GAME PREVIEW: Vees Clash With Smoke Eaters For Back-To-Back Wins

PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography

The Penticton Vees (7-1-0-0) look to avenge an earlier loss to the Trail Smoke Eaters (4-4-0-0) as the teams’ face-off for the fifth time this season on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

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2021 REGULAR SEASON VS. TRAIL

Friday, April 2^nd @ Trail (4-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Thursday, April 8^th @ Trail (6-0 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Sunday, April 11^th vs. Trail (6-1 Vees) (BOXSCORE)

Wednesday, April 14^th vs. Trail (3-2 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, April 17^th @ Trail (6:00 PM)

Friday, April 23^rd vs. Trail (7:00 PM)

Monday, April 26^th @ Trail (7:00 PM)

Thursday, April 29^th @ Trail (7:00 PM)

Sunday, May 2^nd vs. Trail (4:00 PM)

Saturday, May 8^th vs. Trail (6:00 PM)

The Vees will try to make it back-to-back wins after returning to the win column on Thursday night with a 7-1 triumph over the Cranbrook Bucks. Ryan Upson registered a hat-trick and a four-point night in the win while Ben Wozney, Tom Richter, Luc Wilson and Stefano Bottini each found the back of the net in the victory. Kaleb McEachern made his second start of the season, turning aside 20 of the 21 shots he faced in his 2^nd win of the season.

Penticton suffered their first loss of the season on Wednesday night to the hands of the Smoke Eaters in a 3-2 defeat in one of the more entertaining games so far of the Penticton Pod. Liam Malmquist and Ryan McGuire tallied in the 3^rd period but it was not enough as the Vees fell short for the first time all season. Kaeden Lane turned aside 24 of the 26 shots thrown his way in his 1^st loss of the campaign.

Vees Leading Scorers:

Luc Wilson (7-7-14)

Jacob Quillan (5-5-10)

Ryan Upson (4-6-10)

Liam Malmquist (2-8-10)

Fin Williams (2-5-7)

The Vees have been getting scoring from all avenues so far this season and the depth of this group has been a consistent key to winning hockey games. Ryan Upson made his presence felt on Thursday night, registering his first career BC Hockey League hat-trick and collecting four points in the win. The West Vancouver, BC native has points in all but two of the Vees games this season and plays a little bit of everything, having been thrown on the power play and is a regular penalty killer while playing up and down the Vees lineup.

The most steady stream of offense for the Vees has come from leading scorer Luc Wilson, who continues his torrid pace to begin the season. The Minnesota State-Mankato commit has earned a point in each of his team’s first eight games, sitting tied for 2^nd in BCHL scoring with 7 goals and 14 points during that span. The Duncan, BC native is good for a tie for 3^rd in the league in goal scoring this season with his seven markers, trailing on Victoria’s Ellis Rickwood and Powell River’s Josh Kagan.

An assist in Thursday night’s win kept the point streak alive of Liam Malmquist, who extending his consecutive games with a point mark to seven. The University of Wisconsin commit has collected a pair of multi-point efforts in that span while leading the team with 8 helpers on the campaign. The Edina, Minnesota native ranks in a tie for 6^th among all BCHLer’s in assists with his 8 after leading the league in assists in the exhibition season, collecting 14 in 14 games played.

The Trail Smoke Eaters come into Saturday night’s action after back-to-back victories including a 4-3 win over the Bucks on Friday night at the SOEC. A three-goal first period from Quinn Disher, Kalen Szeto and Brady Hunter gave Trail the lead before Ryan Helliwell’s third period marker stood up as the game winner. Cayden Hamming was terrific in the Trail net, stopping 29 of the 32 shots thrown his way in his 1^st career BCHL win.

Smoke Eaters Leading Scorers:

Quinn Disher (4-4-8)

Noah Wakeford (3-4-7)

Ryan Helliwell (2-4-6)

Kalen Szeto (3-2-5)

Brady Hunter (3-2-5)

A large part in the victory over the Vees on Thursday night was the play of goaltender Logan Terness, who stopped 40 of the 42 shots thrown in his direction to earn his 3^rd straight win of the season. The University of Connecticut commit has stopped 73 of his last 77 shots in his last two games, both culminating in first star efforts, and has won each of his last three starts while only dropping the first game of the season against the Vees. The Burnaby, BC native ranks 9^th in the league with a .924 save percentage on the season while seeing split time in the Smoke Eaters crease with Caydon Hamming.

Smoke Eaters rookie forward Quinn Disher has had a knack for finding the back of the net, scoring in each of his last two games and three of his last four. The Fort St. John, BC product has opened the scoring with his last two goals, coming just 1:29 into the win against the Vees and 1:09 last night against the Bucks. Disher sits in a tie for 8^th among rookies in scoring with his 8 points and tied for 5^th in goal scoring amongst first-year players with his 4 markers on the season.

The Vees and Smoke Eaters drop the puck on the fifth of ten meetings between the two sides on Saturday night at the SOEC. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM with the game available to listen on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as watch on pay-per-view at HockeyTV.com and Shaw Spotlight beginning with the pre-game show at 5:40.