vees:blog

No games today at the WJAC in Summerside, PEI as the tournament pauses before the Quarter-finals on Thursday and the Semi-finals on Friday.

Action from Team USA’s 6-1 win yesterday over Belarus

Team Canada West faces Belarus at 3:00PM tomorrow (that’s 7:00PM AST in Summerside, PEI… if you’re in the neighbourhood) in a rematch of an exhibition contest that Canada West won in a shootout 3-2 after Kellen Jones tied the game with a second remaining.

At 10AM (2PM AST) defending gold medal winners - USA - face the win-less Swedes who have had some issues keeping pucks out of their net, having allowed 9 goals on 61 shots through two games at the WJAC.

Beau Bennett had another goal in the USA 6-1 win over the Belorussians yesterday. Beau now has 2g-1a-3pts in 2 games with the American squad which puts him just a point back of the tournament leaders.

Canada East and Russia await the winners of the quarterfinals and won’t play until Friday. Canada East faces the winner of Canada West / Belarus, while the Russians face the winner of Sweden / USA.

Hayden Trupp has been designated an ‘Affiliated Player’ and has been assigned to the Penticton Lakers of the KIJHL (Jr. B).

With BC Hockey reversing their decision, and deeming Trupp an import, the Vees were forced to make a move with their roster already sitting at the league maximum of 8 imports. Trupp will play for the Vees this weekend, after which he will be allowed 10 games for the big club in the remainder of the regular season. Once the Lakers season has ended Trupp would be free to play with the Vees with no restriction. The Vees now have an open roster spot.

The 17-year-old forward has no shortage of skill but has been physically outmatched in his rookie season. Trupp has recorded a goal and an assist in 16 BCHL games after playing Midget hockey in Alaska last season.

Hayden was born in Penticton in 1992, his father and older brother both played their Junior hockey in Penticton.

I spoke with Vees HC/GM Fred Harbinson after Tuesday’s Practice…

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VEES @ BOSTON PIZZA TONIGHT

Boston Pizza is welcoming everybody over tonight for a great night of hockey starting at 7PM.

The full team will be in attendance for your chance to get a signed poster or a photo with the guys. The Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers will be on the tube in a rematch of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, and there will be a mountain of prizes to be won.

Among Vees Club seats, and game tickets, two separate pairs of Canucks Tickets will be won. Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals visit Vancouver on the 18th of December and we’ve got a pair of VIP seats with unlimited grub, a night’s stay in Vancouver, and $100 spending cash. Also a pair of Blackhawks tickets will be given away for later in November.

We’ll see you at BP’s at 1900 Main Street at 7PM.

WORLD JR. ‘A’ CHALLENGE

Matt Cormier, FullFrameMedia.ca

Sean Bonar stopped 33 of 36 shots, and Joey LaLeggia had two assists as the Western Canadian squad beat the Swedes 6-3 in the final round robin game in Group A. Sweden and Canada West will now wait for the evening result to come in to find out who they will face in Thursday’s Quarterfinal. Canada West will play the loser of Belarus/USA, while Sweden will have to play the winner.

Canada East and Russia have already advanced to Friday’s Semi-Final with 2-0 records in round robin play.

BOSTON PIZZA VEES THIS WEEK

We’ll catch up with Sean Bonar from Summerside, PEI following a Canada West 2-1 loss to the Russians on Sunday, also Interior Conference Power Rankings, News and Notes, Fred on Central Scouting’s swing and a miss, and the weekly staples like weekend highlights, the best answering machine in Penticton and our featured intermission conversation of the week.

Tune in from 6:05 to 7:00 on EZ Rock AM 800, MyEZRock.com, or wait until the show is posted on Monday night right here on the Vees Blog.

CJHL NATIONAL RANKINGS

The new weekly National Rankings are out, and whatever the dudes at CJHL headquarters are smoking, they need to cut back.

To illustrate the lack of logic in the CJHL rankings take a closer look at the Vernon Vipers… Since being ranked #1 in the nation, the Vipers have beat the #2 team in the country (which was Penticton at the time), have won 9 consecutive games, have outscored opponents 63-14 over that margin, and yet have fallen to fourth in the country. They’ve lost once since April the 10th playing in the top Junior ‘A’ league in the country.

Why has Vernon fallen from #1??

