vees:blog

In a battle of the top two teams in Canada, the Vees and Vipers needed overtime to determine a winner on Saturday night.

Two and half minutes into 4-on-4 play, Rob Short’s shot that bounced off a defender and between Sean Bonar legs stood as the winner, as the Vipers prevailed 2-1.

The Vees were undefeated at home in their previous five games, but still managed to earn a point against their dreaded rivals from Vernon.

Alex Szczechura scored the lone goal for the Vees in a fantastic individual effort down the left wing. Joey Holka had an assist on that goal, which was scored with 4:49 remaining in the third period and forced overtime.

Mike Collins opened the scoring for the Vipers in the second period with Jonathan Milhouse and Braden Pimm adding assists.

Sean Bonar was true on 25 of 27 Shots. Graeme Gordon earned his first win against the Vees with 24 Stops and allowed just one goal.

Both teams played a disciplined brand of hockey with each team killing off two penalties in the game.

Up next for the Vees is a Saturday affair with the Merritt Centennials – a team that beat a short-staffed Vees club last Tuesday.

The national rankings had the Vipers and Vees ranked 1 and 2 respectively coming into tonight’s games. Next week’s CJHL rankings come out on Monday.

After the Vees game on Saturday with the Centennials, the club will have 10 days between games before they resume regular season action in Victoria on the 21st of October.