As the Penticton Vees head north to Prince George for their two final regular season games, the topic of resting players came up during Thursday’s Coach’s Corner.
Penticton Vees coach-GM Fred Harbinson broke down some numbers on his players’ performance.
In the last 15 games, they have outscored the opposition 89-26 and allowed 21.4 shots against. Their top nine forwards and scoring defenceman are all averaging over a point-per-game with the exception of Logan Johnston, who is just shy of that mark. Harbinson also said in the last 40 days, he has given his players 10 days off. During some of their practices, some lasted just 30 minutes.
“If we get beat in the playoffs it isn’t going to be because we are tired,” said Harbinson, who joked that the coaching staff and trainer is. “If you give them one day off they seem to bounce back like rubber balls. Thursday’s practice was 20 minutes. There was no stopping them. They were just going.”
Harbinson did confirm that goalie Michael Garteig would not play on the weekend and will resume practicing next week. He will rest some veterans on Saturday, but players such as Joey Benik, who is tied for the BCHL points lead, will have the chance to add to that.
Benik has 94 points on the year, with Mario Lucia five behind him as well as Wade Murphy. Connor Reilly, who is out for the rest of the season following knee surgery, is sixth in scoring with 86 points in 54 games. Vees forward Bryce Gervais leads the league with 41 goals, one ahead of Paul De Jersey, who shares the league’s point lead with Benik. Lucia is at 39 goals.
Offence by the Reilly brothers: Here’s a look at the Reilly brothers scoring contributions among themselves. Connor has nine goals assisted by Mike, while twin Ryan assisted on just one of his goals. Ryan had six goals assisted by Mike, while Connor never set up his twin. Mike had two goals assisted by Ryan and three by Connor. Ryan and Mike together assisted on six Vees goals, while Connor and Mike assisted on three.