Vipers beat Vees in 1st-place showdown
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 night 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 and 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 the second time in 16 games in 2018.
The Valley arch-rivals split the season series with each team winning twice with two games tied. Vernon would hold the 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 (34-144-1) 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.
Vernon got a huge goal with 1:53 left in the period to make it 4-2. A weak shot by Josh Latta bounced to Brown, who was able to chop it past Scheel.