Everything that Fred Harbinson’s Penticton Vees do, on and off the ice, is all about winning.
“We try to win in every aspect of everything that we do,” Harbinson told Global News.
As a result, the goal at the start of every British Columbia Hockey League season is the same for the Penticton Vees: to win a league championship.
“We want to put our name on that trophy one more time,” Harbinson said.
This season the Penticton Vees will rely on some old faces and some new ones, as they try to bring home a banner for the franchise.
To fans, one of the familiar faces is that of Fin Williams, who’s back to helm the Vees for a second year in a row.
“It’s a great group of guys. I think we are gelling well,” said the team’s captain.
This season will mark Williams’ third year in the league and second with the Vees.
“We want to win a championship. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to win a Fred Page Cup,”.
If the pre-season is any indication the Vees could well be on their way to going undefeated during five games in exhibition.
But according to Williams, it’s not the fact the teams won the games, it’s how they won them that bodes well for the team’s upcoming season.
“We won the games in different styles, grinding them out in the third period for the first few then a bit more free-flowing, but I think it’s a really good sign we are able to win games in different ways,” Williams explained.
One new face that Penticton fans probably won’t recognize is that of Jackson Nieuwendyk.
But hockey fans will most likely know the last name, as Jackson is the son of former NHL great Joe Nieuwendyk.
Another new face that was all smiles today after being named assistant captain was Casey McDonald.
“I’m a heavy two-way player who likes to put the puck in the net and give the opposition’s top line a hard night,” McDonald said.
The Vees will open the season at home Friday night against the Vernon Vipers as the BCHL welcomes fans back to arenas across the province for the first regular season games in over a year.