The Penticon Vees new slogan this season according to head coach Fred Harbinson is “Now Matters,”.
Judging by the Vees first place Interior Division finish, Harbinson is getting the buy in to win that he’s been looking for from his players.
“We really wanted, right from training camp on to talk about let’s embrace what we have right here,” said Harbinson.
What the Vees have in spades is talent.
NHL first round draft pick Jay O’Brien led the team with 66 points in just 46 games.
But the Vees, are by no means a one man show. This season’s line-up features numerous names with big league pedigrees.
“I think we have about five or six guys that their dad have played in the NHL,” said Jackson Niedermayer, son of Hockey Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer.
18 year-old Jackson is just one of them but Niedermayer says the team’s depth runs beyond a handful of recognizable names.
“Everyone has got skill, throughout the four lines, to the three defensive pairings and the two goalies,” Niedermayer said.
The Vees will start their playoff run Thursday at the South Okanagan Events Centre when they face the West Kelowna Warriors in the first round of the BCHL’s second season.