I was born and raised in Vernon, BC and been watching/following junior hockey in Vernon my entire life. I have had season tickets since 1990 and only missed four Vipers home games since 2004. In the past thirty years I have only missed 45 home games. For anyone who couldn't attend or watch tonight's Vipers game, here are my thought's and views from tonight's game. You may agree or disagree but we all have our own opinion on the game. I try to be professional and unbiased, giving a fare game recap from both sides. Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog.
I was at the BCHL Showcase in Penticton for the Vipers-Vees game as Penticton defeated Vernon 1-0 in front of 2,098 fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Starting Goaltenders:
Vernon: Max Palaga
Penticton: Yaniv Perets
Before tonight's game the Penticton Vees honoured Head Coach/GM/President Fred Harbinson for his 500th win back in February. The team had several former Penticton Vees and Penticton junior hockey alumni on the jumbo tron congratulating him on his milestone.
1st Period: Both teams showed a little emotion off the opening puck drop, after a few scrums on the first two or three whistles. Some pushing and shoving after the stoppage in play. Nothing resulted after any of this as the game continued. The defending regular season Interior Division champion Penticton Vees jumped on the Vipers early. The Vees with a ton of pressure, had loads of puck possession in on the attacking zone. Vincent Nardone split the Viper defence, couldn't beat former Western Hockey League netminder Max Palaga about two and a half minutes into the Showcase. Penticton had the Snakes back on there heels early were out to a quick 3-0 lead in shots early before jumping on the games first power play, just over three minutes in. Viper captain Connor Marritt in the sin bin while the Vees went to work on the man advantage. Penticton with good pressure and zone time, only managed a single shot with the PP as Vernon was able to kill off the minor. Coming out of the penalty box, third year Viper forward/Captain Connor Marritt lead the charge on the odd man rush. Marritt decided to keep and shoot on the two on one, forced Yaniv Perets to make a quick snag with the glove on a routine glove save on Vernon's first shot of the period. The Snakes needed just over five minutes to record there first shot of the opening frame. The early penalty kill, seemed to give the Vipers a bit of boost as Vernon with a good push back, had there first action in the offensive zone. Former Wenatchee Wild defenceman Nicholas Kent with a quick low shot from the backend, forced Yaniv Perets into making a quick reaction save with the right pad, kicking the puck into the corner. A big stop and first big test of the evening for the Vees netminder. Just before the halfway mark, Penticton credited with there second power play. The Vees with a ton of pressure, seemed to be firing pucks from anywhere and everywhere as Max Palaga had to be alert. Lukas Sillinger thought he opened the scoring, beating Max Palaga but not the far post as the goal horn went off inside the South Okanagan Events Centre, getting a large ovation from the crowd, as the play continued. Sillinger's shot beat Palaga but not the post. The Vees with a strong PP moved the puck around, had several good looks, fired four shots towards Max Palaga and the Viper net. Jay O'Brien with a quick shot from the circle forced Max Palaga to make a tough save with the knob of his goal stick. Palaga and the Snakes escaped a second penalty kill. Shortly after the PK with about seven and a half minutes remaining, Brett Fudger turned the puck over inside the offensive zone. Lukas Sillinger with good transition moved the puck up ice, lead the two on one before Landon Fuller with a solid defensive play, broke up the Vees odd man rush as Vernon escaped a scoring threat. With just less then three minutes left, Vernon product Matt Kowalski with some slick moves down low, managed to get in behind the Penticton defence, was in all alone couldn't solve Yaniv Perets in close, making a big stop down low, keeping this a scoreless game. Shortly after Ben Sanderson with a bad pass, forced the play back the other way. Colton Kalezic setup Cade Webber who managed to get in behind the Vernon defence, went in for the breakaway, beat Max Palaga five hole, giving Penticton a 1-0 lead at 18:32 Colton Kalezic drew the lone helper. A bad turnover for the Snakes and just some hard work from Webber. I think Palaga would like to have this one back. It was 1-0 Penticton after 20 minutes of play. Other then maybe a few shifts here and there, it was all Penticton Vees. The Vees basically carried the play most of the period. Penticton had a ton of puck possession, looked to have the puck on a string at times. I was really impressed with the Vees aggressive and strong forecheck, they played most of the period in the attacking zone. The Vees are quick, move the puck up ice in a hurry and are always on the attack. The Vipers needed just over five minutes to record there first shot on goal, saw a lot of action in there own end. The Snakes turned over the puck often, had trouble with Penticton's forecheck. Vernon had all kinds of trouble getting control of the puck, getting the play into the Vees end and maintaining any kind of pressure in the O zone. The Vipers with very little to no scoring chances, didn't have the puck long enough to do anything with it. The Vees were by far the better team, looked very good and dangerous with and without the puck. Penticton outshot Vernon 12-6.
