vees:blog

The Penticton Vees are back to their winning ways after a emphatic 6-1 win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Wednesday Night at the SOEC.

Ben Sexton was back in the Vees line-up on Wednesday

Eric Filiou and Beau Bennett each had a goal and two assists and Joel Rumpel allowed just a single goal on 21 shots as the Vees recorded their 21st win in their 26th game.

Alex Szczechura scored the only goal in the opening period and then spurred a strong second frame for the Vees that saw them head to the locker room up 5-0 after 40 minutes. After the Silverbacks lone goal in the third period Jake Johnson netted the final goal of the game beating netminder Kurt Williams who played the third period in relief of Tony Ierfino.

Other Vees with multi-point nights were Denver Manderson, Joey Holka and Matt Paltridge. Holka’s 13th of the season was a sight to see as it hit the crossbar, the back of the Silverback net-minder Tony Ierfino and then into the net.

The Vees netted a pair of power play goals in eight opportunities and killed off each of the two minors they were assessed.

Ben Sexton made his return to the line-up in front of 1,500 fans and was deployed as a pivot for Joey Holka and Garrett Milan. Sexton had been out of action since getting injured on the 25th of October in Port Alberni.

Sean Bonar was not with the team on Wednesday as he has caught the swine flu and is in Vancouver recovering away from the team.

The Vees hit the road on Thursday morning to travel up the Sunshine coast to face the Powell River Kings on Friday Night. Saturday the club will face the Burnaby Express before returning back to Penticton early Sunday morning.

You can catch all the upcoming Vees action live on EZ Rock AM 800 in Penticton and on MyEZRock.com with our pre-game show starting at 7:15 on Friday and Saturday.

The Penticton Vees have dropped back-to-back games to the Westside Warriors, the latest a 7-3 setback on Saturday in West Kelowna.

Greyson Downing

For the first time since being eliminated in the playoffs by the Vernon Vipers last Spring, the Vees have lost two games in a row. The weekend skid comes on the heels of a ten game winning streak that was the second longest in the BCHL this season.

Sean Bonar struggled and was replaced by Joel Rumpel in the third while Warriors 17-year-old forward Greyson Downing was a force notching a pair goals – including one shorthanded – and an assist.

Kyle Singleton had three assists and Cole Wilson had two snipes as the Warriors showcased their secondary scoring. Trevor Bailey got his fifth goal of the weekend in the third period (he had four on Friday), and Alex Grieve and Tyler Kraus also bulged the twine much to the delight of the 1408 fans at the Royal LePage Place.

Veteran net-minder Kevin Jebson was solid for the Warriors as he set aside 31 of 34 shots for his fifteenth victory of the season and second in two nights against the Vees. Sean Bonar stopped 18 of 23 shots in the first two periods, before being spelled by Joel Rumpel who made 5 saves on 7 shots in the third.

Matt Paltridge, Alex Szczechura and Ryan Viselli scored for the Vees in the loss, while Denver Manderson’s league leading point streak was halted at 11 games.

The Vees got beaten badly on special teams on Saturday surrendering a short-handed goal and allowing a pair of power play goals against. The Vees finshed 2/4 on the penalty kill and 0/5 on the power play.

Three players were ejected for hitting from behind on Saturday as Eric Filiou and Logan Johnston got the early shower for the Vees, Spencer Humphries got the boot for the Warriors.

Up next for the Vees (20-4-0-1) are the Salmon Arm Silverbacks who visit the South Okanagan Events Centre on Wednesday night. Thursday morning the Vees head up the Coast to Powell River for a Friday game. On Saturday the Vees will make their only visit to Burnaby.

Wednesday’s home game starts at 7:05, while the road games this weekend begin at 7:30. Catch the pregame show on Wednesday at 6:45 and tune in at 7:15 on the weekend. You can catch every single Vees game on EZ Rock in the South Okanagan and Similkameen and at BCHL.ca.

Thanks again to Jeff Hook for throwing together highlights from Friday’s game at the SOEC. For more SOEC video be sure to check out the channel ‘ROCKtheSOEC’ on YouTube.

