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.
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.
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.
Murray is back in studio as we are posed with the dilemma of what to do on the heels of two losses to the Westside Warriors. The Vees had won 10-in-a-row heading into Friday’s action and have now lost two straight for the first time this season.
Baseball enthusiast and Salmon Arm Silverback voice Patrick Haas helps us tee up Wednesday’s tilt between the Vees and ‘backs, and pumps the tires of Jason Bay.
Also on the program we hear from Westside Warriors Prez/GM/Managing Partner (read: CZAR) Gary Gelinas on desparity between rich and poor in the BCHL, a new chapter in the history of the Warriors, and the growing South Okanagan rivalry.
The staples (Interior Conference Power Rankings, Murray’s Answering Machine & Highlights) are also in the mix, as well as some great news for Joey Holka and Logan Johnston and the usual tomfoolery.
It’s our last show for a couple weeks, so get your fill of Vees chatter before a brief hiatus.
Westside Captain Trevor Bailey was a one-man wrecking crew on Friday as the Warriors won 5-4 to halt the Vees winning streak at ten games. Bailey, the diminutive 20-year-old forward had four goals on the night and scored in each period as he paced the West Kelowna club to their 15th win of the season.
In a game that saw the Vees erase a pair of two-goal deficits, but never lead, the Warriors handed the Vees their first regulation loss on home ice of the season. Nashville draft pick Cam Reid was especially crafty on this night as he set of three of Bailey’s four scores.
Quinn Gould scored the winner at 11:43 of the third and Kevin Jebson was spectacular in the final forty minutes when the Vees started to pepper the Westside net with shots.
Through twenty minutes of play the Vees trailed 12-4 on the shot clock, but ended up outshooting the Warriors 37-30 on the night.
Beau Bennett had his second consecutive two-goal night and now has 16 goals on the season, while Denver Manderson extended his point streak to 11 games with a three-assist performance. Matt Paltridge potted his 6th from the right point and Logan Johnston netted his 7th on a good second effort at the side of the net.
Sean Bonar was uncharacteristically ordinary in net for Penticton as he allowed 5 goals on 30 shots, while Kevin Jebson again proved he can be one of the BCHL’s best when he is on. Jebson set aside 34 of 37 Vees shots for his 14th win of the season.
The Vees top ranked power play was especially effective on Friday as the home side scored on two of four opportunities, while the penalty kill was tested just once and didn’t allow a shot.
With the loss the Vees drop to 20-3-0-1 on the season and now are 5 points behind the Vernon Vipers in the race for first place in the Interior.
The Vees will have revenge on their minds Saturday night in West Kelowna when these two clubs finish their second home-and-home series of the season. The game begins at 7:00 with the pre-game show kicking off at 6:45 live from Royal LePage Place.
Make it ten in a row for the Penticton Vees, as they crushed the visiting Victoria Grizzlies 6-2 on Wednesday.
Beau Bennett had a pair of goals and Joey LaLeggia had two assists in their return from the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge. Ryan Viselli, Eric Filiou, Garrett Milan and Denver Manderson also had two point nights as the Vees scored 5 straight after the Grizzlies opened the scoring.
Captain Manderson now has 50 points on the season and has recorded a point in each of his last 10 games. Denver is four points behind Salmon Arm Silverback Mark Zengerle in the BCHL scoring race, with two games in hand.
Americans Luke Curadi and Joey Holka also scored for the Vees who haven’t lost since the 9th of October when Vernon beat them at home in overtime. The Vees remain 3 points back of the Vipers for top spot in the league.
1600 fans saw rookie Joel Rumpel earn his eighth win of the season stopping 26 of 28 shots, as Sean Bonar got a night off after being named the MVP of the World Jr. ‘A’ Challenge on Sunday. At the other end of the ice Colin Fernandes faced 39 shots and suffered the loss.
The Grizzlies got goals from Gregory Simpson and Nick Buchanan in a losing cause with Alex Allan, Dustin Mowrey, Brad Pawlowski and Joel Lowry adding assists.
The Vees power play went 2/4 with all four man-advantages coming in the third period. In the second the Vees took their only two penalties, and killed them both.
Earlier in the day Adam Zamec was traded to the Wellington Dukes of the CCHL in Ontario for future considerations. Pentictonite Logan Johnston has been named an alternate captain of the club with his departure.
Next action for the blue, black and white is a home-and-home series with the Westside Warriors, which kicks off on Friday night at the SOEC in Penticton. Both games start at 7:00 PM with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 on EZ Rock.
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.
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…)
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.
