The South Okanagan Events Centre will need more room in the rafters for another banner. The Penticton Vees posted 43 wins and 11 losses on their way to winning the BCHL regular season championship.
The Vees are a perennial powerhouse in the league. This is their 15th league championship and their tenth straight interior division title.
“I think the biggest thing is our depth,” Vees head coach Fred Harbinson told Global News.
“After every game we look at our ice time and it’s spread over four lines (and) three sets of defencemen,” Harbinson added.
Harbinson also credits a core group of veterans who stepped up to provide leadership after Vees’ captain Finn Williams went down with a season-ending knee injury in early January.
The Vees will now face the eighth place Trail Smoke Eaters (20-29-2-2-1) in the interior division quarter finals.
Penticton is the heavy favourite after beating Trail in all five of their games this season series, outscoring them 31-14 in the process.
Despite the fact that the Smoke Eaters are the last team to make the playoffs in the interior division, the Vees have vowed not to take them lightly.
“We got to play really hard. We played them a few times this year, especially in their building. It’s a tough place to play,” said Vees’ veteran Frank Djurasevic.
“We know that Trail is going to come hard and we are not taking the game for granted here, so we’ll be ready,” added Vees’ assistant captain Casey McDonald.
The Vees will look to smoke Trail starting Thursday March 31 at the SOEC in Penticton with game two on Friday April 1 before heading to Trail for games three and four next week.