One third of the way into the 2009/2010 campaign, the Penticton Vees are on pace for their highest output since being renamed the Vees in 2004.

The Vees wait on the bench for another flood at practice

In fact since junior hockey arrived in Penticton in the 1961 no team has never eclipsed 100 points, though through a third of the season the Vees are ahead of that mystical century mark as 17-2-0-1 is a pace for a 105 point season. While that is just a projection, there are reasons to believe that maybe, just maybe, the Vees can continue to roll at their current pace.

For budding historians in the crowd 52 wins is the BCHL record set by the New Westminster Royals in 89-90 and the Vernon Vipers of 98-99. That New-West club also had 108 points, which stands as the BCHL record. The Royals beat Fred Harbinson (the player) and the Calgary Canucks that year in the Doyle Cup… Crazy.

Clearly this club is deep and talented. Clearly they are among the best teams in Junior ‘A’ in Canada. Clearly there are players who will be selected in the NHL Entry Draft this coming June in LA (Beau Bennett, Luke Curadi, Joey LaLeggia, Sean Bonar, and Isaac MacLeod are on scouting radars). The rest is still to be determined.

With the first 20 games in the history books, let’s pour a scotch, light the fireplace, and take a closer look at how the season has gone to this point. (more…)

A big thanks to Jeff Hook for continuing to throw these together.

Seach ROCKtheSOEC on YouTube for more Video of SOEC Events.

VEES vs. CENTENNIALS

Another short-staffed two clubs will hit the ice at the SOEC this weekend. The Vees will be without the aforementioned 3 WJAC competitors as well as Bruins pick Ben Sexton. Merritt meanwhile have been ravaged by the flu bug (not H1N1) to the point where Friday’s game vs. Vernon was in question earlier in the week. The Cents aren’t the only club who have been hit by the flu bug as Burnaby was missing 5 regulars in last night’s 8-0 loss in Penticton, and tonight’s tilt between the Clippers and Grizzlies has been canceled (speculation has the flu as the culprit).

The EVIL Flu Bug

The Cents are running through goalies like I run through clean socks on a road trip… after adding another young tender in Cameron Dagg (the Cents third 17 or younger), the club has finally brought in an veteran guy in the form of 20-year-old Riley Wall who is a Jr. B journeyman. The Cents have allowed more goals against than any other team in the Milky Way… check that, just the BCHL.

For more on all things red, white and black head to Making Cents: The Centennials Blog.

Meanwhile, you can look for Billy Faust to make his first BCHL regulation start tonight. Faust is an L.A. kid who was teammates with Beau Bennett last year on the LA Jr. Kings (Midget) and has posted great numbers in Nelson (KIJHL, Jr. ‘B’) thus far this season. The Cali-kid has a tough act to follow as Joel Rumpel hung a zero on the Burnaby Express last night for his first BCHL shutout.

Tonight’s broadcast will start at 6:45 on EZ Rock in the South Okanagan and Similkameen, at BCHL.ca at the audio scoreboad, and at MyEZRock.com. I’ll be flying solo as Al Formo is dressing up for Halloween as the invisible man.

WJAC UPDATE

Though the tournament has yet to begin with the games that actually matter, Team Canada West has suited up for a pair of exhibition games in the Maritimes. On Thursday the Western Canadians beat Belarus 3-2 in a shootout, while they dropped a 5-2 decision to the defending gold medalists from USA last night.

As for the Vees in the competition, Beau Bennett has recorded an assist in his only game for the Yankees, while Sean Bonar has a win in his only appearance and stopped all three shots in the shootout, while Joey LaLeggia (who’s name is spelled ‘LaLegea’ in the boxscore) has a single assist in his two games played.

The real action gets underway on Sunday when the Canada West crew face the Russians, and the Americans clash with the Swedes. Elimination games begin on Thursday.

For more on the WJAC go HERE.

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.

Listen Now:

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With the Vees out of action this week (they don’t play again until the 21st of October) this weekend provides an opportunity to get a better look at some of the other story lines around the BCHL.

