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Recap: Vees score a big win over Vernon in front of a big crowd on Pink the Rink

PENTICTON, B.C. – The Penticton Vees won their fifth in a row on Friday night, beating the Vernon Vipers 4-2 in their ninth annual Pink the Rink night, at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Boxscore

A season-high 4,308 fans packed the SOEC in the Vees’ annual Anti-Bullying awareness night, and the home team didn’t disappoint. Clad in pink jerseys, the Vees came back from a 1-0 second period deficit, to pick up their eighth win in their last nine games.

Penticton did all their scoring in the second period, as they got goals from Conyr Hellyer, Anselmo Rego, Billy Renfrew, and Thomas Pichette in a five-minute span. The Vees scored in bunches on Friday. Their first and second goals came 17 seconds apart and their third and fourth goals came in a 23-second span.

“We got to start with the atmosphere. The building was buzzing all night. We had some good chances in the first period, but we just couldn’t bury on them. We shook that off and the early goal against in the second. Once Hellyer scored that tying goal, the building went wild and we fed off that and kept coming in waves,” said Vees’ Director of Hockey Operations Matt Miller.

Penticton won four of five games against the Vipers this season, including all three at the SOEC. The Vees have won 14 of their last 15 games against Vernon.

Andrew Ness picked up the win in net, as he stopped 25 of 27 shots to record his 12th win of the season. Ness has not lost a start since November 10th, an overtime setback in Cranbrook.

Isaac Tremblay scored both of Vernon’s goals on Friday, as the Vipers had their three-game win streak snapped. Tremblay gave Vernon a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the second period. His icebreaker came after he tucked the puck upstairs over Ness’ shoulder at 7:17.

Penticton tied it just over five minutes later, as Hellyer scored his 10th of the season on a Vees’ power play at 12:25. Hellyer tipped in Callum Arnott’s pass after cutting across the zone.

The Vees then grabbed their first lead of the game just seconds later, as Rego scored after a miscue between the Vernon goalie and defenceman. Rego grabbed the puck at the bottom of the circle and quickly put a backhand deke over the Vipers’ Colin Reay at 12:42.

The Vees continued to press and went up 3-1 after James Fisher played setup man for Billy Renfrew. Fisher took the puck away from a Viper, before darting down the wing and dishing out front for the streaking Renfrew, who tucked the puck in on the stick side. Renfrew’s 13th goal of the season.

Less than half a minute after Renfrew’s goal, Pichette put the Vees up 4-1. Brock Reinhart’s point shot was going wide, but Pichette reached out and tipped the puck back on net and past the goalie’s glove at 17:39.

When it was all said and done, the Vees scored four goals in just five minutes and 14 seconds to go up 4-1 after two periods.

The only blemish in the third period was Tremblay’s second of the game and it was bit of a blooper. Tremblay’s dump in from the neutral zone skipped off of Ness’ stick and in at 17:15. That goal was as close as the Vipers would get to Penticton.

GAME STATS

Vernon 2 at Penticton 4

Shots: 38-27, Vees

Vees Scoring: Hellyer, Rego, Renfrew, Pichette

Vees Goaltending: Andrew Ness (W) 60:00 25/27

Power-Plays

Vees: 1/3

Vipers 0/1

Three Stars:

1) Anselmo Rego

2) Conyr Hellyer

3) Thomas Pichette

Attendance: 4,308

NEXT GAME: The Vees (29-7-2-2) host the West Kelowna Warriors (25-9-7-0) at the SOEC on Saturday, February 17th; puck drop is 6:00 pm