Penticton remain atop the BCHL standings, doubling Warriors Saturday night - BCHL
If this was indeed the Penticton Vees last regular season trip to West Kelowna, they made it a winning one.
Wayne Moore - Feb 22, 2025 / 10:20 pm | Story: 534854
Photo: Wayne Moore
If this was indeed the Penticton Vees last regular season trip to West Kelowna, they made it a winning one.
The Vees scored twice on the power play Saturday in a 4-2 victory over the West Kelowna Warriors.
Rumours have been circulating for weeks that Penticton will be awarded an expansion franchise in the Western Hockey League in time for the 2025-2026 season. Itâs believed the current group will operate that franchise meaning the Vees as we know them will cease to be an entity within the BC Hockey League.
Penticton got goals from Louie Wehmann, Luke Posthumus, Ryden Evers and Caton Ryan into an empty net. Nolan Stevenson had three assists in the contest.
Special teams were really the difference Saturday, Penticton scored on two of their three opportunities while the Warriors were unsuccessful on their two chances.
Ironically, the Vees had a chance to break what was a 2-0 lead wide open when Jack Sadowski was assessed a five-minute major for cross checking, but they managed just one harmless shot in the dying seconds of the power play.
âItâs obviously frustrating to lose, theyâre the top team in the league and they continue to show why,â said Warriors head coach Simon Ferguson.
âI donât like our shorthanded goals and donât like that we donât score on the power play.â
Five-on-five, Ferguson says he was pleased with what he saw.
âYeah, 100 per cent. I thought we played real well, did a lot of things really well. Just like playoffs we have nine games left here. We are going to move on, learn from it.
âWeâve got to get X amount of wins to make sure that we are in the right spot when playoffs come.â
The Vees led 2-0 when Jackson Kyrkostas won a race for a loose puck, drove the net off the left wing and slid a backhand that trickled between the pads of Ethan Buenaventura and just inched across the line.
After Ryan made it 3-1 on a Vees power play, Elias Callgren stepped over the line and sent a wrist shot that went off the glove of Buenaventura and into the net.
The Warriors were unable to get any closer.
Callgrenâs goal snapped a goalless streak that reached 104 minutes and 42 seconds.
The loss, the second in as many nights, leaves the Warriors just a single point up on Okotoks in the battle for the seventh and eighth in the Interior Conference.
Spruce Grove is just four points back.
Both teams have three games in hand on the Warriors.
Theyâll make up one of those when they meet head-to-head Sunday.
The Warriors are off until Friday when they travel to Salmon Arm. They host Nanaimo Saturday.
When asked what a week of practice would look like leading up to those crucial games, Ferguson hinted power play and penalty kill units would likely be a strong focus.