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.
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.
“Hockey or Beer?” that’s the question people around Penticton have be asking themselves with the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale and Games 1 & 2 of the Fred Page Cup sharing centre stage this weekend. 40 of the best Junior ‘A’ hockey players in North America or over 75 of the best beers in North America? That’s a tough decision!
After much debate, I will be climbing the ladder of the Al Formo Broadcast Gondola in Memorial Arena and choosing hockey over beer. Too bad these two very special events didn’t overlap, but hey I’m sure we can find some sort of a compromise (and I don’t mean a drunken radio broadcaster). Maybe a two-event Saturday, a hand held radio, or a seat in the beer drinking section of Memorial Arena is the way to soak up the best of the Okanagan this weekend.
So while I do know a thing or two about beer, why don’t we move to a topic I know even more about: the Penticton Vees. Tonight and tomorrow the Vees will host the Clippers in the opening two game of the Fred Page Cup, in what should looks like a scintillating best-of-seven.
While Round 2 against Vernon was a hard-fought, physical affair, and Round 3 against Westside was fairly one-sided, this Nanaimo series should be a showcase for how entertaining Junior ‘A’ Hockey can be. 14 college commitments (4 to Ivey League Schools), 10 players averaging over a point per game in the playoffs, and two well run, well supported franchises; the BCHL brass has to be happy with the match-up they’ve got this year.
With two teams that both have great talent and depth, it’s hard to find an edge one way or another. Nanaimo’s Power Play has been red-hot, but Alex Evin has been the BCHL’s best goalie this year. The Vees 3rd and 4th lines are more effective, but the Clippers have last year’s BCHL Championship to draw upon. The two Defense corps are close enough to call a push with Nanaimo having hulking Matt Irwin and the Vees having more depth among the 6 rear-guards.
There is a Penticton theme to this year’s Clippers club, with 3 members of the Coast’s best starting the season with the Vees. Local Netminder Evan Smith was beat out by Bryan Mountain for the right to back-up Alex Evin in training camp, Local Forward Dustin Johnson played a hand-full of games as an AP with the Vees before being snapped up by Nanaimo. Johnson, who lit up the KIJHL early this season, has just an assist in the 9 games he’s played in the playoffs. On the back end the Clippers liked what they saw from Michael Boivin when he dressed against them in December with the Vees, He now patrols the blue-line alongside Matt Irwin on the Island. Are they good enough to be on this Vees club? Certainly not all of them are, although they will be motivated to face their former team.
No matter how you size up the BCHL Final, it seems this series won’t be a short one. Game Time is 7:00, Pre-game 6:30 tonight and tomorrow on EZ Rock.
