vees:blog

Yes. Seriously! No kidding.

It may not feel like it, but a fourth of 60 is still 15.

Al Formo and I sat down in the Lobby of the hotel in Victoria to reflect on the first quarter of the Vees season.

‘12-2-0-1′ looks nice, though that Merritt loss still stinks.

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I spoke with Miami Redhawks 18-year-old freshman Curtis McKenzie on Monday.

The new guy is fitting in quite nicely in Ohio as he potted his first goal in his first game against. Curtis is back to the books and getting used to his new club in the CCHA.

Curtis lead the Vees in Goals, Points, GWG, PPG, SHG and PIM last season as a 17-year-old. Curtis was a member of the Canada West World Jr. A Challenge silver medal team, Team West of the CJHL Prospects Game, a BCHL All-Star, was named Captain of the Vees when Denver Manderson was injured in January, and was drafted by the Dallas Stars in June.

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VEES ADD FORWARD

The Vees have signed USHL forward Jake Johnson (89) to join the club. Jake represents the Vees last import and 20-year-old spot on the roster, as each BCHL team can carry six 20’s and 8 imports.

Where Johnson fits into the Vees picture is yet to be seen. Johnson arrived in Penticton today and skated with the club in their pre-game ice-time.

ANOTHER COLLEGE COMMITMENT

Late cut from training camp F - Steve Iacobellis (93) - who captains the Vancouver Major Midget Giants - has accepted a scholarship to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Iacobellis joins fellow 16-year-old Stephan Nicholishin as a future Maverick.

“We are very excited for Steven, he can now focus on playing the game knowing where he will be for the next six years of his career. I look forward to helping develop Steven over the next two seasons”

~ Vees Head Coach and GM Fred Harbinson

The Vees have 8 players committed to NCAA programs on their roster not including Iacobellis who is a safe bet to join this Vees club next season.

VEES VS. COWICHAN VALLEY CAPITALS

- The Cowichan Valley Capitals arrive in the Okanagan today as one of the youngest teams in the BCHL. The Caps are carrying just three 20-year-old, and have 4 players who are 16 or 17 years of age.

- The Caps are averaging a league worst 2.9 goals per game played, and have no players with over 3 goals. The Vees by contrast have seven.

- The Caps have added last year’s only BCHL goalie on the NHL draft watch list, in Alexandre Peck. Peck posted some nice numbers with the Victoria Grizzlies last year as they hosted the RBC Cup.

- The Vees have now killed off 11 straight penalties dating back to their loss in Merritt last Tuesday.

- Lost amid his torrid scoring pace is Denver Manderson’s 11 game point streak. The Vees captain has recorded at least a point in each game of the season. Quietly, rookie forward Alex Szczechura has recorded point in each of his last 7 games.

- Adam Zamec will make his season debut tonight for the Vees. The alternate captain has been out recovering from off-season injury, but has been skating with the club for a few weeks now. Zamec will play with Hayden Trupp and Stephan Nicholishin on the 4th line.

- Puck drop is 7:05 from the South Okanagan Events Centre. Catch the broadcast of the game at 6:45 with Chad Campbell (who is pinch hitting for Al Formo) and myself on EZ Rock, at BCHL.ca or at myezrock.com

* Randy Sexton (father of Ben) has finally had the interim tag dropped and been named the new GM of the Florida Panthers. Here’s the press conference from earlier today in Helsinki.

* The Ohio State Buckeyes are a team full of Vees Alumni. Zac Dalpe & Cory Schneider are entering their sophomore season, Devon Krogh is a freshman this year, and down the road current Vees Forward Alex Szczechura will be attending OSU. Other BCHL grads on the Buckeyes include Juniors Hunter Bishop (Vernon) & Erick Belanger (Nanaimo), as well as Sophomore Taylor Stephishen (Langley).

Here’s Zac on the expectation for the Buckeyes this season:

…And a season preview

* Another NCAA team laden with BCHLers is the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Junior Evan Trupp (older brother of current Vees forward Hayden) and Sophomore Brett Hextall - the captain of the 2007/2008 Fred Page Cup Champions - play with Seniors Chay Genoway (Vernon) and Darcy Zajac (Salmon Arm).

Here’s a season preview for the highly touted Fighting Sioux squad, who head into the season with

* If you missed Tuesday Night’s loss in Merritt, Emanuel Sequiera has the recap in the Penticton Western News.

* Trail is not a team to be taken lightly by the Vees tonight. The Smokies offense has finally woken up after scoring just 10 goals in their first six games of the year. The Orange & Black beat Williams Lake on Sunday and tied Salmon Arm on Tuesday Night and scored 12 goals in the two games.

* Adam Zamec appears to be close to a return in the Vees line-up. Though I doubt he’ll hit the ice this weekend, I wouldn’t be shocked if he made his debut on Wednesday at home against Cowichan.