2nd Period: A minute into the middle frame the 8-0 Vees jumped on an early power play, there third of the night. On the man advantage, the Vees had the Snakes back on there heels early. Vipers starting goaltender Max Palaga had to be sharp was forced to make two quick back to back stops down low before taking a hard shot from the circle off the shoulder area. Palaga looked to be in some discomfort immediately, flexing his shoulder as the play continued. On the first stoppage one of the linesmen come over and was chatting with the Vipers goaltender, who still looked to be in some discomfort but stayed in the game and seemed to be fine. The Vipers were able to kill off the penalty. Minutes later Max Palaga made a big stop down low before Lukas Sillinger couldn't bury the rebound as the Vees kept pressing. It was all Penticton early on. Vernon needed just over seven minutes to record there first shot of the 2nd period. Just before the midway mark, the Vipers would draw there first PP of the contest. The Snakes struggled with the man advantage, didn't get a single shot had to rely on there goaltender to bail them out. Max Palaga was forced to make a very difficult save while going down, somehow managed to stop the puck with his upper body as Penticton killed off the minor. With over three and a half minutes left in the middle frame, The Vees went back to work on there fourth power play. Moving the puck around, the Vees spotted Captain David Silye going to the net, would be robbed by a diving Max Palaga, who made a highlight reel save, keeping this a one goal game. Palaga once again was forced to bail his team mates out. Shorthanded the Vipers sprung Captain Connor Marritt in for the breakaway, would be denied by Vees starting goaltender Yaniv Perets who made a large save off the Viper forward. On the play Penticton would take a minor penalty, sending both teams to four on four, with Vernon coming out towards the end of the period with a shortened PP. The Snakes couldn't cash in on the man advantage before the final buzzer. It was 1-0 Penticton after 40 minutes of play. The Vees jumped on the Vipers early and often but couldn't solve Max Palaga. It was all Penticton for most of if not the whole first half. I thought once the Snakes killed off the penalty midway through the period, Vernon seemed to gain a little momentum and traction for a few shifts, but had troubles getting pucks to the net and creating/generating scoring chances. Sure the Vipers had a few good shifts but no real zone time or pressure with the puck. The Snakes struggled offensively in the first two periods. Vernon had a few good shifts but I thought Penticton was the better team, carried most of the play, dominated with and without the puck. The Vees defence and defensive play was solid in the first two periods. Penticton outshot Vernon 12-4.
3rd Period: The Snakes started the final frame on the man advantage that was carried over from the 2nd period. With not a whole lot of time left on the PP the Penticton Vees killed off the remainder of the minor. About three minutes in, Lukas Sillinger with speed, ripped a rocket of a shot from the top of the circle, beat Max Palaga but not the crossbar as the Vees come within inches of grabbing a two goal lead. For a third straight period Penticton jumped on Vernon and was all over the Vipers in there own end. Around the halfway mark, the Vees sprung former NHLer Doug Weight's son Danny Weight in for the breakaway, couldn't solve Max Palaga who was sharp tonight. Palaga with yet another big stop, keeping his team in the game. Minutes later Colton Kalezic on a bit of a scramble in front of Max Palaga, looked to have an open cage, couldn't bury his opportunity as Penticton with a second quality chance as the Snakes catch a big break on Kalezic's missed opportunity. Minutes later with the Vipers pressing and there first real push back this period, saw Logan Cash on the warp around, come very close to tying the game couldn't beat Yaniv Perets who managed to quickly get across the blue paint, to make a large save with the left pad. For the first time the entire game the Vipers finally managed to generate some zone time and stay in the offensive zone, but couldn't beat the Vees netminder. With about 1:45 remaining Jay O'Brien on an odd man rush, forced Max Palaga into making a big stop late, keeping this a one goal game. Palaga would head to the bench for the extra attacker with about 1:20 left in the 3rd. The Snakes struggled to get possession of the puck and get through the neutral zone. Penticton with a solid defensive play in the final minute of play, had at least three good looks at the open cage. The Vipers struggled to get the play in deep and in control as the Vees would hang on for the 1-0 victory. For a third straight period I thought Penticton took control early, carried the play, played a lot of the first half in the Vipers zone. The Vees with several quality looks/opportunities couldn't bury there chances. Penticton could have easily put this game away a long time ago. The Vipers were hanging on by a thread, finally managed to get some pressure and offensive zone time in the second half. For the first time tonight, I thought the Snakes played fairly well in the second half then struggled with the goaltender out for the extra man. The Vees went several minutes in the second half without a shot on goal, while there defence did a good job at taking away time and space, closing the shooting lanes and limiting Vernon's chances. When the Vipers did manage to create/generate an opportunity, Yaniv Perets was solid between the pipes. Penticton outshot Vernon 10-5.
