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The Vees muzzle Terriers to win first Western Canada Cup championship

The Penticton Vees defeated the Portage Terriers to win their first Western Canada Cup
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THE PENTICTON VEES are 2015 Western Canada Cup champs after a 4-3 overtime win against the Portage Terriers in Fort McMurray on May 2.

The Penticton Vees are Western Canada Cup (WCC) champs and now move on to the RBC Cup - Canada's National Junior A Championship held May 9 to 17.

The Vees will open the national championship against the Portage Terriers, who they defeated to win the WCC in their first appearance 4-3 in overtime. The Vees clinched the championship on Connor Chartier's overtime tally at 2:59. Chartier went to the front of the net as teammate Dakota Conroy fired a shot from the right side that squeaked through goalie Justin Laforest. While being checked, Chartier was able get his stick on the puck to tap in the winner, his fifth goal of the tournament.

"We wanted it really bad. Especially after losing in the round robin," said Vees coach-general manager Fred Harbinson. "In my eight years here, (I thought it was) probably one of the hardest fought wins that we've had."

In a rematch of their game on April 28, in which the Terriers, the top-ranked Canadian Junior Hockey League team, won 3-2, the Vees got their payback. This time they didn't fall behind 2-0. The Vees scored first on a goal by Riley Alferd with the assists to Jack Ramsey and Patrick Sexton at 7:01 of the first. Nearly seven minutes later, the Terriers got on even terms as Tanner Jago set up Taylor Friesen, who beat Hunter Miska. The Vees outshot the Terriers 12-10 in the first period.

In the second frame, Vees defenceman Dante Fabbro game them 2-1 lead at 5:17 from Alferd and Sexton. Ten minutes later, Steen Cooper gave the Vees a two-goal cushion on the power play when he was set up by Dakota Conroy and Mike Lee. The Terriers responded just 25 seconds later on a goal by Tyler Jeanson assisted by Brett Orr and Jordyn Boyd. The Vees had the edge in shots again 17-13.

Harbinson spoke of having some unfortunate breaks go against them, starting with having what they thought was the 2-1 goal being disallowed as the referee blew the whistle too early, to a holding the stick penalty called against Vees rookie Tyson Jost in the offensive zone with just over two minutes to go.

That call led to Terrier Zack Waldvogel being able to force overtime when he scored on the power play with 57 seconds left.

"The last one for the championship was a special one for us," said Harbinson. "It's exciting. We set out with many goals at the beginning of the year. One of them is to try and win a national championship. You can't do that without going through the process of a number of steps. This is one of them."

Despite earning an automatic berth to the RBC Cup with the host Terriers playing in the WCC final, nothing changed in the Vees' minds.

Miska, the Vees' player of the game, stopped 34 of 37 shots, while Laforest made 32 saves in the loss. The WCC championship win is the second for Vees forward Demico Hannoun, who won it with the Surrey Eagles two years ago.

Prior to their championship victory, Miles Gendron, Tyson Jost and Miska won hardware at the WCC awards banquet Friday night.

Jost and Miska each took home three awards and Gendron was one of three Vees named to the All-Tournament team. Jost won the top forward and top scorer awards and was named to the All-Tournament team, after scoring a tournament-best five goals in four round-robin games. Jost finished with six points; tied with teammates Conroy, Chartier and Patrick Newell.

Miska was named the top goaltender, tournament MVP and to the All-Tournament team.  Miska had a tournament-best 1.76 goals-against average, .937 save-percentage and the only shutout of the round-robin. He allowed only seven goals on 114 shots and played the second-most minutes out of any goaltender.

Gendron finished tied for second in scoring by defencemen with four points in as many games. The Ottawa Senators draft pick’s four assists were second most at the WCC behind Newell’s five helpers.

WCC All-Tournament Team:

Goaltender- Hunter Miska, Penticton

Defence- Landon Peel (Portage) and Miles Gendron

Forwards- Jost, Brad Bowles (Portage) & Adam Durkee (Fort McMurray).