vees:blog

With a nail-biting 4-3 victory in Port Alberni the Penticton Vees have accomplished a rare feat - grabbing eight of eight points on Vancouver Island. The Vees win on Sunday was their third win in 48 hours and fourth in five days in hostile territory.

Sean Bonar was spectacular down the stretch as the Bulldogs pressed for an equalizing goal in the final three minutes. Bonar made 29 stops on 32 shots for his eleventh win of the year in his final game before departing for Prince Edward Island to play for Team Canada West at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge.

Luke Curadi opened the scoring less than two minutes in with his second of the season. Less than 3 minutes later Beau Bennett put the Vees up by two with his twelfth of the season and the Vees looked like they were well on their way.

After the opening pair though, the Vees faced a major hurdle in the form of four minutes and 40 seconds of consecutive Alberni 5-on-3 advantage. The Vees managed to kill off the first 4:38 before a point-shot was tipped past Bonar by Sam Mitchell.

Logan Johnston’s 5th goal early in the second put the Vees back up by two, before Matt Paltridge made it 4-1 midway through the second frame. Jesse Halikas brought the Bulldogs within a pair late in the second period, and Warren Muir had the lone goal in the third period to get the Bulldogs within one, which was as close as they would get.

Eric Filiou recorded the only multi-point performance as he recorded his 7th and 8th assists of the year. Other Vees seting up goals on the night were Joey LaLeggia, Jake Johnson, Ben Sexton and Alex Szczechura.

After a four-win week on the Island the Vees are now (15-2-0-1) and have won five in a row after an overtime loss to Vernon on the 9th of October.

With the win the Vees are now a single point behind the Vernon Vipers for top spot in the Interior Conference, with the Vipers holding a game in hand.

Heading east for the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge on Monday are Joey LaLeggia and Sean Bonar who will play for Team Canada West, and Beau Bennett who will join Team USA midweek. The trio of Vees will miss the next four games before returning to the Okanagan to join the Vees. Penticton has sent ten players and one coach to the international event in the four years of its existence.

Next action for the Vees comes Friday Night at the SOEC as the Burnaby Express make their second pass through the Interior Conference. On Saturday night the Merritt Centennials will play visitor in Penticton. Both games start at 7:05 with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 on EZ Rock, and online at MyEZRock.com