Top Player's: (Vernon)
Connor Marritt I thought played hard, had a lot of jump and was skating hard. Was making plays happen at times, creating/generating chances and trying to get pucks to the net. Was one of the few Vipers to really muster any kind of an attack.
Max Palaga (33 saves) After surrendering five goals in a 7-2 loss to the visiting Cowichan Capitals last weekend, the former Kamloops Blazers & Everett Silvertips goaltender was very sharp in the loss. I think may want back the only goal he gave up but other then that, was solid between the pipes. Gave his team a chance to win, battled hard, played very well.
Game Thought's: (Vernon)
The Vipers were outplayed most of the night. Other then a few shifts early into the 1st period, a few shifts now and again in the second half of the 2nd period and the second half in the 3rd period, the Snakes were either chasing the Vees and or then having to defend the Vees. Vernon had troubles with the Vees attack. The Snakes turned over the puck often, had troubles gaining the offensive zone, staying in the offensive zone and having puck possession. It seemed like Vernon would get the puck, get a shot in on goal and then have to re group and defend as the Vees come back the other way. Vernon struggled offensively, had troubles getting pucks to the net, creating/& generating opportunities. The Vipers scoring struggles continue this season. Just like the start of the 2018-19 season Vernon struggled scoring goals early in the season. The Snakes were back on there heels often in there own end, heavily relied on Max Palaga. The Vipers lost battles along the boards, and in front of the net. Vernon was kept to the outside, limited on there chances. Give credit to Vernon's penalty kill, I thought was good at times, got some solid goaltending from Max Palaga on the PK. The 1st place Vees were just too much for Vernon to handle. The Vipers just don't have the talent or same level of players to compete with a team like Penticton right now. The Vipers return to Penticton in two weeks for another date with the Vees. I saw a small group of Viper fans in attendance. Max Palaga has started all seven games this season. Kobe Grant was the teams backup tonight. With the loss the Vipers fall to 4-5-4-2 all-time at the BCHL Showcase. The Vipers will end the Showcase vs the West Kelowna Warriors tomorrow afternoon. With the loss Vernon falls to 4-3-0-0 this season, has lost back to back games for the first time this season. The Snakes sit 5th in the Interior Division are two points up on West Kelowna & Merritt but already twelve points back of 1st place Penticton.
Top Player's: (Penticton)
Danny Weight The son of former NHLer Doug Weight had a heck of a game tonight. This kid isn't the biggest kid but very slick and hard to defend against. Quick on his feet, creates/generates chances on almost every time with the puck. Was hard to contain, giving the Vipers all kinds of troubles.
Jay O'Brien I thought had some good looks/chances, played well in the win.
Ethan Martini was solid on the Vees blueline. Played very well through out the contest.
Lukas Sillinger I thought was the most dangerous forward for Penticton. Rang a shot off the crossbar, had several quality opportunities this evening.
Carson Kosobud Was another Vees d-man who I thought was solid on the backend. A bigger kid, finishes his checks, played very well in front of Yaniv Perets.
Yaniv Perets (15 saves/Shutout) Wasn't tested often, or saw a lot of rubber but was forced into making a few large saves in a 1-0 hockey game. When forced to make a big stop, was solid between the pipes. Got a lot of help from his defence. Perets now has three shutouts in five games this season.
