vees:blog

Denver Manderson’s doesn’t seem to mind playing the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. The Vees Captain powered the Penticton Vees to a 5-2 victory in the Shuswap on Saturday to sweep a weekend home-and-home. Captain Manderson who leads the BCHL with 24 points, put up eight points over the two game set to extend his BCHL leading point streak to 8 games. Manderson had a goal and three assists in each game and now has 9 goals on the year – another league leading stat.

Manderson’s line-mates played well, as Garrett Milan notched his fifth goal of the year and Beau Bennett tallied his pace setting seventh power play goal. Bennett has yet to score 5-on-5 but sits second in league scoring behind his 20-year-old centre.

BEAU KNOWS THE PP

Alex Szczechura recorded his third goal of the season and added an assist to push his point total to 9 points in 6 games played as a BCHL rookie. While Montreal product Eric Filiou added his third goal of the season.

Mark Zengerle set up both goals for the Silverbacks in a losing cause, with Tyler Gubb and Jagger Dirk finishing off each play. 1,087 fans were in attendance at the Sunwave Centre, where the home team has yet to win this year.

Tony Ierfino and Sean Bonar were both busy on Saturday as the Vees recorded 47 shots and the Silverbacks had 29. Ierfino allowed 4 goals with a fifth being scored into an empty net, while Bonar stopped all but two Salmon Arm attempts. Bonar’s breakaway save in the 3rd period on Mark Zengerle kept the Vees ahead by one and stalled what was a furious comeback attempt by the Silverback in the third period.

Penticton finished 2/8 on the man-advantage, while Salmon Arm was 1/4. On the weekend the Vees finished 4/16 on the PP, while the Silverbacks were 2/12.

Up next for Penticton is a Tuesday night affair in Merritt where the Vees will be without the services of Garrett Milan, Joey LaLeggia, and Sean Bonar who will be in Okotoks, Alberta. The talented trio have all been invited to Team Canada West’s World Jr. ‘A’ Challenge Evaluation Camp that will determine which players will dawn the maple leaf come November in Prince Edward Island.

With the win the Penticton Vees (7-1-0-0) now have 14 of a possible 16 points, good for top spot in the Interior Conference, while the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (3-3-0-1) are dropped to .500 with the loss, and remain in fourth in the Conference.