vees:blog

The Penticton Vees have returned home with three of four points from a two game, three-day coastal road swing.

After suffering a 2-1 overtime setback in Powell River on Friday, the Vees beat Burnaby 3-1 in the lower mainland on Saturday to sweep their season series with the Express.

Rookie sensation Beau Bennett recorded his first BCHL hat trick, striking twice on the power play in the second period and once into an empty net to ice the game late in the third. Bennett now has 20 goals in just 24 games and trails just 20-year-olds Trevor Bailey (Westside) and Mitch MacMillan (Alberni Valley) in goals scored this season.

Denver Manderson had a pair of assists in the win, and now sits just 3 points back of Mark Zengerle with a game in hand for the BCHL lead in points.

The Vees penalty kill stood tall early in Burnaby as Luke Curadi was given a two-minute and five-minute penalty as well as a ten-minute misconduct for an altercation with former Vees pest Luke Challier in the first period. The Vees were short handed for seven minutes straight including two minutes down two-men when Matt Paltridge took a minor. The Vees ended up surrendering just a single goal on six Burnaby opportunities.

The Vees power play finished 2 for 8 with Bennett notching both goals scored while up a man. Burnaby got their lone goal on the power play in the first period as former Vees defender James Bettauer popped in his first of the season in just his second game of the year.

Joel Rumpel earned his tenth victory of the season on Saturday as he stopped 21 of 22 shots. The rookie net-minder has ten win and just two losses, a 2.01 GAA, and a .922 Save Percentage.

Absent from the line-up for the Vees was Bo Dolan, who will be out until the New Year with a lower body injury, and Sean Bonar who is recovering from the Swine Flu.

Next up for the Vees is a three game weekend that kicks off Friday with the Williams Lake Timberwolves in town. Saturday Prince George makes their first visit to the SOEC this season, and Sunday afternoon the Vees play in Trail in their maiden trip to Cominco Arena this season.

You can catch all the Vees action on Penticton’s Hockey Home EZ Rock AM 800, on MyEZRock.com or at the BCHL.ca Audio Scoreboard.

I caught up with Vees Assistant Coach David Small on Saturday on the Queen of Surrey to talk travel planning for the trip up to the Sunshine Coast.

It’s not a cheap venture to head up to Powell River for a single game, Dave explains why.

Ben Sexton, Jake Johnson and Vees Athletic Therapist Geoff Carter enjoy some ‘deck talk’ on the Island Sky (a new member of the BC Ferries fleet)

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Twice this season the Penticton Vees have gone to overtime and twice they they’ve been defeated. Friday Night in Powell River the Vees lost 2-1 with the eventual OT winner bouncing in off a skate to spoil a comeback bid.

Bo Dolan was injured in the OT Loss to Powell River

Alex Szczechura score the game tying goal in the third period, tapping in a puck that Denver Manderson had blasted through Josh Watson, but the Vees could only come up with one point on the night.

Andrew Pettitt’s winner in extra time caromed in off a Powell River skate, but after conferring with his linesman, the referee call the play a goal, which likely indicated no kicking motion, and a legal goal.

Another tough bounce put the Vees down 1-0 late in the second period as Ben Schmidt notched his 7th goal of the season short handed. Denver Manderson won a draw in the offensive zone back to the point, where the puck hopped over the stick of a Vees point-man setting up Schmidt on a short handed break.

While the Vees get a point on the night in an OT loss, their biggest setback may be the loss of Bo Dolan who was taken to hospital after a lower body injury sidelined him in the second period. Dolan is out indefinitely but is in good spirits. His service may be lost for the season.

Josh Watson was spectacular in net for Powell River, setting aside 32 of 33 shots he faced from the Vees. In the crease for the Vees, Joel Rumpel was solid in his second straight start stopping 29 of 31.

Sean Bonar is still out with the swine flu and doesn’t yet have a timetable for a return to the line-up.

Neither team could take advantage of nine power plays on Friday. The Vees finished 0/5 on the man advantage and were a perfect 4/4 on the penalty kill.

Next up for the Vees is a trip to Burnaby to face the Express at Bill Copland Arena on Saturday. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:30 with the pre-game show starting at 7:15 on EZ Rock. The Vees defeated the Express 8-0 in their first meeting of the season in Penticton.

WEATHER

Rain, rain, rain, power outage, rain, power outage, rain, rain.

Welcome to Powell River, ironically located on the ‘Sunshine Coast’ of BC, where candles line the hallways of the Powell River Town Centre Hotel.

The weather report is pretty soggy here. Unlike most places North of the 49th parallel you might trade in a block heater and a snow shovel for an umbrella and a pair of rain boots in the winter.

Getting games played here in Powell River has been a nightmare in the last week. The locals are getting antsy here after the last two home games have been cancelled due to nutso weather. On Sunday high winds suspended ferry sailings that kept the Nanaimo Clippers on Vancouver Island. On Wednesday the Vipers were in town only to have the game cancelled due to a 3.5 hour power outage.

Hopefully tonight we’ll see hockey in PR.

