Vees in familiar undefeated territory
Just four games into the 2022-23 regular season, the Penticton Vees find themselves in familiar territory: undefeated and all alone atop the B.C. Hockey League standings.
The Vees ran their record to 4-0 with a pair of weekend wins, including a 6-1 drubbing of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday and a 10-3 shelling of the West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday.
Through their first four games, the Vees have outscored the competition by a combined total of 30-6. And it shows, with the team currently boasting six of the league’s top-10 scorers, including Josh Nadeau, who leads all others with 10 points.
On the back end, Luca Di Pasquo has started all four Vees games and built up a tidy 1.52 goals-against average and 0.919 save percentage.
Six different Vees lit the lamp on Friday night in Salmon Arm: Billy Norcross, Josh Nadeau, Jackson Nieuwendyk, Bradley Nadeau, Josh Niedermayer and Aydar Suniev.
After a scoreless first period, Norcross got his team on the board just over one minute into the middle frame. The Vees led 3-1 going into the final intermission and added three more goals in the third period.
Dovar Tinling, one of the Vees’ highprofile summer acquisitions, scored twice on Saturday night, as did Suniev, as the club hung a licking on the Warriors at Royal LePage Place.
Tinling, who played both college hockey and junior hockey last season in the U.S., opened the scoring just over three minutes into the period and helped his club build a 3-1 lead through the first frame.
The Vees extended their lead to 6-1 after 40 minutes, then poured in four more goals in the third period.
Nieuwendyk, Norcross, Ben Brunette, Frank Djurasevic, Hiroki Gojsic and Brett Moravec also scored for the Vees.
The Warriors got goals from Isaiah Norlin, Michael Salandra and Felix Caron.
Warriors starting netminder Justin Katz surrendered seven goals on 28 shots before he was yanked just 36 seconds into the third period.
The Vees are back in action this coming weekend with a pair of home games, Friday against the Merritt Centennials (2-2-0-0) and Saturday against the Warriors (3-1-0-0).
West Kelowna 5, Victoria 1
Kailus Green scored twice just 13 minutes into the game, as the West Kelowna Warriors cruised to a 5-1 win Friday night against the host Victoria Grizzlies.
Brennan Nelson also had a pair, while Jake Bernadet added a single for West Kelowna, and Katz posted a 21-save win in net.
West Kelowna returns to the ice Friday night in Cranbrook (3-1-0-0)
Prince George 4, Vernon 2
After dropping behind 2-0 just minutes into the first period, the Vernon Vipers couldn’t recover and fell 4-2 to the host
Prince George Spruce Kings on Friday night.
Luke Pakulak and Isaac Tremblay scored for the Vipers, who trailed 2-1 and 4-1 at the period breaks.
Roan Clarke stopped 27 of 31 shots in a losing effort for Vernon.
Vernon 5, Prince George 1
Twenty-four hours after locking horns in Prince George, the Vipers and Spruce Kings got together on Saturday night in Vernon for the rematch.
And within the friendly confines of Kal Tire Place, the Vipers built a 4-0 lead through 40 minutes, before the two sides exchanged goals in the final frame.
Julian Facchinelli, with two, and Hank Cleaves, Dylan Compton and Seiya Tanaka-Campbell scored for Vernon, while Roan Clarke turned aside 25 of 26 shots in the Vipers’ crease.
Vernon (1-3-0-0) returns to action Friday night in Salmon Arm (3-1-0-0).
ICE CHIPS:
The BCHL says it has a record 410 graduates playing this season in NCAA Division 1, the highest level of U.S. college hockey. That tops the record of 380 alumni last season.
The program with the most league alumni is Bentley University, which will ice 17 former BCHL players on their roster.
Brown University and Quinnipiac University each have 14 alumni on their roster, while Yale University and last year’s number-one ranked team Minnesota State University have 13 each.