Hours before the news of Penticton joining the WHL next season as an expansion franchise was made official, the city's current BCHL team inched closer to winning a prestigious regular-season title.
Burnaby's Ryden Evers had four points, including a pair of goals, as the visiting Vees blanked the Okotoks Oilers 4-0 on Saturday night (March 22).
Will Ingemann made 11 saves to record his second shutout of the season and eighth of his career. It also marked a new career high for Ingemann in wins with 23.
Penticton (40-7-5-0) sits atop the Interior Conference and BCHL overall, four points ahead of the second-place Brooks Bandits. The Vees need to collect one point in their remaining two games to win the Ron Boileau Trophy, awarded annually to the league's top regular-season club.
The Vees' win in Okotoks last weekend came one night after the team cruised by the Cranbrook, 5-2, in the Kootenays.
Penticton captured the Ron Boileau Trophy in 2022 and 2023, the years in which the club won back-to-back Fred Page Cup titles. Surrey won the regular-season trophy last year.
With less than two weeks left until the start of the 2025 BCHL playoffs, the Vees will host Cranbrook and Salmon Arm in succession this weekend to wrap up the regular season.
Game notes
Penticton finished the 2024-2025 regular-season campaign with a 20-5-1-0 record.
Both Evers and Simon Meier, who had a multi-point performance last Friday in Cranbrook, have eight points in their last three games.
Penticton and Okotoks could soon meet again, this time in the playoffs. The Alberta-based club sits eighth in the Interior Conference, and if the season ended today, would play the Vees in the first round.
Up next
Cranbrook comes to the South Okanagan Events Centre on Friday, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
The Vees will host Salmon Arm on Saturday night in the regular-season finale. Action will begin at 6 p.m.
