Photo: Lawrence Scott / Target Photography
SHERWOOD PARK, AB – The Penticton Vees capped off a perfect opening weekend with a 6-3 win over the Sherwood Park Crusaders, Saturday at Sherwood Park Arena.
The Vees, who won 3-2 on Friday in Spruce Grove, head back west of the Rockies with all four points.
Saturday’s game had a bit of everything: a fight, a penalty shot, a disallowed goal, and controversy. Vees’ Assistant Coach Matthew Vanden Berg applauded his team for how they handled the adversity, “A game like that had a lot of ebbs and flows. I really liked how we responded after giving up an early goal. We had two really good periods and then battled through some adversity in the third. A positive step for our group.”
Assistant Coach Matthew Vanden Berg
After the Crusaders scored just 67 seconds into the game to go up 1-0, the Vees rallied for back-to-back goals, to lead 2-1 after 20 minutes. 15-year-old Eli McKamey tied the game on his first career BCHL goal at 7:07. Then Montreal Canadiens draft pick, Ben Merrill, scored his first career goal at 16:20 to put Penticton up one after the first.
In the second, the Vees scored three more unanswered goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
Landon Wright scored his first of two in the frame at 5:10 that stretched the lead to 3-1. Wright scored his second of the season on the blocker side during a Vees’ power play.
Anselmo Rego got the Vees their fourth goal, as he got his stick to Brock Reinhart’s point shot that deflected in at 10:42.
Wright then picked up his second of the game with six minutes left in the second, after he jammed in a rebound at the side of that made it 5-1.
Will Ingemann, who made his second consecutive start, stopped a Crusaders’ penalty shot late in the second. Shorthanded, Sherwood Park’s Jérémy Loranger was awarded the penalty shot after he was taken down after a shorthanded rush. Ingemann won the showdown, as he foiled Loranger’s attempt.
In the end, the Vees scored three times on 15 shots in the second.
Sherwood Park clawed their way back into it with a pair of power plays early in the third period, after Michael Fisher was handed a five-minute kneeing major. The Crusaders’ Loranger and Poul Andersen scored on that extended power play to cut the Vees’ lead down to two. There was quite a bit of controversy overshadowing the Crusaders’ second goal, as the clock never started before Loranger made it 5-2.
However, despite all that, Ryden Evers picked up his first goal as a Vee after he sealed the win with his empty net goal at 18:09.
Landon Wright (2G, 1A) and Ryden Evers (1G, 2A) each had three-point games. Wright leads the Vees in scoring with four points in the two games.
GAME STATS
Shots: Vees- 32 Saints- 22
Scoring: Landon Wright (2), Eli McKamey, Ben Merrill, Anselmo Rego, Ryden Evers
Goaltending: Will Ingemann (W): 60:00, 19/22
Vees Power-Play: 1/3
Vees Penalty-Kill: 0/2
Three Stars:
1) Landon Wright
2) Eli McKamey
3) Jérémy Loranger
Up Next: The Vees (2-0-0-0) visit the Brooks Bandits (2-0-0) Friday, September 27th, at Centennial Regional Arena in Brooks; puck drop is 6:00 pm PDT. Fans can watch on FloHockey TV, or listen to Bounce 800 AM.
