Junior hockey: Vees, Silverbacks advance to Interior final

A roundup of junior hockey results from the Okanagan and area.

B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE

PENTICTON 2, VERNON 1 (OT)

The Penticton Vees have again advanced to the Interior Conference championship.

On Friday night, Thomas Pichette scored in overtime as Penticton rallied to defeat the Vernon Vipers in Game 5 of their second-round series.

The 2-1 victory earned the Vees a 4-1 series victory, meaning Penticton will now play in its third consecutive conference final.

Larry Keenan, who tied the game at 18:09 of the third period, also scored for the Vees.

Erik Pastro opened the scoring, making it 1-0 for Vernon at 3:00 of the third following 40 minutes of scoreless hockey.

Will Ingemann stopped 14 of 15 shots for Penticton. For Vernon, Ethan David had a stellar performance against the two-time defending league champions, stopping 38 of 40 shots.

Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with Penticton at 0-for-3 and Vernon at 0-for-1.

2:30 Bob Cole dead at 90: Hockey broadcasting legend’s love for the game

SALMON ARM 6, WEST KELOWNA 2

In West Kelowna, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks bounced the Warriors from the playoffs by defeating them in Game 5 of their second-round series on Friday night.

The 6-2 victory pushed Salmon Arm into the Interior Conference final, where they’ll meet Penticton for a second straight year.

In last year’s conference final, Penticton won the series 4-1.

Notably, the Silverbacks were the only team last spring to beat the Vees in the playoffs, as Penticton went 16-1 en route to winning the league title.

On Friday night, Tanner Walos and Casy Laylin, with two goals each, Patrick Raftery and JJ Monteiro scored for Salmon Arm, which led 2-1 and 5-1 at the period breaks.

Felix Caron and Isaiah Norlin replied for West Kelowna, which outshot their opponents 37-28.

Eli Pulver made 35 saves for the Silverbacks, with Matthew DellaRusso turning aside 22 shots for the Warriors.

Salmon Arm was 1-for-6 on the power play while West Kelowna was 2-for-4.

Saturday’s game

• Surrey at Victoria
• (Surrey leads series 3-2)

Thursday, May 2

• Salmon Arm at Penticton

Friday, May 3

• Salmon Arm at Penticton

Monday, May 6

• Penticton at Salmon Arm

Wednesday, May 8

• • Penticton at Salmon Arm

• 

  1:33 Oil Country heads to Hollywood as hockey fans travel for playoff excitement

  Edit Video
  Oil Country heads to Hollywood as hockey fans travel for playoff excitement

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE

PRINCE GEORGE 5, PORTLAND 0

Joshua Ravensbergen was unbeatable on Friday night, as he backstopped his Prince George Cougar to a shutout victory over the Portland Winterhawks in the opening game of the Western Conference championship.

Terik Parascak, Bauer Dumanski, Hudson Thornton, Ondrej Becher and Koehn Ziemmer scored for Prince George in a game that saw 68 shots on net.

Ravensbergen stopped all 33 shots fired his way. At the other end, Jan Spunar stopped 30 of 35 shots for Portland, which trailed 1-0 and 4-0 at the period breaks.

The Cougars have recorded three shutouts in the playoffs this spring.

Prince George was 1-for-3 on the power play while Portland was 0-for-1. The attendance at CN Centre was a standing-room crowd of 6,011.

Friday’s results

• Moose Jaw 4, Saskatoon 3 (OT)

Saturday’s games

• Moose Jaw at Saskatoon
• (Moose Jaw leads series 1-0)
• Portland at Prince George
• (Prince George leads series 1-0)

2:00 Calgary Canucks goaltender Molinaro comes full circle returning home for national championships

MOWAT CUP

Provincial Junior A championship

Sunday, April 21

• Revelstoke Grizzlies 3, Ridge Meadows Flames 2 (OT)

Participating teams

• Kimberley Dynamiters (KIJHL, host)
• Revelstoke Grizzlies (KIJHL champions)
• Ridge Meadows Flames (PJHL champions)
• Saanich Predators (VIJHL champions)