West Kelowna Warriors, Penticton Vees face off in Peach City
SPORTS
The Penticton Vees gave their hometown fans a nice Christmas gift as they skated to a dominating 7-2 victory over the visiting West Kelowna Warriors on Friday evening at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Vees were dominant from puck-drop until the final buzzer as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the midway point of the second period and cruised to what was arguably their most impressive victory of the season.
The win ensured the Vees would remain in first place in the Interior Division as they entered the contest holding a two-point lead (47 points to 45) over the Warriors, while the second-place Wenatchee Wild (46 points) came out on the short end of a 3-0 score against the Vernon Vipers on Friday night.
The Warriors were red-hot coming into Friday’s contest as they had won four games in a row, but this one wasn’t close as the Vees skated to a 2-0 first-period lead and were never threatened the rest of the way.
James Miller continued his outstanding play as he opened the scoring eight minutes into the game. Miller corralled a loose puck near centre ice and skated untouched on a breakaway before beating Warriors goalie Connor Hopkins with a hard low shot over his blocker.
The Vees extended the lead to 2-0 two minutes later when Luke Loheit finished off a lovely three-way passing play by firing a hard wrist shot over Hopkins’ glove hand. Cole Shepherd and Kenny Johnson added the assists on the nicest goal of the night.
The Vees made it 3-0 early in the second period when a hard slapshot from the point by Mason Snell found the back of the net as Hopkins didn’t move and obviously didn’t see the shot.
Penticton captain Massimo Rizzo put the game out of reach a couple of minutes later when he redirected a puck off a rebound into the net for a
4-0 lead. The goal was originally ruled no goal, however, a quick view of the replay made it clear that Rizzo took the puck off his skate and quickly tipped the puck with his stick into the net.
Hopkins was pulled after that 4-0 goal and replaced by Brock Baier, but it didn’t make any difference as the Vees continued to pepper the Warriors’ net with quality scoring chances.
But it was Jack Lagerstrom’s weak wrister that managed to squeak through Baier’s legs and into the net to make it 5-0.
Lukas Sillinger ran the lead to 6-0 just before the 10-minute mark of the second period.
The Warriors got on the board and broke Vees goaltender Derek Krall’s shutout bid on a fluke power-play goal late in the second period as a shot by Cavin Tilsley hit Miller’s skate and squirted through Krall’s legs.
Chase Dubois scored a power-play goal early in the third period to close the gap to 6-2, before Sillinger netted his second goal of the night to round out the scoring with the Vees enjoying a two-man advantage.
The Vees ended up outshooting the Warriors 53-23 over 60 minutes.
A total of 2,910 fans attended Friday night’s game in Penticton.
The Warriors will be seeking revenge tonight in West Kelowna as they host the Vees on the back end of a home-and-home series. Puck-drop at Royal LePage Place is 7 p.m.
The Vees don’t play their next home game until Saturday, Jan. 4 against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
ICE CHIPS: The Vees swept Friday’s three stars with Loheit, Sillinger and Lagerstrom . . . . Following the final whistle, players from both teams stuck around as Vees’ veteran Cassidy Bowes, along with several other local fans, had their hair chopped off. Bowes announced before the regular season began that he would not cut his long locks until he had raised $9,292 (he wears No. 92) for the Canadian Cancer Society. The hair from Bowes and the fans will be donated to the cancer society to be used to make wigs for cancer patients thanks to that successful fundraiser.