Vees in command, ‘Backs-Warriors split first 2
It’s a dead heat between the West Kelowna Warriors and Salmon Arm Silverbacks, while the Penticton Vees are in the driver’s seat against the Vernon Vipers, following weekend action in the second round of the B.C. Hockey League playoffs.
Penticton won twice at home to seize a 2-0 series lead, with Games 3 and 4 set for tonight and Wednesday in Vernon.
West Kelowna split its two games at home, losing 6-1 to Salmon Arm on Friday, then winning 5-4 in overtime on Saturday. Games 3 and 4 are set for tonight and Wednesday in Salmon Arm.
Over in the Coastal Conference, the Surrey Eagles and Victoria Grizzlies are tied 1-1, ahead of Game 3 on Monday night in Victoria. And the Alberni Valley Bulldogs have a 2-0 advantage against the Chilliwack Chiefs, with Games 3 and 4 set for tonight and Wednesday in Alberni Valley.
Warriors’ forward Trent Wilson leads the BCHL playoff scoring race with four goals and 15 points. Vees’ goalie Andrew Ness boasts a 1.00 goals-against average, tops among all BCHL playoff netminders.
Vees 4, Vipers 3 (OT) Anselmo Rego scored twice, including the overtime winner, as the Penticton Vees hung on for a 4-3 win Friday against the Vernon Vipers in Game 1 of their second-round BCHL playoff series.
Owen Kim opened the scoring for Vernon just over a minute into the contest, before Rego struck for his first of the night about five minutes after that.
Vernon added one more to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, which grew to a 3-2 advantage after 40 minutes.
Vees’ co-captain Callum Arnot scored the lone goal of the third period to set up overtime, which Rego ended just 1:40 into the extra session.
Shots were 35-24 in favour of the Vees, who started Will Ingemann in net. Ethan David took the loss in goal for the Vipers.
Vees 3, Vipers 1 Once again it was the Vernon Vipers who scored first, but the Penticton Vees who scored last to earn a 3-1 win on Saturday in Game 2 of their second-round BCHL playoff series.
Georgios Stavrianeas got the Vipers on the board at the 11:50 mark of the first period, but the lead held up for less than two minutes as Zack Stringer got the Vees even at 13:08.
There was no scoring in the second period, before James Fisher and Simon Meier fired third-period goals for Penticton.
The shot tally was 44-21 in favour of the Vees, who had Andrew Ness in net. Ethan David took the loss for the Vipers.
Penticton has now won six consecutive games to start the playoffs, following a first-round sweep of the Prince George Spruce Kings, in pursuit of a third consecutive playoff title.
The Vees finished the regular season in first place in the Interior Conference with a record of 38-10-3-3, while Vernon placed fourth with a record of 33-192-0. Vernon toppled the Trail Smoke Eaters 4-1 in the first round.
Silverbacks 6, Warriors 1 After a cautious start, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks struck for four straight goals while putting together a 6-1 win on Friday night in Game 1 of their second-round BCHL playoff series against the West Kelowna Warriors.
Following a scoreless first period, the ‘Backs fired a pair of goals in the second period and stretched their lead to 4-0 by the 13-minute mark of the third period. The teams then combined for three goals in the final three minutes.
Nathan Mackie, Riley Ashe, Patrick Raftery, Ryan Gillespie, Tanner Walos and Maddux Martin all scored for Salmon Arm, which had Eli Pulver in net.
Viggo Nordstrom scored the lone goal for West Kelowna, which started Matthew DellaRusso
in net and replaced him with Kaden Clegg late in the game.
Shots were 40-22 in favour of the ‘Backs.
Warriors 5 Silverbacks 4
(overtime)
Carter Oakenfold scored his first goal of the BCHL playoffs when it mattered most – two minutes into overtime on Saturday night in Game 2 of the second-round series between his West Kelowna Warriors and the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Oakenfold’s marker just over two minutes into extra time lifted the host Warriors to a 5-4 win and tied the series 1-1.
Nathan Mackie got the Silverbacks on the board just 25 seconds into the game, and the score stayed that way until the Warriors seized a 2-1 lead midway through the contest.
The clubs traded goals after that to set the stage for overtime.
Jack Pridham scored twice, while Jackson Kyrkostas and Viggo Nordstrom also tallied for the Warriors.
JJ Monteiro scored twice and Cole Cooksey had the other goal for the Silverbacks.
Shots were 42-24 in favour of West Kelowna, which had Matthew DellaRusso between the pipes. Eli Pulver took the loss for Salmon Arm.
The Warriors needed all seven games to beat the Cranbrook Bucks in Round 1, while the Silverbacks required six games to dispatch the Merritt Centennials.
West Kelowna finished the regular season in second place in the Interior Conference with a record of 33-10-11-0, while Salmon Arm placed third with a record of 34-17-0-3.
It’s 42 million views and counting for an inflammatory social-media post that might be unlike anything ever seen in English soccer.
The final whistle had just been blown on Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 defeat at Everton in the Premier League on Sunday when a social media post on X was published by the frustrated losing club.
It went beyond criticizing match officials for perceived incompetence for the failure to award penalties for what Forest said were three clear fouls during the game.
It pointed to potential foul play by questioning the integrity of the Video Assistant Referee -- Stuart Attwell -- who, the club said, is a fan of Luton, which is battling with Forest to avoid relegation.
Signing off, the post said Forest will “consider its options” about how to proceed.
On Monday, the club released another statement, saying it has submitted a formal request for English soccer’s referees’ body to release the audio recordings between Attwell and on-field referee Anthony Taylor for the incidents in question in order to gain “full transparency” and ensure “the integrity of our sport is upheld.”
The Premier League responded a few hours later, saying it was “extremely disappointed” by the nature of Forest’s post-match statement and will be investigating the matter.
The Football Association also confirmed it will be looking into the statement.
“It is never appropriate to improperly question the integrity of match officials,” the Premier League said.
Forest -- a an champion two-time Europe-- has rarely been out of the news since returning to the Premier League last season, after an absence of 24 years, under the stewardship of largerthan-life owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Signing a record 21 players at a cost of around $160 million in the first transfer window after promotion showed this was a club which would be doing things differently.
Forest has been made to pay for that wild spree, with the club recently having been docked four points for breaching the league’s financial rules. It is appealing against that sanction.
This season, with the team again under the threat of relegation and in fourth-to-last place, Forest has adopted an us-againstthe-world mentality for what it perceives to be poor refereeing decisions hurting the team. It has even hired former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg as a consultant this season.