The Penticton Vees used a pair of goals from Tristan Amonte and Quinn Hutson en route to a 7-0 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to open the Okanagan Cup on Friday (Sept. 25) night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The game started off slow as the first shot didn’t take place until the four-minute mark of the opening period before the play started to open up and the Vees began to generate chances.
Salmon Arm went to the first power play of the contest but it was the Vees who would capitalize. At the tail end of the man advantage, Tristan Amonte gathered a loose puck at centre ice and came in on a clear breakaway from the blue line, making a move from his forehand to his backhand that beat Silverback netminder Riley Kohonick over the glove shoulder at the 6:52 mark of the period to give Penticton a 1-0 advantage.
Amonte helped give his squad a 2-0 advantage five minutes later at the 11:52 mark of the 1st period. Amonte had Matteo Costantini going to the goal but the puck glanced off the stick of a Silverbacks defender, resulting in Amonte’s second goal of the contest.
Penticton began the 2nd frame in similar fashion to how they finished the opening period as they were buzzing inside of the offensive zone. 3:56 into the middle stanza, Quinn Hutson buried his first goal of the Okanagan Cup on a nifty backhand pass from Costantini below the goal line to vault the Vees ahead 3-0.
Jackson Niedermayer gave Penticton a 5-0 lead early in the third period. Niedermayer buried a rebound on a Liam Malmquist slap shot that Niedermayer was able to find the puck in the bottom of left face-off circle and beat Kohonick low glove at the 6:42 mark to give the Vees a 5-0 advantage.
Hutson found the back of the net for his second goal of the night at the 15:26 mark of the final period on a breakaway. Luc Wilson chipped the puck ahead to the neutral zone and found Hutson as he beat the Salmon Arm defence and got to the net before making a move to his forehand and beating Kohonick over the blocker side to give Penticton a 6-0 lead.
Drew Elser capped off the scoring with a snap shot from the left face-off circle after collecting a rebound on an original shot that was blocked. Elser picked the corner over the glove side of Kohonick to finish off the scoring with 1:48 remaining in the game to give the Vees a 7-0 lead.
Yaniv Perets turned aside each of the 20 shots he faced in his 1st shutout of the Okanagan Cup while Riley Kohonick made 34 saves on 41 shots for Salmon Arm in his 1st loss of the Okanagan Cup.
The Vees will get right back to action tomorrow night with another game against the Silverbacks.
The Vees’ full tournament schedule is below:
Friday, September 25 vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, September 26 vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6:00 p.m.)
Friday, October 2 vs. West Kelowna Warriors (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, October 3 @ West Kelowna Warriors (7:00 p.m.)
Friday, October 9 vs. Vernon Vipers (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, October 10 @ Vernon Vipers (6:00 p.m.)
Friday, October 16 @ West Kelowna Warriors (7:00 p.m.)
Saturday, October 17 vs. West Kelowna Warriors (6:00 p.m.)
Friday, October 23 vs. Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, October 24 @ Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6:00 p.m.)
Friday, November 6 @ Vernon Vipers (6:00 p.m.)
Saturday, November 7 vs. Vernon Vipers (6:00 p.m.)
Friday, November 13 Semi-Finals
Saturday, November 14 Finals
READ MORE: Penticton Vees to play in two-month Okanagan Cup tournament
READ MORE: Inside the Penticton Vees’ last normal day: head coach on pandemic, next season, fate of BCHL
jesse.day@pentictonwesternnews.com
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