Game Five Recap: Vees win 3-2, force Game Six against Brooks
Photo: Cherie Morgan
The Penticton Vees staved off elimination on Friday, winning 3-2 over the Brooks Bandits at the SOEC in Game Five of their Interior Conference Final.
With the win, the Vees forced a Game Six back in Brooks on Monday. The Bandits still lead the series three games to two.
The Vees trailed 1-0 after the first period, as the Bandits opened the scoring on the power play nine minutes into the game. Penticton rebounded by scoring three unanswered goals, twice in the second, and one early in the third, to go up 3-1, before holding on for a 3-2 win.
Louie Wehmann and Max Heise scored in the second, and Simon Meier scored in the third for the Vees.
Will Ingemann was the Vees’ best player on Friday as he turned aside 31 shots and was named the first star. Ingemann now sports a .938 save percentage in the series, having allowed just five goals in three games.
For the first time in this series, the team that scored first lost. Brooks went ahead nine minutes into the first on a power play goal by Parker Lalonde. Both of the Bandits goals in Game Five came on the man advantage.
WHAT A SHOT FROM LOUIE WEHMAN
Penticton evens up game 5 off of a snipe from Louie Wehman
@Fraser_Vees | @PentictonVees pic.twitter.com/OEkIaRz1uS
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 10, 2025
Four minutes into the second the Vees drew even, when Wehmann scored his fourth of the playoffs at 4:05. Anselmo Rego chipped the puck to Wehmann who spun and fired over Zach Zahara’s glove. Wehmann scoring in back-to-back games.
VEES TAKE THE LEAD IN GAME 5
Max Heise springs free on a breakaway and goes upstairs with a backhand to give Penticton the lead!
@Fraser_Vees | @PentictonVees pic.twitter.com/ANcS1qFhnL
— BCHL (@BCHockeyLeague) May 10, 2025
The Vees got their first lead in Game Five late in the second after a breakaway goal from Heise. Caton Ryan made a great pass from inside his own zone to Heise at the Bandits’ blue line, who then went in alone and scored on a backhand deke at 16:19. Heise’s fifth made it 2-1.
Meier then scored early in the third period to the Vees up by two. Ben Merrill grabbed the puck behind the net and dished to Meier, who jammed in his seventh at 1:58 to make it 3-1.
Brooks cut the Vees lead down to one with their second power play goal at 8:27. Nathan Free’s shot hit Vees’ defenceman Matthew Biotti in the midsection and bounced over to Mathis Dufour for the tap in.
The Bandits did pulled their goal with just over a minute to go for the six-on-five, but the Vees fended them off to seal the Game Five win.
GAME STATS
Shots: Vees- 23 Bandits- 33
Scoring: Louie Wehmann (4), Max Heise (5), Simon Meier (7)
Goaltending: Will Ingemann (W), 60:00, 31/33
Vees Power Play: 0/3
Vees Penalty Kill: 2/4
Three Stars:
1) Will Ingemann (31 SVS)
2) Max Heise (1G)
3) Parker Lalonde (1G)
Up Next: Game 6, Monday, May 12th at Brooks Bandits, 6:00 pm PDT.