Game Thought's: (Penticton)
The Penticton Vees are for real and look very strong. The Vees dominated the game for most of the night. Penticton got off to a quick start and jumped on the Snakes early in all three periods. I thought the Vees were very quick, move the puck up ice in a hurry, have a ton of skill and an aggressive forecheck. Very dangerous with and without the puck, hard to contain, hard to defend against and are solid defensively. I thought the Vees were very good defensively in there own end. Vernon didn't get a lot of time in the offensive zone, but when they did, Penticton kept the Snakes to the outside, took away a lot of time and space and limited there chances. The Vees had several odd man rushes, are strong along the boards and force you into turning over the puck. Penticton doesn't take a lot of penalties and it went noticed again tonight. If it wasn't for some solid goaltending and a little puck luck Penticton could have easily put this game away in the first period. This game was a mismatch almost from start to finish. Tonight was just the Vees second home game of the 2019-20 regular season. This is no surprise as Fred Harbinson always starts the season on the road with very little home games within the first month or two. I'm curious to know, why the Vees honoured Fred Harbinson before tonight's game when this milestone happened last year? And why wasn't this done in the home opener? Why tonight? Because the Vipers were in town? Rub a little salt into the Vipers wounds? I saw several Trail Smoke Eaters fans in attendance tonight. Trail played the Merritt Centennials in the game prior to the Vipers-Vees game. I also spotted a few Salmon Arm Silverbacks fans at tonight's game and a ton of scouts in attendance. I always enjoy coming to Penticton and watching the Vipers play in the Peach City. The atmosphere and South Okanagan Events Centre is a great place to watch a hockey game. It looked like a fairly large crowd tonight, but when they announced the attendance at 2,098 I thought they were wrong. It looked like a much larger crowd. The Vees will wrap up the BCHL Showcase tomorrow night, host the Wenatchee Wild. With the win, Penticton improves to 9-0-0-0 and sit atop the league standings tied with the Cowichan Capitals.
Scratches:
Vernon:
Colby Feist
Keigo Hachisuka
Doug Scott
Penticton:
Jack Barnes
Scott Gilowski
Energy Player of the Game:
Ethan Martini
Three Star's:
1st Star: Cade Webber (1 goal)
2nd Star: Max Palaga (33 saves)
3rd Star: Yaniv Perets (15 saves-Shutout)
Boxscore-Game Summary,
https://bchl.ca/stats/game-summary/9684
Game Report,
https://lscluster.hockeytech.com/game_reports/official-game-report.php?lang_id=1&client_code=bchl&game_id=9684
Text Boxscore,
https://lscluster.hockeytech.com/game_reports/text-game-report.php?lang_id=1&client_code=bchl&game_id=9684
Please feel free to leave a suggestion or comment below, in the comment box at the bottom of this post. I always enjoy and post all comments. Thank you for your comments and visiting my blog.
I normally take some pictures before and during the hockey game, but my cell phone died.
7 comments:
This is posted on the Vees website:
GAME RECAP: Webber Scores Winner, Perets Earns Third Consecutive Shutout In Vees 1-0 Victory
October 5, 2019
PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees got a late 1st period goal from Cade Webber and a 15-save shutout from Yaniv Perets, his third consecutive blanking, to help them to a 1-0 victory over the Vernon Vipers on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre at the BCHL Showcase Festival, presented by Bauer.
An entertaining opening period saw just one goal but plenty of pressure by the Vees, spending a large chunk of time inside of the Vernon end, helped by a pair of power plays as well before breaking the scoring open late in the 1st period at the 18:32 mark.
Colton Kalezic collected a Vipers turnover in the defensive end and slid a pass ahead through the neutral zone where Cade Webber was able to get in behind the defense and shot low on the glove side of Vipers goaltender Max Palaga for his 2nd goal of the season and the defender gave Penticton a 1-0 advantage late in the frame.
The Vees outshot the Vipers by a 12-6 margin after 20 minutes but Yaniv Perets had to be strong in the shots he faced in the Vees crease, including flashing the leather on Connor Marritt in tight with a right circle shot. Perets also stopped Matt Kowalski on a partial breakaway close to the goal to keep the game on even terms before Webber opened the scoring for the Vees.
