A round-up of Saturday night results from junior hockey teams in the Okanagan and area:
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Seattle 4, Kelowna 1
The Kelowna Rockets fell 4-1 to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night at the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA.
The Rockets fell behind early as Andrej Kukuca gave the T-Birds a 1-0 lead 46 seconds into the first period. Seattle held that lead throughout the first and into the second period.
Just under three minutes into the middle frame Dillon Hamaliuk extended the Thunderbirds lead to 2-0 on a T-Birds power play. Kyle Topping got the Rockets on the board on a power play of their own in the later stages of the period to cut the Thunderbirds lead in half. The score was 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Midway through the third Jake Lee regained the T-Birds two goal lead. Zack Andrusia capitalized on another Seattle power play and the Thunderbirds held on for a 4-1 victory.
Roman Basran made the start for Kelowna and stopped 29 of 33 shots he faced.The Rockets out shot the Thunderbirds 45-33. Basran’s record falls to 0-4-0-0.
Kelowna’s record drops to 1-7-0-0.
The Rockets are back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 10 when they play a rematch of Saturday, hosting the Seattle Thunderbirds at Prospera Place.
B.C. HOCKEY LEAGUE
Vernon 2, Penticton 1
The Penticton Vees gave up two power play goals in a 2-1 loss to the Vernon Vipers on Saturday.
The penalty trouble started early in the game as the Vees found themselves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill just over six minutes into the game.
After a high shot from Mitch Andreas caught Jack LaFontaine in the mask, Elan Bar-Lev-Wise jumped on the rebound for his first BCHL goal to give Vernon a lead on the 5-on-3 power play.
Mid way through the second period, Andreas got behind the Vees defence and carried the puck to the net.
After he was stripped of the puck, he bowled over LaFontaine and was subsequently given a five minute major and a game misconduct for goalie interference.
The Vees were unable to capitalize on the power play as it ended three and a half minutes in after a slashing call to Eric Linell.
Once the major had expired, the Vees tied the game shorthanded. Kenny Johnson took a feed from Andre Ghantous and tied the game.
Penticton was called for three minor penalties over the final 20 minutes, and it was the third one that cost them. With Peter Muzyka in the box for roughing, Jack Judson’s wrist shot was deflected by Jesse Lansdell past LaFontaine to give Vernon a 2-1 lead with 8:21 to play.
Try as they might, the Vees weren’t able to solve Porter again as both teams finished with 26 shots. Penticton now gets set to host the Merritt Centennials for the first Wicked Wednesday of the season.
Cowichan Valley 4, Merritt 2
The Cents stumbled on their road swing, as the penalty kill allowed 3 of the 4 goals scored, and the Cowichan Valley Capitals got their second win of the season 4-2.
The start wasn’t atrocious for the Cents, but it left something to be desired as they couldn’t beat rookie Matthew Waite in the first frame. The Capitals managed to beat Austin Roden twice with both goals coming on the powerplay. Roden stopped 8/10 while Waite stopped 8/8 shots thrown his way.
In the second period, the Cents were able to answer with a power play of their own. Mathieu Gosselin got a cross-ice back door feed from Matt Kopperud to make it 2-1, but the Cents couldn’t muster any more offense despite multiple opportunities with the extra man. Despite firing 18 shots on net in the second Waite was only beaten once, while Roden only faced 9 and stopped them all.
The final frame saw the Cents fighting to get back into the game, and they were rewarded when Rylan Van Unen feathered a pass forward for Nick Granowicz who tied the game.
However, the Capitals used their power play to restore the one goal edge and quickly got some insurance to take it 4-2. Roden stopped 33/37 shots while Wait stopped 32/34.
The Cents lost the special team battle in this game, going 1/7 on the powerplay and surrendering 3/6 on the penalty kill.
Head Coach Joe Martin said getting out to a slow start didn’t help.
“I wasn’t pleased with our start, we got away from ourselves, and we got in an early hole because of it,” he said.
The Cents hope to dig themselves out of the hole and back in the win column Sunday afternoon against the Surrey Eagles.
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