Vees Win First Place Battle:

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Vees win first place battle

by Viper staff | Added 2011-10-15

Three third period goals salted away a 6-2 Penticton Vee victory over the Vernon Vipers and pushed the Vees into first place in the Interior Division, one point ahead of the visiting Vipers.

The score did not reflect the balance of play in the game: the Vipers created 18 scoring chances compared to 14 for the Vees, but could not convert their chances in an active first period. Several times they created good chances in the Vee zone, but had pucks bounce over sticks.

Meanwhile, the Vees scored on two of their three chances in the opening 20 minutes, thanks to a pair of fortunate bounces.

At 2:26, Curtis Loik’s wrister rebounded off Kirby Halcrow’s pads and landed in the feet of two defenders. Loik followed his shot to the net and shoveled the disk past Halcrow before the defenders could react.

The second goal came when Mike Reilly’s innocent point shot deflected downward off Grant Nicholson and into the lower corner of Halcrow’s net.

The teams traded goals in the second period. Maneuvering his way through two defenders as he came over the Penticton blue line, Adam Tambellini popped into the open and beat Michael Garteig with a high wrist shot at 2:09.

Five minutes later, Steven Fogarty came out of the corner to the right of Halcrow and snapped a shot that found a tiny opening high on the short side. Fogarty’s second power play goal of the season proved to be the winner.

However, a bounce finally came Vernon’s way exactly at 5:14 of the third period. In attempting to clear his zone, Troy Stecher put the puck right on Aaron Hadley’s stick. Hadley took one stride and buried his second goal of the season.

Exactly two minutes later, Zach Urban’s first BCHL goal restored the two-goal cushion. Urban’s soft wrister from the point went through a maze of players with Kirby Halcrow on his stomach following a yard sale in his crease.

Prior to the Urban goal, Mike Zalewski was hauled down on a partial breakaway, but the play carried on. After the game, Viper head man Jason Williamson fumed about the non-call: “Our guys actually played pretty well in the game and I thought we had a good chance in the third after Hadley’s goal.”

He went on, “We got some bad bounces in the first period, but that’s hockey. I thought we battled back and deserved a better fate. That grab on Zalewski took away a scoring chance and has to be called.”

Mario Lucia pumped in a rebound to make the score 5-2 during a two-man advantage at 8:27 and Curtis Loik’s empty netter at 18:56 finished the scoring. In the third period, the Vees out shot the Vipers 14 to 7, with many of those shots coming on the power play.

In the final analysis, two factors settled this contest. The Vees were more opportunistic, especially on the power play, where they converted two of seven. Meanwhile, the Vipers were blanked on five power plays.

The teams will resume their battle for first place next Friday in Vernon.