A roundup of junior hockey results from the Okanagan and area.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Everett, Wash., the hometown Silvertips handily outshot the Kelowna Rockets but barely managed to beat them on the scoreboard on Friday night.
The cause of that close score? Rockets’ Jake Pilon, who had an outstanding night between the pipes, albeit in a losing cause.
In his ninth start of the season, the 17-year-old from Calgary stopped 37 shots as Kelowna was outshot nearly 2-1 at 39-23. He was named the game’s third star.
Hiroki Gojsic, with his fourth goal of the season, had the lone marker for Kelowna (7-10-1-0), which trailed 1-0 after the first period and 2-0 midway through the third.
Austin Roest, who opened the scoring at 12:06 of the first, and Ben Hemmerling, with the game-winner at 7:57 of the third, scored for Everett (10-7-1-0). Tyler Palmer stopped 22 shots for the Silvertips.
Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with Everett at 0-for-5 and Kelowna at 0-for-6.
Hemmerling was the first star with a goal and an assist, with Palmer the second star. The attendance was 4,797.
The Rockets were without their top scorer, Andrew Cristall (undisclosed injury; puck to upper body on Tuesday), goalie Jari Kykkanen (upper body) plus forwards Marcus Pacheco (lower body) and Kayden Langley (lower body).
Notably, the team said Pacheco, who’s been out since training camp, hit the warm-up ice but was a game-time scratch.
Up next for Kelowna are back-to-back games in Victoria (10-7-0-1) this Monday and Tuesday.
Friday’s results
- Saskatoon 5, Swift Current 4
- Medicine Hat 2, Moose Jaw 1 (SO)
- Lethbridge 5, Wenatchee 1
- Calgary 6, Edmonton 1
- Portland 5, Vancouver 1
- Prince George 4, Red Deer 3 (SO)
- Kamloops 3, Tri-City 0
- Prince Albert 3, Spokane 2
- Victoria 3, Seattle 2
Saturday’s games
- Regina at Brandon
- Wenatchee at Medicine Hat
- Calgary at Edmonton
- Prince Albert at Tri-City
- Kamloops at Spokane
- Victoria at Seattle
- Vancouver at Everett
Sunday’s game
- Brandon at Regina
Monday’s game
- Kelowna at Victoria
Tuesday’s games
- Medicine Hat at Swift Current
- Saskatoon at Moose Jaw
- Vancouver at Prince George
- Kelowna at Victoria
- Prince Albert at Seattle
B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Cranbrook, Donovan Frias scored the game-winning goal, a rebound in overtime, as the Bucks cooled the red-hot Penticton Vees Friday night.
Jack Silich, Noah Urness and Julian Frias also scored for Cranbrook (5-11-1-0-0), which led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 after the second.
Larry Keenan, Ryan MacPherson and Francesco Dell’Elce replied for Penticton (12-1-2-1-0), which outshot Cranbrook 36-31 but saw their nine-game winning streak end.
Dell’Elce forced overtime when he tied the game at 19:05 of the third.
Andrew Ness stopped 27 shots for the Vees, with Danick Leroux turning aside 33 shots for the Bucks.
Cranbrook was 1-for-3 on the power play while Penticton was 1-for-2.
It was scoring by committee in Salmon Arm Friday night as the host Silverbacks downed the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs.
Cole Longacre, Ty Paisley, JJ Monteiro and Jacob Bonkowski scored for Salmon Arm (9-5-0-0-0), as 11 players reached the scoresheet for the Silverbacks, with no one tallying more than one point.
Brian Morse, who opened the scoring one minute into the second period, replied for Chilliwack (6-9-1-0-0).
After that, though, it was all Salmon Arm, as the Silverbacks scored three times in the second, with Bonkowski closing out the scoring early in the third.
Ryan Grout stopped 26 of 27 shots for Salmon Arm, with Austin McNicholas making 18 saves on 22 shots for the Chiefs.
Both teams were scoreless on the power play at 0-for-2.
PRINCE GEORGE 3, WEST KELOWNA 1
At Prince George, Marcus Ouellet stopped 30 of 31 shots as the Spruce Kings downed the West Kelowna Warriors Friday night.
Trent Ballentyne, Alexis Cournoyer and Linden Makow scored for Prince George (4-7-3-0-0), which trailed 1-0 after the first period but scored twice in the second, then added one more in the third.
Jackson Kyrkostas, who opened the scoring at 19:17 of the first, replied for West Kelowna (9-5-2-0-0), which outshot the Spruce Kings 31-20, including 12-1 in the third.
Justin Katz stopped 17 shots for the Warriors.
Prince George was 1-for-5 on the power play while West Kelowna was 0-for-3.
At Vernon, Isaac Tremblay scored twice in leading the Vipers to a home-ice win over the Merritt Centennials on Friday night.
Anthony Cliche and Owen Kim also scored for Vernon (12-4-0-0-0), which led 3-0 after 20 minutes and 4-2 after 40.
Dylan Lariviere and Jaxson Murray replied for Merritt (6-9-1-1-0). The third period was scoreless.
Ethan David stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Vipers, with Karlis Mezsargs turning aside 23 of 27 shots for the Centennials.
Vernon was 1-for-4 on the power play while Merritt was 2-for-3.
Friday’s results
- Alberni Valley 3, Cowichan Valley 2
- Nanaimo 5, Victoria 2
- Surrey 5, Powell River 1
Saturday’s games
- Langley at Cowichan Valley
- Trail at Penticton
- West Kelowna at Prince George
- Vernon at Salmon Arm
- Nanaimo at Alberni Valley
- Surrey at Powell River
Sunday’s games
- Langley at Victoria
- Trail at Cranbrook
KIJHL
Friday’s results
- Columbia Valley 4, Kimberley 1
- Fernie 2, Castlegar 0
- Princeton 4, Kelowna 2
- Creston Valley 3, Chase 1
- Kamloops 7, Osoyoos 1
- Grand Forks 7, Beaver Valley 4
- Nelson 3, Spokane 2
- Sicamous 4, Revelstoke 2
- Summerland 1, North Okanagan 0
Saturday’s games
- Golden at Kimberley
- Kelowna at 100 Mile House
- Kamloops at Chase
- Creston Valley at Revelstoke
- Osoyoos at Sicamous
- Nelson at Grand Forks
- Beaver Valley at Spokane
Sunday’s game
- Creston Valley at Sicamous