vees:blog

WORLD JUNIOR ‘A’ CHALLENGE

Just three teams remain in the hunt for gold at the world Jr A Challenge in Summerside, PEI.

Beau Bennett scored this morning against Russia

The defending champions from the USA are through to the gold medal game after hopping out to a commanding 4-0 lead on the way to a 6-3 victory over the Russians earlier today.

Beau Bennett had a goal in the third period for the American side.

Sean Bonar stretches to make a stop for Canada West

In an all Canadian match-up this afternoon (3PM PST), East will be pitted against West with a trip to the gold medal game on the line. Canada East has been perfect since the puck dropped in exhibition, while Canada West is rounding into form having outscored their opponents 13-6 in back-to-back wins over Sweden and Belarus.

Joey LaLeggia (4 assists) and Beau Bennett (3 goals, 1 assist) each have 4 points and sit in the top 10 in tournament scoring, while Sean Bonar is tied for the tournament lead with a pair of wins. Bonar has a save percentage of .897 and a goals against average of 2.68.

***UPDATE***

Team Canada West plastered Team Canada East 9-1… Ugly. So it will be the match-up featuring all three Vees in the gold medal game as Beau Bennett and Team USA will face Joey LaLeggia, Sean Bonar and Team Canada West.

VEES vs. LANGLEY

For the third time in two seasons, the Langley Chiefs will see the Penticton Vees without their best players. Last season the Chiefs beat a Vees club that was missing Brodie Reid, Curtis McKenzie and Denver Manderson in in their only meeting of the season, while this season’s home-and-home today and tomorrow will be missing Vees puck stopper Sean Bonar, D-man Joey LaLeggia, and super-rook Beau Bennett. Also, out for the Vees is Bruins draft pick Ben Sexton who suffered an upper body injury in Alberni on October 25th.

The last time the Vees played the Chiefs outside of the WJAC, was back in 2007 when the team got in an accident on the way to the rink, delayed the start of the game and then promptly shellacked the home side in one of their most thorough efforts of that championship season.

A player to watch tonight for the Chiefs is rookie defender Tim Daly. The 18-year-old 17-year-old is one of just five BCHL players on the NHL Watch List (a list of draft eligible prospects that NHL Central Scouting throws together every Fall). Also, Daly has just committed to St. Cloud State of the WCHA (NCAA), where Fred Harbinson served as assistant coach before arriving the Okanagan.

Jake Johnson has been especially productive for the Vees since arriving from the Sioux City Muskateers of the USHL. The 20-year-old from Minnesota has 9 points in 8 games with the Vees and will be looking to extend his point streak to 8 games tonight.

Langley has been lurking in the weeds in the Coastal Conference, quietly putting together a tidy winning percentage of .650 with teams like Powell River and Surrey getting all the limelight and attention. The Chiefs have a sparkling 6-2-1-0 record at their new rink - The Langley Events Centre, while the Vees are the BCHL’s best on home ice having gone 8-0-0-1 at the SOEC.

Here’s a sneak-peek at Langley’s barn courtesy of broadcaster/blogger/funny-man Evan Hammond of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.

Pre-game broadcast starts at 6:45 with Al Formo and myself on EZ Rock in the South Okanagan and Similkameen, MyEZRock.com, the BCHL.ca Audio Scoreboard, and the BCHL Pay-Per-View.