, the Vernon Vipers managed to salvage a point Saturday in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Nanaimo Clippers.
The Vipers trailed 2-0 midway through the game, before Parks and Connor Elliott knotted the score at 2-2.
Vernon’s comeback fell short when the Clippers scored on a power-play at 3:32 of overtime. Vipers goaltender Roan Clarke was credited with the loss for his 31-save performance.
The Vipers (20-18-1-4) closed out the weekend with a Monday afternoon tilt against the host Trail Smoke Eaters (16-21-2-3).