WJAC UPDATE

With Team Canada West and the USA both 0-1 in the round robin, both have a day off to prepare for Tuesday tilts. The Americans face the Belorussians and the Western boys will face the Swedes - who lost to Russia 3-2 in a shootout earlier today. The Russians advance to Friday’s Semi-Finals with the win having won ‘Group A’.

For more WJAC coverage check out the local fish-wrap in Summerside: the Journal Pioneer

Sean Bonar, Joey LaLeggia and Beau Bennett were in action today for the opening day of round robin play of the World Jr. ‘A’ Challenge in Summerside, PEI.

Sean Bonar tends the Canada West net

Bennett’s Team USA was defeated 5-4 in a shootout by Team Canada East after blowing a three goal lead after 40 minutes, while Bonar and LaLeggia and the rest of Team Canada West were dumped 2-1 by Russia in a game that saw just 3 goals on 53 shots.

Of note to Vees fans (and scouts too, I’m sure) was the fact that Bonar and Bennett were named the player of the game from each of their respective teams. Beau scored a goal and had an assist, while also scoring in the shootout to earn the nod as the top American. Bonar stopped 18 of 20 shots against a crafty Russian squad and was named the Canada West player of the game, while defender Joey LaLeggia was held off the score sheet.

Tune in ‘Boston Pizza Vees This Week’ Monday night at 6PM to hear my conversation with Sean following that 2-1 loss to Russia.

The Penticton Vees are sad to see the month of October end after a 4-1 win over the Merritt Centennials that moved the club to 10-0-0-1 in the second month of the BCHL season.

Billy Faust earned his first career BCHL win and the Vees vaulted over Vernon and into first place in the Interior Conference with their seventh consecutive win on Saturday. The Vees have earned 21 of 22 points in October while outscoring their opponents 55-12 over the eleven game streak.

Saturday saw the Vees pepper the Cents with 42 shots while allowing just 18. A flu shortened Centennials bench was no match for the Vees short bench with three players at the World Jr. ‘A’ Challenge in Prince Edward Island and another gone to injury.

Logan Johnston was the games first star and only player to record a multi-point night as he rifled in his fifth of the year on a wicked wrister and set up Eric Filiou’s sixth of the season. Garrett Milan added his twelfth of the year on a shot from in close and Ryan Viselli’s sixth of the year opened the scoring as he tucked home a back-hand in the first period.

Denver Manderson and Jake Johnson bumped their point streaks to seven games as each added an assist in the win.

The Centennials lone goal came at the 16:35 mark of the third period that spoiled Billy Faust’s shutout bid. Alex Valenti whacked in a puck in the slot and Colton Sobchek and Derek Hills drew assists. Riley Wall made 38 saves on 42 shots in his first BCHL game of the season, playing as an AP for the Centennials.

The Vees did not score a goal over the weekend, but were perfect on the penalty kill. On Friday the Vees ended up 0/4 on the man-advantage, but were perfect in killing all three minors assessed to the club.

Next up for the Vees are the Langley Chiefs who will visit Penticton on Friday then host the Vees on Saturday from the brand new Langley Events Centre.

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.

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.

Amid the usual conversation at the KVS Pub regarding the week that was, the upcoming match-ups, and the storylines of the week in the BCHL was something that seemed to strike a nerve with the Vees Head Coach and GM.

On the heels of their recently released 2010 Watch List, Fred Harbinson was awfully vocal about his displeasure with NHL Central Scouting and their lack of exposure for the BCHL. Fred seemed particularly disappointed with Isaac MacLeod’s absence from the list, and I suppose you can see his point. If a 6′5 17-year-old defender who skates well isn’t a prospect, what is!?

Other topic broached include the team’s precautionary measures regarding the H1N1 flu epidemic (pandemic?!). Fred’s son Freddy (who lives in Wisconsin) is among the growing number of young athletes that have caught the Swine Flu.

Also, Fred walks us through the acquisition of Taylor Peters a big 17-year-old kid who played a full season with the Portland Winterhawks last year. The timing couldn’t be better as the Vees are facing short bench for the next two weeks with the World Jr. ‘A’ Challenge going on in PEI.

With the Burnaby Express in town featuring four former Vees, the home side missing four regulars, and the expected debut of newcomer Taylor Peters there are all sorts of reasons to be at the SOEC tomorrow.

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