vees:blog

Never fun clearing out the stall and saying goodbye.

A final word from the BCHL Champions.

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* The Camrose Kodiaks and Penticton Vees will face-off for the Doyle Cup and the right to go to Cornwall to represent the Pacific Region at the Royal Bank Cup.

* The Kodiaks finaly got their 4th win against the Fort Mac Oil Barons last night in their 3rd try at the trick, winning 2-0 to win the Enerflex Cup. Here’s the Edmonton Sun’s piece on Game 7.

* As champions of the Enerflex Cup, the Kodiaks now make their 5th appearance in the Doyle Cup. The Kodiaks are 4/4, winning the AJHL / BCHL Playoff in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

* For the 1st time since 1986 the Vees will move on beyond BC to continue their season.

* The two teams swapped talent earlier this year, with Nigel Dube and Alex MacLeod moving to Alberta for Eric Kroshus in a deal that made both teams better. MacLeod and Dube bring a physical brand of hockey that fit well with the Kodiaks game, while skilled and quick moving Eric Kroshus has been part of a deep top 9 forwards that can all skate and score.

* While one would imagine the Kodiaks were celebrating after last night’s championship, the Vees were at the rink before 8 this morning for a final practice at home before a long bus ride to Camrose.

* The Vees will enter the Doyle Cup after 8 days without a game, Camrose has just today and tomorrow to gear up for Game 1.

* Here’s the schedule for the Doyle Cup.

The BCHL Champion Penticton Vees (sounds nice doesn’t it) are back on the ice after 2 days of travel, and celebration.

The Vees are the first Penticton Jr. A team to win the Fred Page Cup in 22 years and will now practice on the ’small ice’ of Penticton Memorial Arena this afternoon getting back into the swing of the post-season.

Head Coach and Director Of Hockey Operations Fred Harbinson is at practice today after attending last night’s Game 5 of the AJHL Final.

The team will work-out tomorrow before getting into their regular practice regime Monday.

The Vees may know as soon as tonight who they’ll face in the 2008 Doyle Cup which pits the AJHL Champion against the BCHL Champion.

The Camrose Kodiaks host the Fort McMurray Oil Barons with a chance to win the Enerflex Cup Tonight. Leading 3-1 in the best-of-seven series the Kodiaks will try to bury the Oil Barons starting at 6:30 (Pacific Time) at the Edgeworth Centre.

Here is where you can listen to the AJHL’s live broadcasts.

With the Vees claiming the Fred Page Cup Wednesday Night, Vees Head Coach Fred Harbinson will be in attendance in Camrose, getting a sneak peak for the Doyle Cup.

The Doyle Cup is a best-of-seven that starts in Alberta and will finish in Penticton, with the winner advancing to the Royal Bank Cup in Cornwall, ON.

Congratulations are due all around as the Penticton Valley First Vees are 07/08 BCHL Champions, for the first time in 22 years.

With 9 consecutive victories and back-to-back (4-0) sweeps of the Westside Warriors and Nanaimo Clippers, the Vees knocked off the best possible foe in each Conference, and left little doubt about which team was the best of the BCHL. The 9 game winning streak matches the regular season high for the club, but comes against the best the BCHL has to offer and vaults the team to the Doyle Cup.

Scott Carter and his ownership group, now in their 4th season, have turned this franchise around and back into a perennial contender. This championship puts the Vees back where they belong: among the heavy hitters of Jr. ‘A’ Hockey in this country.

When the buzzer sounded Wednesday Night in Nanaimo, the Vees had completed a thorough beating of the Coastal Conference Champions, who had lost each of the first three games by just a single goal. Game 4 wasn’t close. The depth of the Vees roster was quite evident and the team had the good luck of avoiding serious injuries in the post-season to decisively end the Clippers season.

The defense core was solid with Ryan Wagner and Nic Knudsen shutting down the Clippers best, and the rest of the group stepping up their game for a 4 game sweep.

Up front the Vees super-rookies were their top guns in the final. Zac Dalpe and Austin Smith were all over the score sheet in Nanaimo, with Smith leading all players in the Fred Page Cup with 6 goals, including the first in each contest. The Vees ‘energy’ unit was much better than any 4th line we’ve seen play against the club this season, and the group of 4 lines was much more physical than a talented Clippers crew, that must have been shocked at what they faced.

Between the pipes, Alex Evin showed the Clippers what they probably already knew, mainly that he is the best goalie in the BCHL. Evin earned his 2nd shutout of the season in the final and fourth game.

It’s been some time since the Vees have had to organize travel plans in Alberta, but that is what lies ahead for the freshly minted ‘Best of B.C.’ The team will play the Camrose Kodiaks or Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL, both teams are currently battling for the Enerflex Cup: the league’s championship series.

The format of the Doyle Cup is as such: the Alberta winner will host Games 1 & 2 of the Royal Bank Cup Qualifier, and if one team wins both games the scene will switch to Penticton Memorial Arena. Should both teams split the opening pair, a third game will be played before the Vees will host the remainder of the series at home.

Austin Smith opened the scoring as he did in each of the four games, and Alex Evin recorded his 2nd shutout of the season as the Vees bring the Fred Page Cup back to Penticton for the first time since the Knights did it in 1986.

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Here’s how it looked from Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo.

If you watch the 4th Vees goal, you can see a Clippers skater colide with Goalie Michael Garman. He didn’t return to the game and may have been injured on the collision.

The Vees win another 1 goal game.

The Blue, Black and White have now won 8 straight games.

Iron your black clothes and buy flowers, the Clippers are on life-support.

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Here’s the video from Game 2.

Again, a tip of the hat to the Clippers video guy for posting it to the web.

The Nanaimo Clippers have posted Game Highlights throughout the playoffs (Thanks)!

Here’s Game 1 from Pen Memorial.

The soothing sounds of Dan Marshall (former Vees, and Current Clippers Play-by-Play guy) accompanies the video.

P.S. Austin Smith, that is some dangle you put on Matt Irwin!