The Vernon Vipers will make their first Northern road trip as the head to the Caribou for 3 games in four nights. It’s tough to foresee Vernon leaving any points on the table against PG, Quesnel or Williams Lake, though they did lose once in PG last year (it was a full moon and the Vees lost in Quesnel that night too).

The Westside Warrriors and Merritt Centennials have a home-and-home series this weekend with the defensively inept Merritt Centennials. Warriors snipers Cam Reid and Trevor Bailey will have an opportunity to climb the BCHL’s list of points leaders, but will have to play better than they did a few Sunday’s ago where they needed a late rally to win in OT against Merritt at home. A safe bet would be placing money on the Warriors scoring on the man advantage… Lots. The Warriors have the top PP in the league, while the Cents are the worst at killing penalties.

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks head to the Island in the first visit of an Interior team across the Salish Sea (more commonly known as the Straight of Georgia). The Silverbacks will be a good barometer of the quality of the Island opponents the that the Vees will face next week. Saturday features the two Conference runner-up teams when the Gorillas are in Victoria to face the Grizzlies. YouTube says the Silverbacks will win!!!

Trail makes a curious trip to the coast with 2 games on the island and two games in the lower mainland. Did BC Ferries draw up this trip for the Smokies?! The Smokies play Burnaby on Wednesday, then head to the island to play Nanaimo and Cowichan before hitting up Surrey on the way home. This trip nessesitates a second trip to the Island (read: more expen$$$ive ferry trips) than if they were to play all the Island teams in a single visit. Maybe Jim Ingram really likes the Ferry Clam Chowder.

Prince George, Williams Lake (coming off a undefeated bye week!!) and Quesnel get some home action with Langley and Powell River visiting from the coast as well as the aforementioned Vipers. No easy prey for the home teams on this visit.

A rare Monday game sees the Powell River Kings in Billy’s Pond (home of the T-wolves), and Salmon Arm will host the Kings 4th Interior game on Tuesday after returning from the Island… that will be the lactic acid/cement legs game of the week… Take the under!

In the foam noodle fight of the week, fans in Duncan will witness two of the league’s wimpiest offenses as the Cowichan Valley Capitals host the Trail Smoke Eaters on Sunday… Take the under!

Round II of the Bestwick/Graham (Professor/Student) match-up goes Saturday from the Dog Pound in Alberni where the Alberni is (5-1-0-0) and beat Nanaimo two weeks ago. Round III comes a week from Friday!

Denver Manderson’s four-point night and Garrett Milan’s hat trick helped the Vees blow out Merritt 9-1 on Saturday night in Penticton. The Vees earned their 10th win of the year and a slight measure of revenge on the Centennials, who beat the Vees in their only previous meeting of the season.

Beau Bennett had a goal and two helpers and Matt Paltrigdge, Joey LaLeggia, Eric Filiou and Jake Johnson each had two point nights as the Vees offense had an explosive outing in front of 1200 delighted fans.

It was 5-0 Vees after a single period, there were four fights in the second frame and Merritt Centennial Derek Hills finally spoiled Joel Rumpel’s shutout bid in the third period on a breakaway deke.

The shot clock was also tilted the Vees way on this night as the home side mustered 52 shots as compared to the Cents 24. 17-year-old net-minder Keith Hamilton was yanked from the game 7:22 into the first period as he surrendered three goals on ten shots. Next in net for the Cents was Penticton product Cole Holowenko who stopped 36 of 42 guided his way.

Joel Rumpel’s 23 saves got him his third win in four games this year. The only loss Rumpel has suffered was against the Centennials in Merritt.

The Vees went 2/6 on the power play and killed of the lone minor they were assessed.

Manderson and Bennett are now sitting 1-2 in league scoring with the pair each having double digit goal and assist totals just 14 games into the season. Garrett Milan now sits 6th in league scoring with 17 points in just 11 games.

The Vees are now (6-0-0-1) on home ice, and sit atop the Interior Conference with the Vernon Vipers holding 3 games in hand while sitting 3 points back.

The Vees now have 10 days without a game and will break for two days before resuming practice. October 21st the Vees hit the ice again as they open an island road swing with a game in Bear Mountain Arena against the Victoria Grizzlies.