Vees Cling To First-Place Hopes:

This was in yesterdays Penticton Herald Newspaper:

Vees cling to first-place hopes

By David Crompton

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Mathematically, the Penticton Vees don‘t have to beat the Vernon Vipers tonight to have a chance to catch Vernon for first place in the Interior Conference.
But, realistically, the Vees have to win – and even then they‘ll need some help to finish on top and get the bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The Vees and Vipers convene for the sixth and final time in the regular season tonight at 7 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
“It‘s going to be another big test for us,” said Vees general manager and head coach Fred Harbinson. “We‘ve still got a really good chance, when you look at the schedule, if we can win tonight.
“If we end up (in second place), it‘s not the end of the world.”
The Vees missed a big chance to move into first place on Friday when the Vipers beat Penticton 5-3 at Wesbild Centre. The Vees (46-8-3) did bounce back to clobber both Merritt 9-3 and Prince George 7-0 at home, but now sit two points back of Vernon with the Vipers (47-6-3) holding a game in hand.
“Vernon played really physical and we didn‘t respond until it was too late,” said Harbinson. “It was a disappointing loss, but we bounced back and jumped on (Merritt and P.G.) early the next two nights to give ourselves one more chance.”
The Vees still lead the season series seven points to five, but the Vipers could all but clinch the conference title if they win in regulation time tonight.
The Vees would hold the tiebreaker with an overtime loss or tie, but then would need a lot of help to catch the Vipers on the last weekend of the regular season.
The Vees finish up with home games against Westside and Trail, while Vernon plays in Salmon Arm and Westside before closing it out at home against Surrey.
The Vees will not have captain and scoring leader Denver Manderson for tonight‘s game, and the 113-point gunner likely won‘t play in the final two games on the weekend. Manderson has missed seven straight games with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but maintained that he has “turned a corner” in his rehabilitation.
Asked if Manderson would see action before the playoffs, Harbinson said simply: “I wouldn‘t count on it.”
The Vees, however, do have the BCHL‘s hottest scorer and reigning player of the week Beau Bennett. The 18-year-old rookie sensation racked up six goals and 14 points in four games last week and has 48 points in his last 17 games.
Bennett is third in the league with 112 points, Manderson has 113 and Salmon Arm‘s Mark Zengerle has 114 points with three games left.
While Manderson is still out, talented forwards Eric Filiou (mono) and Alex Szczechura (lacerated finger) returned last week after missing 15 and five games, respectively.
“Filiou was a lot better in the last two games and Szczechura is starting to shoot the puck again,” said Harbinson. “We‘ve definitely got things going in the right direction with the playoffs around the corner.”
Harbinson said the Vees will go with No. 1 goalie Sean Bonar against Vernon. Bonar took the loss Friday in Vernon, but then got the shutout against P.G.
“Couldn‘t fault Sean at all on any of the goals,” the coach said. “We deflected two into our own net and they had a couple more on bang-bang plays.”
The Vees have a chance to either tie or eclipse the franchise record for wins in a season of 48 set in 2000-01 when the then-Penticton Panthers went 48-10-2.
“It‘s not something we focus on, but it just says that no matter if we‘re first or second that ’hey, we had a pretty good year‘,” said Harbinson.

ICE CHIPS: The Vipers and Vees are second and third, respectively, in the Canadian Jr. A Hockey League weekly rankings. Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta league remain No. 1, while the BCHL‘s Alberni Valley Bulldogs moved up one spot to No. 5 … Vees rookie D Joey Laleggia has a league-best 18-game point streak going. Laleggia also leads all BCHL defencemen with 60 points … In between weekend home games, the Vees will hold their annual dinner and awards banquet Saturday at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. Tickets are $30 and must be purchased in advance.