Looking back at the first half with Coach Fred Harbinson
Photo: Garrett James Photography
The annual BC Hockey League (BCHL) Christmas break is upon us, a time for everyone in the league to rest, recharge, and prepare for the second half sprint. It’s also a good time to look back of the first half of the regular season for the Penticton Vees.
The Vees went into the break red-hot, winners of seven-straight games and 11 of their last 12 games. Penticton went into the break with back-to-back 5-2 wins over the West Kelowna Warriors on December 13th and 14th.
Penticton sits tied with the Brooks Bandits for not only first place in the Interior Conference but the BCHL overall standings as well. Through 28 games, the Vees are 22-6-0-0, good for 44 points. The Bandits do hold the tiebreaker with more head-to-head wins.
The Vees certainly have not had it in cruise control, as the first half of the regular season has presented its challenges. Travel has been first-half heavy, as the team has done three Alberta road trips and a Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island swing, all before December. Penticton has played the most road games out of any BCHL team at the halfway mark. In fact, 19 of their first 28 games have been away from the SOEC, if you include the BCHL Showcase. Add up all those hours on a bus, missed practice time, and fewer recovery days, and that takes a toll.
“The biggest challenge has been the combination of our front-loaded travel schedule along with our long-term injuries,” began Vees’ President, General Manger and Head Coach, Fred Harbinson. “The injuries to our backend and to our captain could have stalled out the best of teams. Now that we have been through it, I believe we are stronger for it. We have had multiple players really step up.”
Yes, the injuries. The Vees have already had 63-man games lost to injury. That’s games players have missed due to injury, injury recovery, or illness. Not only has Penticton had to deal with significant injuries, but injuries to veteran players. Three 20-year-olds have already missed big chunks of time.
20-year-old defencemen Matthew Biotti and Michael Fisher have been sidelined for a majority of the season to date. The two are big pieces, figuratively and literally, on the Vees’ blue line. Biotti is a 6’6, 220-pound right-shot defenceman who is in his second season and committed to Harvard. Fisher checks in a 6’3, 213 pounds and is drafted by the San Jose Sharks. He is huge veteran presence already, having played college hockey last season at Northeastern University in Hockey East.
Biotti was hurt in just the third game of the season and has missed 25 of the Vees 28 games. Fisher has been sidelined since October 19th and has missed all but nine games this season. 20-year-olds in junior hockey are the backbone of teams and having two defencemen sidelined long-term could derail any team’s season, but the Vees also had to deal with key injuries upfront too.
Captain and 20-year-old Conyr Hellyer, who unfortunately suffered another upper-body injury in West Kelowna on December 14th, has already missed 10 of 28 games this season. Fellow forward Caton Ryan also had missed 10 games due to two separate upper-body injuries. Despite the injuries, the Vees seemed to embrace the challenge and have had a “next man up” mentality.
“There has been a lot of opportunity to take a slide in the wrong direction, but our guys have done a remarkable job of resetting every week to the task at hand,” stated Harbinson. “I think our leadership group does a great job grounding our guys during the ups and downs that you always experience in a team environment.”
One silver lining with injuries is opportunities for others and two players Coach Harbinson thinks has stepped up is the team’s two youngest defenceman.
“The injuries to our backend gave the opportunity for [Callum] Stone and [Zach] Nyman to really take control of their own game which they did big time. They are both great examples of the importance for players to be ready, physically and mentally when their opportunity presents itself.”
17-year-old Stone and 16-year-old Nyman have embraced increased minutes and responsibility on the blue line. Despite their youthfulness, the two have stepped up to help fill the void left by Biotti and Fisher. Nyman’s 12 points (0-12-12) in 28 games is second only to Nolan Stevenson on the backend. He also leads the team in blocked shots.
“I think Nyman has exceeded my expectations on his play without the puck. We always knew he would be dynamic with it, but he has transitioned his game against bigger, older players much faster than anticipated.”
Stone has 10 points (1-9-10) and has played himself into a top defensive role. Not bad for a player that originally was penciled in as the team’s sixth, seventh defenceman. Stone was dubbed a “left-handed Troy Stecher” by Harbinson, due to his uncanny parallels to former Vees’ defenceman and current Edmonton Oiler.
Penticton has seen things stabilize in the crease as well. Since mid-November, the tandem of Will Ingemann and Ethan Buenaventura have been terrific. Since Buenaventura signed last month, all he has done is gone 5-0, with a 2.00 goals-against average (GAA) and .915 save percentage (SV%). The 20-year-old has been as advertised. Great both on the ice and in the Vees’ dressing room. The addition of Buenaventura has also had another positive affect.
Ingemann has regained his form after an up and down start. Since the addition of Buenaventura, Ingemann has gone 4-1, with a 2.01 GAA, and .908 SV%. He also has one shutout during that five-game stretch. The addition of Buenaventura has created healthy competition in the crease and that has pushed Ingemann in the right direction. The two of them should be a great one, two punch down the stretch.
When talking about players stepping up due to injury, you can’t overlook a player like Ryden Evers. The 19-year-old won a Fred Page Cup championship last season with the Surrey Eagles, before being acquired by the Vees in an off-season trade. He has been everything the Vees had hoped for. He leads the team with 33 points (13-20-33) in 28 games, which has him sitting tied for seventh in the BCHL scoring race. Evers has been at his best when the Vees needed him the most. Evers has recorded points in 11 of his last 12 games and is riding a seven-game point streak heading into the break.
Another player upfront that has stepped up is Luke Posthumus. The 19-year-old has turned out to be a great signing from the USHL this past summer. The Ottawa, Ontario, product had a slower start than anticipated, with six goals in his first 22 games, but went into the break with seven goals in his last six games. He has a six-game point streak. Posthumus has become a very dependable two-way centre that has a very underrated shot. He has quietly climbed to second in team scoring. It’s easy to draw comparisons to Billy Renfrew from last season. Renfrew, after a slow start, become the Vees “Swiss Army Knife,” playing up and down the lineup last year. Fast-forward, and Posthumus has become that player for the Vees.
Also, Max Heise has had a great sophomore season. The 18-year-old leads the Vees with 15 goals and is on pace for a 30-goal season. He’s been a weapon on the power play, scoring eight goals, which is second-most in the BCHL. He wasn’t drafted in his first year of NHL eligibility, but you won’t see him passed over in the 2025 NHL Draft in June.
Is 15-year-old Eli McKamey finding his groove? Not easy to be the youngest player in the BCHL, who was granted exceptional status. It goes without saying a player at his age would go throw an adjustment period, but if the last two weeks are any indication, he’s starting to feel comfortable. McKamey four points (1-3-4) in the final four games before the Christmas break, including a two-point effort against West Kelowna on December 14th. Coach Harbinson predicted McKamey would start hitting his stride at Christmas after an adjustment period. The 15-year-old will be someone to watch in the second half.
Fan favourite and veteran Anselmo Rego has been another consistent presence, as he seems to be the Vees’ sparkplug game in, and game out. Rego sits third in team scoring with 22 points (8-14-22) and seem to thrive in the big moments.
The thing is, you can go up and down this lineup to point out strong characters and individual performances, yet this team only has one player in the top 20 in BCHL scoring. The year’s incarnation seems to really embrace the idiom, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
One thing Coach Harbinson wanted to note when reflecting on the first half, has been the incredible fan support. Penticton is 8-1-0-0 at the SOEC this season and is averaging a league-best 3,004 fans per game.
“The community support has been outstanding again in the first half. I know our players always look forward to playing in the atmosphere of the SOEC and so far, our fans have been great.”