Vees trying to capture Fred Page Cup in Chilliwack

Penticton loses on road, but still leads series 3-2

Jordan Kawaguchi and the Chilliwack Chiefs overcame a rocky start to stay alive in the Fred Page Cup final.

The unstoppable Kawaguchi collected two goals and two assists as the Chiefs defeated the Penticton Vees 4-2 on Saturday at Prospera Centre in Chilliwack.

The Vees still lead the best-ofseven B.C. Hockey League championship series 3-2 and get another crack at finishing it off Monday at 7 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Game 7, if necessary, would be Tuesday in Chilliwack.

Win or lose, the Vees haven’t been able to stop Kawaguchi, who has six goals and 13 points in the series and has been in on all but one of Chilliwack’s 14 goals in the five games.

Kawaguchi leads the BCHL playoffs with 18 goals and 41 points in 21 games.

Anthony Vincent and Colin Bernard also scored for the Chiefs.

Vees captain Nicholas Jones scored once and assisted on the other by Taylor Sanheim. Jones is second to Kawaguchi in the playoffs with 26 points.

Mark Sinclair made 25 saves for the win, while Mat Robson stopped 27 shots for the Vees.

Early on, it looked like the Vees might run the Chiefs out of their own building and breeze to their fourth straight win in the series.

Jones went bar-down on the blocker side after defenceman James Miller forced a turnover just 92 seconds into the contest.

Jones then made a slick play to control the puck and make a no-look pass to Sanheim, who calmly redirected it into the open side at 4:07 to make it 2-0. But Chilliwack stormed back with four unanswered goals in front of 2,452 fans.