Vees clinch league playoff title, as Warriors, Vipers struggle to finish
After another lopsided weekend of play in which they outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 20-3, the Penticton Vees have clinched their second consecutive B.C. Hockey League regular season championship.
The club earned the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy on Friday night with a 13-1 win over the host Merritt Centennials.
Aydar Suniev led the way with three goals, Thomas Pichette and Bradly Nadeau added pairs, while Ryan Hopkins, Billy Norcross, Beanie Richter, Josh Nadeau, Frank Djurasevic and Hiroki Gojsic scored singles.
Vees netminder Luca Di Pasquo picked up his league-leading 30th win of the season, as the 19-year-old stopped 15 of 16 shots. Merritt starting goaltender Conor Sullivan faced 60 shots at the other end.
One night later, the Vees fired 65 shots at the Trail Smoke Eaters’ net in a 7-2 win there.
Penticton was down 2-0 early in the game, but went to the dressing room at the first intermission tied 2-2 and stayed in the driver’s seat from there.
Jackson Nieuwendyk, Joshua Niedermayer, Dovar Tinling, Bradly Nadeau, Josh Nadeau and Suniev all scored for the Vees.
Di Pasquo stopped 19 of 21 shots in the Vees’ crease. He now leads all BCHL goaltenders with a 1.65 goals-against average.
The Vees also have a stranglehold on the BCHL scoring race. Bradly Nadeau is tops with 94 points, followed by brother Josh Nadeau at 91 points and Suniev at 76. Ean Somoza of the Wenatchee Wild is a distant fourth with 63 points.
Penticton (43-3-0-1) has seven games left in the regular season – six of them at home – beginning with a date Friday night against the Langley Rivermen (13-29-2-3).
CRANBROOK 7, WEST KELOWNA 1
Meanwhile, it was a heartbreaking weekend for the West Kelowna Warriors, who began with a 7-1 loss Friday night against the visiting Cranbrook Bucks.
Cranbrook (32-13-1-2) led 2-0 and 5-1 at the intermissions.
Ben MacDonald, with his 20th of the season, scored the lone goal for the Warriors, whose goaltenders faced a total of 51 shots in the shared loss.
MERRITT 5, WEST KELOWNA 4 (OT)
After overcoming a four-goal deficit in the first period, the West Kelowna Warriors stalled out just short of a comeback Saturday night versus the Merritt Centennials.
Christopher Duclair got the Warriors’ comeback started early in the second stanza and the score was tied 4-4 with about seven minutes to play.
In the extra frame, Aidan Lindblad ended it for Merritt just over three minutes in.
Macdonald, Rylee Hlusiak and Luke Devlin had the Warriors’ other goals, while their two netminders faced 24 shots in the combined losing effort.
West Kelowna (26-17-5-0) has six games left on the regular season, the first five of which are at home beginning this Friday when the Prince George Spruce Kings (24-19-4-1) visit.
PRINCE GEORGE 3, VERNON 2
It was the Prince George Spruce Kings who drew first blood in a two-game weekend set with the host Vernon Vipers.
The Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Friday night, after which Griffen Barr and Connor Elliott replied for the Vipers to even things up. Prince George scored the go-ahead goal with under three minutes to play.
Netminder Roan Clarke faced just 10 shots in the losing effort for Vernon.
VERNON 3, PRINCE GEORGE 0
One goal per period was all it took for the Vernon Vipers to extract a measure of revenge from the Prince George Spruce Kings on Saturday night.
Luke Pakauluk, Thomas Tien and Reagan Milburn handled the Vipers’ scoring, while Ethan David turned in a 27-save shutout performance.
Vernon (22-20-20-4) has six games left in the regular season, beginning with home dates this Friday against Salmon Arm (25-16-4-2) and Saturday against Prince George.