Huge Game Tonight Against Vernon:

This is in todays Penticton Herald Newspaper:

Huge game tonight against Vernon

By DAVID CROMPTON/Penticton Herald

Friday, February 12, 2010

When your captain and leading scorer is out of the lineup, it’s good to have a potential first-round NHL draft pick to help fill the void.
With Denver Manderson set to miss a fifth straight game due to injury, the Penticton Vees will once again look to Beau Bennett to drive the offence as they face the Vernon Vipers in a long-anticipated showdown for first place in the BCHL’s Interior Conference tonight at 7 p.m. at Wesbild Centre in Vernon.
Bennett has eight points in the four games since Manderson suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury, 38 points in the last 14 games, and 102 points on the season to become the first rookie to eclipse the 100-point plateau since Brady Murray did it for Salmon Arm back in 2002-03. He has also seamlessly made the shift from wing to centre in Manderson’s absence.
"Beau has really put it upon himself with Mandy out to lead the team offensively," said Vees head coach and GM Fred Harbinson. "We knew he was going to be a special player when we recruited him in the summer and now he’s taking it to a whole new level."
Harbinson said some NHL teams have Bennett rated in the top 10, while others have him pegged between 15-30 for the 2010 entry draft in June.
"On skill set alone, he’s probably top-five," said Harbinson. "He’s got the great vision and hands and he just doesn’t let the pressure get to him. Below the goalline and the faceoff circles, he’s deadly with the puck."
Harbinson is still not sure when Manderson and his league-leading 113 points will be available to Penticton. With just six games and 10 days left in the regular season, there’s a good chance the 20-year-old won’t be back until the playoffs.
"Mandy was distraught for a day or two but now he’s just working hard towards getting back," said Harbinson. If it’s a couple of days or a couple of weeks, we’re looking forward to having a lot of hockey left to play when he does return."
The Vees will get veteran centre Eric Filiou back tonight after missing 15 games due to mononucleosis.
"We always talk about being strong down the middle and being hard to play against and Eric embodies that," said the coach. "We’ve missed him in a lot of areas, especially penalty killing and faceoffs. He’s looked very good in practice, but we’ve got to monitor his ice time. We’re not going to put a ton on him the first game back."
The Vees also got first-line forward Alex Szczechura back in Tuesday’s 6-5 double-overtime in Trail after he missed four games with a lacerated finger.
"He’s dripping with skill, but he’s also one of the toughest kids on this team," said Harbinson. "He almost had his finger cut off and he’s fighting through a lot of pain. We’ll hopefully be able to increase his minutes starting in Vernon."
The Vees (44-7-0-3) are two points behind the Vipers with each team having six games left. The teams also meet Wednesday in Penticton.
So far this season, the Vees have three wins and an overtime loss in four meetings with the defending BCHL and national-champion Vipers.
"You’ve got to be patient against Vernon," said Harbinson. "You just have to keep pucks out of the middle of the ice. They’re very disciplined, they are a very good counter-attack team and they’ve got a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net."
The Vipers have upgraded their lineup since the last time the two teams met, adding forwards David Robinson from the WHL and Sahir Gill - who starred for the Vipers last season - from a stint in the USHL. Robinson has been huge with 10 goals in 14 games since joining the Vipers.
"They made some of those changes to beat us," said Harbinson. "It’s a big game for them to gauge where they’re at."
Harbinson said the Vipers have as much skill as they did last year, but said they’re not as "mean" as they were a year ago.
"It’s not a big part of their game this year," said Harbinson. "From our standpoint, we’ve been able to give them problems with our forecheck. We’ve got to continue to play physical against them."
The team that finishes in first place gets a first-round playoff bye and will have home-ice advantage right through the BCHL championship series and the Doyle Cup B.C.-Alberta championship series.
"Whatever it takes to get it done, we’ve got to find a way," said Harbinson. "It doesn’t matter if it’s 2-1 or 8-7."
The Vernon game is the start of a busy weekend for the Vees, who play home games against Merritt on Saturday and Prince George on Sunday.

ICE CHIPS: The Vees are the first team to have two 100-point players since 2006/2007 when Merritt and Burnaby both accomplished the feat ... Sean Bonar will get the start in goal for the Vees tonight, while Blake Voth is expected to get the nod for Vernon for a fifth straight game.