The song getting love on my iPod is appropriately named ‘The Rain’ by Calvin Harris.

KINGS NOTES

As for the hockey here - the Kings are on a bit of a skid after leading the Coastal Conference for the lion’s share of September and October. With just 2 wins in their last 12 games the Kings have slid to fourth in the Coastal Conference.

The King’s strength is from the net out as the tandem of Josh Watson and Michael Garteig have kept opponents well under 3 goals a game.The Powell River defense has four returning cogs that played a bunch in last season’s run to a Coastal Conference Championship.

The glaring weakness for this club is their lack of skilled players upfront. The Kings used all six 20-year-olds slots on forwards last season, which leaves them without most of their firepower from last season.

Lebreche in Training Camp

Mitch Lebreche will play his first game against his former club tonight. Lebreche was part of the 07/08 Fred Page Champion Vees and was moved from Penticton in the pre-season. Mitch is enjoying his most productive season of his BCHL career as he sits on career highs in goals, assists, and points as a 19-year-old.

Last season, the Vees were shellacked in Powell River in Jordan White’s first game of the season. The much older Kings dismantled the Vees as league leading scorer Darcy Oakes buried a pair of goals including one on the first shot of the game. The Kings would win 8-4 with ease.

The Kings have been very solid on home ice this year (like last year) having lost just 2 games in regulation in eleven games at the Rec Centre.

Here’s more from a Vees perspective courtesy Emanuel Sequiera of the Penticton Western News.

TRAVEL ITINERARY

It took the Vees 10 hours to get to Powell River yesterday. Two ferries and a lot of time on the bus was need to finally arrive in the isolated community.

The Queen of Surrey

The Vees were on the bus at 10 AM, at Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver) by 2:30, On the Queen of Surrey at 3:30, back on the bus to drive from Langdale to Earl’s Cove, onto the Island Sky at 6:30, and finally pulled into to Powell River at 8PM. That’s a long way for a single hockey game (you could get to Calgary with less hassle, lower cost, and in less time).

Tomorrow the Vees will need two ferries to get back to Burnaby for their 7:30 game with the struggling Express.

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.

More Vees banter courtesy the good folks at the Kettle Valley Station Pub and Cannery Brewing.

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The Penticton Vees didn’t miss a beat with four of their top players out of the line-up on Friday Night, as they pounded the Burnaby Express 8-0 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Alex Szczechura had two assists while filling on the Vees top line

Joey Holka and Bo Dolan notched a pair of goals each, and rookie puck-stopper Joel Rumpel turned aside all 33 shot for his first BCHL shutout and the Vees sixth consecutive victory. Harrison May allowed all eight goals on 45 Vees shots in the eleventh loss in the last thirteen games for the Express.

Captain Denver Manderson added another 3 points including his 15th goal of the season, while newcomer Taylor Peters had a short handed goal and two assists in his first BCHL game since being assigned to Penticton from Portland of the WHL. Other Vees recording multi-point nights were Garrett Milan, Jake Johnson, and Alex Szczechura. Johnson now has 8 points in 7 games since arriving in Penticton after starting his junior career with the Sioux City Muskateers of the USHL.

The Penticton home victory spoiled the return of former Vees Brad Reid, Jimmy Geerin, Matt Ridley and Luke Challier – who had multiple opportunities but failed to get the puck past Joel Rumpel.

With Sean Bonar and Joey LaLeggia playing for team Canada West in the World Junior A Challenge in P.E.I. and Ben Sexton out with an upper body injury, the Vees showed superior depth to their opponents who were also missing numerous players to a flu bug that has passed through their team.

When the dust settled on Friday nine Vees players had a point while seven had multi point nights. The Vees have 19 point in their last ten games with the only hiccup an overtime loss to the Vipers on October 9th. The Vees sit one point behind the Vipers for top spot in the Interior Conference, while Vernon holds a game in hand.

The Vees power play was the lone blemish on the night as the Vees finished 0/3, though the penalty kill was a perfect 6/6.

Tomorrow the Vees host the Merritt Centennials who are battling the flu and lost 10-4 to Vernon on Friday. Opening face-off is at 7:05 while the pre-game show on EZ Rock starts at 6:45.

Eddie Gregory joins us to preview Friday’s pending visit from the Burnaby Express (lots of former Vees on that squad). Also we hear from the Head Scout of the Vees, catch highlights of a successful 6-days on Vancouver Island, and pick Coach Fred Harbinson’s brain as we cornered him on the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver last night.

Who’s leading the Vees in the 3 star standings?? Rock hard hits?? Hardest working honours? Yeah.. we’ve got that too!

‘Vees This Week’ is brought to you by Boston Pizza. Be sure to join us at BP’s on the 3rd of November as the whole team will be in attendance to sign autographs, and we’ll have prizes galore - including a spectacular Canucks prize package including two ticket to a ‘nucks game and a night’s stay in Vancouver. See you there!

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As for the head honcho’s thoughts… I caught up with Fred Harbinson on the Ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver (that’s Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay for you ferry enthusiasts).

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