vees:blog

The Vees and Warriors meet tonight in Westside for the 10th and final meeting of the season. The Vees come in short handed as a result of the Quesnel/Penticton Wrestlemania Event at the SOEC last night (see below).

Stakes are high as the Warriors lead the Vees by a single point in the race for 3rd spot in the Interior. The Vees have played one fewer game!

Here’s a look a the tale of the tape!

Season Series Team Stats

Record: Vees (6-2-0-1) Warriors (3-4-0-2)

Power Play: Vees (8/59) 13.6% Warriors (4/36) 11.1%

Shots For: Vees (262) 29.1/Game Warriors (270) 30.0/Game

LEADING SCORERS

WS F - Jordan Gagne 9GP (7-2-9)

PEN F Curtis McKenzie 8GP (5-3-8)

WS D - Justin Schultz 8GP (1-6-7)

WS F - Garrett Watson 9GP (1-6-7)

PEN F - Garrett Milan 9GP (3-3-6)

WS F - Trevor Bailey 9GP (2-4-6)

PEN D - Devon Krogh 9GP (0-6-6)

PEN F - Ryan Viselli 8GP (3-2-5)

WS D - Brad Plumpton 9GP (1-4-5)

PEN D - Zack Josepher 9GP (1-4-5)

PEN F - Denver Manderson 5GP (1-3-4)

LEADING GOALIES

PEN - Jordan White (3-3-0) 2.26 GAA, 408:41 TOI

WS - Kevin Jebson (3-5-0) 2.65 GAA, 497:56 TOI

WS - Devon Murtagh (0-1-0) 4.04 GAA, .833 S%, 59:23 TOI

Five members of the Vees have been handed single game suspensions as a result of last night’s line brawl in Penticton.

Gone for tonight’s final regular season game with the Westside Warriors are D - Derek Johnson, D - Matt Paltridge, F - Joey Holka, F - Ryan Johansen, and Head Coach and GM Fred Harbinson.

Also missing due to injury are Vees Captain Denver Manderson (see posting below), Centreman Mitch Lebreche (lower body), and Rearguard Matt Ridley (upper body).

Zack Josepher returns to the line-up tonight after being given Friday’s affair off, he’ll be leaned on tonight with the Vees top defensive pairing watching from the stands (Paltridge & Johnson).

While the Vees picked up 2 points in last night’s game with the Quesnel Millionaires, the 30th of January may go down as the night the Vees lost their Captain, leading scorer and most talented play-maker.

After a line-brawl at the 40:00 minute mark, the game took on an edgy and physical tone in the 3rd period. After watching his teammate narrowly escape a dangerous hit from behind in the 3rd period, Manderson dropped the mitts in an effort to stick up for his teammate, only to leave to the locker room moments later with an upper body ailment.

Scariest for Vees fans is that the injury sustained looked eerily similar to last year’s affliction that kept Manderson out of the regular season line up for nearly half the BCHL season and led to Manderson playing through pain for the final segment of the regular season and most of the playoffs.

Manderson’s return to the Vees this season is certainly in doubt. The loss of the Captain would be a huge blow to this club that hasn’t looked out of place playing the top teams in this league most of the season.

Head Coach and GM Fred Harbinson was visably heated as he joined the broadcast for the coach’s show following the game. Fred was critical of the Millionaires coaching staff, the success of their program and combative tactics used in last night’s 5-1 loss to the Vees.

You can understand Fred’s sentiments, as his top player was injured in a game against a club that will miss the playoffs for a 6th straight season, has shown a history of inciting line brawls, and has contributed little to the league in the way of winning, or graduating players to college.