* Al Formo is back on the broadcast tonight, and we’ll be joined by Chad Campbell in the pre-game show and 2nd intermission. Puck hits ice at 7:05 and the pre-game show on EZ Rock starts at 6:45 (PST… for you long distance fans). If you aren’t listening on EZ Rock in the South Okanagan or Similkameen, you can hop online to MyEZRock.com or swing by the BCHL’s audio scoreboard at BCHL.ca. Finally, if you are in the SOEC at the game you can tune into 105.5 FM to catch the braodcast.

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.

I spoke with rookie D-man Isaac MacLeod and returning forward Adam Zamec today after Vees practice. While it appears Isaac will make his season debut tonight, Adam’s time-table isn’t so clear.

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Father of Vees D-man Derik Johnson - Jim Johnson has been named the Associate Coach of the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL (Tampa Bay’s Farm Team).

Jim played over 800 games in the NHL and has been working with Tampa’s organization for a few years now.

The Western College Blog has noticed the quick start the Vees have gotten off to and their talented roster.

Ron Vincent, who ripped apart the BCHL in the late 70’s with the Penticton Vees, is the Managing Partner of the club this year. Emanuel Sequiera of the Penticton Western News gives us more on his new role with the club.

Former Vees Defender Deron Cousens was at the Washington Capitals development camp earlier this Fall. The Georgetown Independant & Free Press has more on the Michigan Tech Junior’s brush with the NHL.

Brett Hextall talks about his role for the Fighting Sioux in his sophomore season in North Dakota.

The BCHL has announced Denver Manderson is the player of the week to open the 2009/2010 season.

Hard to argue! The 20-year-old forward has been an offensive catalyst for the Vees upfront cataloging 4 goals and 6 assist in just 3 games. Also the power play - which is a nice and round 10/20 on the season - runs through ‘Mandy’ on the left wall and has been quite impressive.

I caught up Vees HC/GM Fred Harbinson and the Furgus, ON product after Vees practice on Tuesday.

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The man with the ‘C’ on his chest for the Penticton Vees this season is 20-year-old Denver Manderson.

The gifted play-maker from Furgus, ON was a huge part the Vees ‘07/’08 BCHL Championship, and was anointed captain after a late arrival to the Okanagan last season.

Always dynamic and dangerous, Mandy was his productive self with five points in his pre-season debut last night.

With his last two campaigns shortened by injury, Denver is focused on making this last season of Junior his best.

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Monday Scrimmage #1 - Team Orange & Team White tie 7-7 (what no shootout??!)

* Game was 2-1 after two periods, ironically the goals piled up while the ice was in it’s worst shape of the day, as the sheet was flooded after the first frame but not the second.

* Three goalies are in camp. Faust and Rumpel are battling to back up Bonar, who finished his rookie season on the upswing.

* Big Luke Curadi had all in attendance talking, and why not. It’s rare a 6′5, 258 pound defender shows up in the BCHL and his mobility seems to surprise. Curadi, who attended Rangers prospect camp, has only played three years as a defender and is looking to improve his positional play before graduating to college hockey.

* Beau Bennett has some nifty moves and is playing with Manderson and Milan. Perhaps an audition for LA kid on the top line??! Beau was playing with a full face mask, and when asked about the ‘cheese grater’ he noted he has never played with a visor (US kid), but will.

* 6′5 defender (that’s two of them if you are counting) Isaac MacLeod didn’t skate due to a lingering injury. No word on a timetable for his return to contact on ice. Isaac has just obtained a scholarship to Boston College (congrats!). The Nelson kid played last season with his home-town Leafs who won the KIJHL Championship. Isaac’s older brother Alex (who played the better part of two seasons for the Vees) is entering his sophomore season with the Michigan Tech Huskies.

* Of the 40 plus players on the ice, none looked out of place in the scrimmage, which is most certainly a pat on the back to the whole scouting staff of the club.

Monday Scrimmage #2 - Team White 7 - Team Orange 6

* A late goal with an empty net brought Team Orange within one, but a final flurry couldn’t tie things up. The evening ice-time was more physical and heated than the morning, with one battle nearly leading to a fight.

* Logan Johnston was on of the players throwing his weight around. That’s 218 pounds if you are curious, up 20 from last year’s camp.

* Garrett Milan had a nice bar down goal and was showing off that stellar speed of his. The fan favorite sure knows how to finish, expect another big year for the 18-year-old who potted 25 goals and 57 points last year as a rook.

* Eric Filliou had the dish of the day on a beautiful backdoor pass that lead to a goal for Team White. Filliou is a 20-year-old forward who is committed to U-Mass and was acquired for Brodie Reid this Summer.

* Age range is 15 years old to 20 years old (’94-’89 birth years) with all 3 goalies born in ‘91.

* I chatted with Derik Johnson following the second scrimmage to see how the veteran was enduring training camp…

MORE PHOTOS-> (more…)

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