Photo: Tami Quan Photography
The Penticton Vees and West Kelowna Warriors certainly are not doing a Christmas gift exchange anytime soon. The Vees swept the weekend series after posting a 5-2 win for the second straight night over their Highway 97 rivals.
The Vees now head into the Christmas break on a seven-game win streak and sit tied on points with the Brooks Bandits atop of the Interior Conference.
Saturday’s win was overshadowed by an injury to Vees Captain Conyr Hellyer, who was injured in the third period after being hit from behind by the Warriors’ Luka Graziano. Graziano was given a five-minute match penalty and game misconduct.
Assistant Coach Matthew Vanden Berg
Five different Vees scored in the win. Eli McKamey (1G, 1A), Ryden Evers (1G, 1A), Caton Ryan (1G, 1A), and Louie Wehmann (2A) all had two points.
Ethan Buenaventura picked up his fifth win in his fifth start, as he stopped 26 of 28 shots.
McKamey and Evers scored in the first period, as the Vees led 2-1 after 20 minutes. McKamey opened the scoring at 3:49 with a laser from the top of the face-off circle. After West Kelowna tied it, Evers put the Vees back ahead at 13:29 after his shot went off the goalie’s glove and in.
In the second period, Ryan and Posthumus scored two minutes apart, as the Vees quickly pulled away. Ryan made it 3-1 at 11:03, when he found a loose puck in front of the net and fire his shot off the post and in. Then, Posthumus made it 4-1 at 13:06, as he was set up by McKamey with a cross-ice dish. Posthumus fired the one-timer over the goalie’s pad.
In the third, the Vees went up 5-1 after they scored once on their five-minute power play, after the match penalty to West Kelowna’s Graziano. Nolan Stevenson blasted a one-timer from the top of the point at 4:40.
The Warriors got a late power play goal from Caden Kemkaran-Humble with under five minutes left.
GAME NOTES
Conyr Hellyer was diagnosed with an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated after the Christmas break. Luke Posthumus (7G, 1A) now has eight points in his last six games. Ryden Evers has 13 points (5G, 8A) on his seven-game point streak. The Vees head into the Christmas break winning 11 of 12 games, dating back to November 5th.
GAME STATS
Shots: Vees- 40 Warriors-28
Scoring: Eli McKamey (5), Ryden Evers (13), Caton Ryan (3), Luke Posthumus (13), Nolan Stevenson (6)
Goaltending: Ethan Buenaventura (W), 26/28, 60:00
Vees Power Play: 1/3
Vees Penalty Kill: 1/2
Three Stars:
1) Ethan Buenaventura (26 saves)
2) Ryder Evers (1G, 1A)
3) Elias Callgren (1G)
Up Next: The Vees (22-6-0-0) return to action on Saturday, December 28th, against the Blackfalds Bulldogs at the SOEC.
