The Penticton Vees (31-10-2-3) suffered their first regulation loss in the month of January after a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Victoria Grizzlies (25-16-4-3) Sunday afternoon.
The Vees opened the scoring in the game as Cassidy Bowes knocked in a loose puck at the side of the net after a deflected point shot. The goal came just 1:50 into the game.
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The Grizzlies answered back quickly however; two minutes later Ethan Nother finished off a nice passing play by the Grizzlies for his first of two goals on the day.
Nearly 10 minutes later the Grizzlies again connected on some quick passes around the Vees zone with Nother finishing off the play, firing the puck past an outstretched Adam Scheel with under eight minutes to go in the period.
The Grizzlies would add another goal before the period ended when Alex Newhook found a loose puck in the slot and wired it into the top corner over Scheel’s blocker to make it 3-1 Grizzlies after one. Shots were 17-8 Victoria through 20 minutes.
Looking for a quick start to the second, the Vees got the opposite as TJ Friedmann negated a clear by the Vees before skating to the right circle and beating Scheel over the blocker to make it 4-1 just 66 seconds into the period.
This time it was the Vees answering quickly, Taylor Ward deflected in a shot from Chris Klack in front of the net for the Vees second power play goal of the game just 59 seconds later.
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The score remained tied at two until the final minute of the second when Owen Sillinger deflected Jonny Tychonick’s shot from the blue line to make it a one goal game with 23 seconds to go.
The Vees had another power play early in the third to try and even things up, but were unable to take advantage. A few minutes after the penalty ended, Friedmann scored his second of the game after a blocked shot came right to him and he beat Scheel under the glove from the slot.
After another Vees power play went by the way side, Carter Berger rounded out the scoring with a shot from the slot to make it 6-3 with just over five minutes to go.
The loss was the first in regulation for Penticton since Dec. 30 in Wenatchee. The Vees finished the month of January with a 9-1-0-1 record, outscoring their opponents 41-24. With the Vernon Vipers loss to the Trail Smoke Eaters on Sunday afternoon, the Vees remain in first place in the BCHL standings.
Penticton now gets set for two more road games next weekend. Friday night they’ll travel to Merritt to play the Centennials before meeting the Salmon Arm Silverbacks the very next night.