A roundup of junior hockey results from the Okanagan and area.
B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE
The best team during the regular season is now one win away from claiming the league title.
At Surrey, Ajeet Gundarah posted his second shutout of the championship series as the Eagles whitewashed the Penticton Vees 4-0 in Game 5 on Friday night.
Surrey now holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game 6 scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. in Penticton.
“The few chances we gave them, they finished. And we didn’t generate enough. We’re not producing enough high-quality chances right now,” said Vees assistant coach Matthew Vanden Berg.
“We got to find a way to get some shots from the inside and make life a little harder on them.”
Evan Brown, Ryder Evers, Ryan Evenhuis and Rylan Bonkowski scored for Surrey, which led 2-0 and 3-0 at the period breaks.
Andrew Ness stopped 12 of 16 shots for the Vees. Gundarah also earned a shutout in Game 1, which Surrey won 6-0.
Surrey was 1-for-2 on the power play while Penticton was 0-for-1.
The Vees are now facing elimination and must win Game 6 and 7 to three-peat as league champions.
“We’ve been in this spot before and came back in our last series against Salmon Arm,” said Vanden Berg, noting Penticton was down 3-2 against the Silverbacks before winning Game 6 and 7 of the Interior Final.
However, the Silverbacks aren’t the Eagles.
During the regular season, Salmon Arm finished with 34 wins and 71 points while Surrey topped the league with 44 wins and 90 points. Penticton was second with 38 wins and 82 points.
“We’re going back home and it’s gut-check time and we need to bring it Sunday,” said Vanden Berg.
Game 7, if needed, is scheduled for Tuesday night in Surrey.
MEMORIAL CUP
It took some time, but the Moose Jaw Warriors finally found their legs on Friday night after a long day of travel on Thursday from Saskatchewan to Michigan.
But time had already run out on the Western Hockey League champions.
At Saginaw, the host Spirit started strong and rushed to a 4-0 lead halfway through the game – which was when the Warriors found their legs.
Moose Jaw, who was outshot 17-7 in the first period and 36-26 overall, scored three straight goals and closed the gap to 4-3 before the frame ended.
In the third, the two clubs swapped goals, with Saginaw making it 5-3 at 1:52 and Moose Jaw scoring late, at 17:13, to make it 5-4.
In the last two minutes, the Warriors pulled their goalie and had a handful of chances to tie the game but couldn’t score the equalizer.
Saginaw is the first American team to host the Memorial Cup since Spokane in 1998.
The Spirit (50-16-1-1) had a great season in the OHL but were bounced in the Western Conference final, 4-2, by the eventual league champion, the London Knights (50-14-1-3).
“There’s no fear in any of these teams,” Saginaw head coach Chris Lazary said. “We have to keep bringing it.
“We’re the only team that has nothing to show; we’re here because we’re the hosts but our plan is to make sure at the end of it everyone knows how good this group is.”
The Warriors (44-21-0-3) are appearing in their first Memorial Cup after the franchise swept the Portland Winterhawks for the WHL’s Ed Chynoweth Cup earlier this month.
It was the franchise’s first league championship.
Moose Jaw will play London on Monday, then Drummondville (48-14-5-1) on Tuesday.
The Warriors’ roster features several B.C. players, including Lynden Lakovic of West Kelowna, Rilen Kovacevic of Kelowna, Max Finley of Kelowna and Cosmo Wilson of Vernon.
More information about the 104th Memorial Cup is available online.
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