The 2nd period saw the Vees continue to bring plenty of pressure and attack the Vernon net but the play of Max Palaga kept the game tight as the Vipers netminder played a big role in the game being close. Palaga turned aside all 12 Vees shots he faced in the middle stanza to keep the Vees lead at 1-0 through 40 minutes.
Palaga made the save of the night, denying Vees forward Lukas Sillinger in the slot as he slid to his blocker side for the denial after Sillinger took a pass from Danny Weight in the left face-off circle. Yaniv Perets was sharp in the Vees goal as well, making saves on all 4 shots he saw, including a breakaway save with his blocker on Marritt in front of the net.
Penticton continued to not allow Vernon much in the offensive zone, surrendering just five shots in the third period while the Vees put 10 more shots on the Vipers net but Palaga stood tall once again, stopping all the shots thrown his direction and turned aside 34 of the 35 shots he faced in the game in his 4th loss of the season.
For the third consecutive start, Yaniv Perets blanked his opponent, stopping all 15 of the shots he faced in his 5th win of the season and now sits at 180:55 without allowing a goal as he collected his third shutout of the year.
I was also at this game & the Vees were by far the better team. The Vipers seemed to be just hanging on at times and could not sustain any offense. If it wasn't for the play of Max Palaga the game would have been out of reach before the first period was over. The Vees are just that much faster and more skilled, their ability to transition from defense to offence is amazing to watch.
It is too early in the season (7 games) to panic but the Vipers are the lowest scoring team in the BCHL. How long before McKee will address this concern? Kowalski, Sanderson, Marritt, Helgeson, Cash & Bar Lev Wise have played with energy but have very few points to show for their efforts. The "high end" recruits Sleeth, Shostak, Fudger have been non existent. There seems to be lots or effort but not much finish. I suppose this is what we can expect from a team built around the owner's son. After all the pre-season hype I was expecting a better start for this once proud franchise. Let's hope this gets figured out real soon or it will be a long winter.
Fred was presented with a plaque honouring his 500 wins before the first game of the playoffs in the spring. That was a series when upstart 16th place Cowichan shocked the Vees and ended their season.
I remember seeing a story on the CHBC evening news about the 500 game milestone the day before the first game of the series, and at no point was there any mention of Cowichan. Just the 500 wins and a few Vees players interviewed for TV, talking about "winning a championship" and how they looked forward to the coming "long playoff run". They went into that series totally unprepared to face Vandekamp's Capitals.
I watched the game online and you have pretty much said it all. Vipers had only two quality scoring chances in the entire game. I have to wonder about the recruiting of the players that were brought in this year. This is the best Jr A league in Canada so I'm not sure if the GM really knew what he was getting himself into. No offense to Ben Helgeson but when he is your #1 center (was a 4th liner at best last yr) on the PP and the #1 recruits are sitting on the bench it doesn't say much for the recruitment level of this team. The Warriors are the worst team in the league and have scored more than double the amount of goals than the Vipers so lets hope this team can figure out how to score in a hurry or its gong to be a long and disappointing season
As commented before, fans seemed to be more interested in the fact there was news in the summer rather than the quality of the news/recruits. Not one of the recruits is a game breaker. This staff/ownership has no idea what it takes to build a bchl top end team and it's showing in a hurry. They better have deep pockets to buy there way out of this.
Looks like the used car salesman sold us and the bchl a lemon. Deep pockets? I haven't seen any signs of that. Shame on the bchl for allowing somebody to buy a roster spot for the son.
PEOPLE, VIPERS FANS. Last year we could have kicked Mark Ferner to the curb. I mean before Christmas we where one of the worst teams in second to last place. As a team our defense was poor and our offence waa not much better. We would complain we had no goal scorers, our powerplay was lame and same old same old ferner style. We also suggested with the product Mark produced that we where looking at a short season especially having to face Salmon Arm. But what happened after Christmas the team started learning Mark Ferners systems better.The Vernon Vipers started believing in themselves and what the coach was preaching. Well guess what the Vipers became interior division champs and almost went to the RBC cup. So again before you start kickin the crap out of Jason Mckee and his staff and the owners REMEMBER last year and give our new coach the time it takes to turn this team around. There is no magic switch , it will take hard work and faith amongst the players and coaching staff. Also with this team we have at least a half dozen players who can score and when they do turn this team around watch out and be excited. GO, VIPERS, GO.
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