A roundup of junior hockey results from the Okanagan and area.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
They went into the weekend full of steam, but the Kelowna Rockets’ hopes of finishing fourth overall took a serious hit on Friday night.
At Everett, the Silvertips soundly beat the Rockets 6-2 before a large crowd of 6,759 at Angel of the Winds area. Austin Roest scored twice for the home team, supported by individual goals from Carter Bear, Ben Hemmerling, Jesse Heslop and Caden Brown.
Everett (42-18-2-3, 89 points) is now locked into third place and will head to the playoffs later this month
Tij Iginla, with his 47th goal of the season, and Gabriel Szturc replied for Kelowna (31-29-4-1, 67 points), which trailed 3-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks.
Tyler Palmer stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Silvertips, with Jake Pilon making 34 saves on 40 shots for the Rockets. Everett was 2-for-4 on the power play while Kelowna was 1-for-6.
Heading into Friday’s game in Washington state, fifth-place Kelowna trailed the fourth-place Wenatchee Wild by one point.
That gap is now three points after the Wild (33-26-4-0, 70 points) beat Spokane 3-1 on Friday.
Further, Wenatchee has two games in hand and Kelowna hosts Everett in a rematch on Saturday night.
The Rockets have three games remaining while Wenatchee has five. So, barring a highly unlikely collapse by the Wild, Kelowna should finish fifth overall.
However, right on the Rockets’ heels are the sixth-place Vancouver Giants (31-29-4-0), who have 66 points and four games remaining.
The Rockets and Giants end their seasons by playing each other twice.
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The playoffs have a first-versus-eighth format, with fourth playing fifth and third playing sixth. In brief, next weekend’s outcome between Kelowna and Vancouver will determine who meets Everett in the first round.
Friday’s results
- Edmonton 6, Calgary 2
- Lethbridge 5, Red Deer 2
- Portland 11, Tri-City 1
- Regina 5, Prince Albert 2
- Saskatoon 6, Moose Jaw 3
- Swift Current 8, Medicine Hat 4
- Vancouver 3, Kamloops 1
- Prince George 6, Victoria 1
- Wenatchee 3, Spokane 1
Saturday’s games
- Prince Albert at Brandon
- Vancouver at Kamloops
- Everett at Kelowna
- Swift Current at Medicine Hat
- Saskatoon at Moose Jaw
- Lethbridge at Red Deer
- Tri-City at Spokane
- Prince George at Victoria
- Portland at Wenatchee
Sunday’s games
- Lethbridge at Calgary
- Swift Current at Edmonton
- Moose Jaw at Regina
- Portland at Seattle
- Wenatchee at Spokane
- Prince George at Vancouver
B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE
PENTICTON 4, WEST KELOWNA 3 (OT)
At West Kelowna, Thomas Pichette scored the game-winning goal in overtime as the Vees edged the Warriors on Friday night.
Larry Keenan, Connor MacPherson and Billy Renfrew also scored for Penticton (37-7-3-2-0, 79 points), which never led in the game but always battled back to tie it.
Jack Pridham, Jackson Kyrkostas and Carter Oakenfold replied for West Kelowna (29-10-11-0-0, 69 points), which held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2.
In the third, Oakenfold scored at 7:59 to push the Warriors up 3-2. However, just seconds later, at 8:20, Renfrew replied for the Vees to level the score.
Pichette’s winner in overtime was at 4:16.
The win earned Penticton its 12th consecutive Interior Division pennant.
“It was an emotional win. We didn’t have a lead the entire game, but we kept battling back and that speaks to the growth of our group,” said Vees assistant coach Matthew Vanden Berg.
“Everyone stepped up in their own way tonight. It feels pretty good to win the division in very tough building.”
Andrew Ness stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Vees, with Rorke Applebee making 29 saves on 33 shots for the Warriors.
Penticton was 0-for-3 on the power play while West Kelowna was 1-for-3.
At Salmon Arm, Cole Cooksey opened and closed the scoring as the Silverbacks rolled past the Smoke Eaters on Friday night.
Nathan Mackie and Cole Longacre also scored for Salmon Arm (30-16-0-3-0, 63 points), which led 1-0 and 3-0 at the period breaks.
Christian Kim, who made it 3-1 midway through the third period, replied for Trail (25-18-6-0-0, 56 points).
Eli Pulver stopped 24 of 25 shots for the Silverbacks. For the Smoke Eaters, starter Teagan Kendrick turned aside 22 of 23 shots before giving way halfway through, with Ryan Parker going 11-of-14 in relief.
Salmon Arm was 2-for-3 on the power play while Trail was 0-for-2.
Friday’s results
- Coquitlam 3, Cranbrook 2
- Chilliwack 5, Nanaimo 2
- Powell River 3, Cowichan Valley 2
- Merritt 6, Prince George 3
- Surrey 4, Victoria 3
Saturday’s games
- Cowichan Valley at Powell River
- Surrey at Chilliwack
- Alberni Valley at Penticton
- Merritt at Prince George
- Coquitlam at Salmon Arm
- Nanaimo at Vernon
- Cranbrook at Trail
- Victoria at Langley
Sunday’s game
- Alberni Valley at Vernon
KIJHL
PLAYOFFS
Second Round (division finals)
Friday’s results
- Princeton 4, North Okanagan 0
- Beaver Valley 3, Grand Forks 0
Saturday’s games
- Fernie at Columbia Valley
- (Fernie leads series 3-2)
- Beaver Valley at Grand Forks
- (Beaver Valley leads series 3-2)
- Princeton at North Okanagan
- (Princeton leads series 3-2)
Sunday’s games
- No games scheduled.
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