Luke Voltin fired home the winner, while Tyson Jost lit the lamp three times as the Penticton Vees blew away the Nanaimo Clippers 6-1 at Frank Crane Arena Friday.
Jost put the Vees up 1-0 at 4:01 of the opening frame with a wrist shot and Voltin made it 2-0 just over seven minutes later. The Clippers lone goal came from the BCHL’s leading goal-scorer, Sheldan Rempal who tallied his 53rd of the season at 17:58.
Jost then blew the doors open in the second period with his 32 and 33rd tallies of the season at 7:33 and 11:52, respectively. The Vees captain said he was really happy with his team’s play in a game they were excited about.
“One of our game plans going in was just trying to get pucks to the net and create offence off that, and I think we did that really well…” he said, as they fired 35 shots at Clippers goalie Evan Johnson. “We had some lucky bounces, but that all comes off hard work.”
Dixon Bowen made it 5-1, 1:50 into the third period with his eighth, assisted by Scott Conway, who finished with two assists on the night, and Easton Brodzinski. Nicholas Jones potted his 15th, assisted by Jost and Dante Fabbro, who had a three-assist night.
“We needed more saves in the game, for sure, and then I thought that once the score got a little bit lopsided and they buckled it down, by then our heads were in left field. We just didn’t finish strong,” said Mike Vandekamp, Clippers coach to the Nanaimo News Bulletin.
He said the game hinged on key moments. Nanaimo had a good start to the second period and earned an early power-play opportunity, but couldn’t get the game-tying goal.
“At 2-1, even at 3-1, it was an even game, but they happened to have gotten a couple more pucks past our goalie than we had with theirs,” Vandekamp said. “And then we just didn’t have the maturity to stick with that.”
After being pulled against the Victoria Grizzlies on Thursday night, Anthony Brodeur bounced back with a strong performance to make 22 saves for his 25th win of the season.
With the win, the Vees improve to 43-6-0-1, while the Clippers drop to 33-17-1-1. Conway trails Rempal by two points for the lead in BCHL scoring, 102 to 104. Jost now has 84 points in 40 games.
The Vees conclude their Vancouver Island road trip in Alberni Valley today. The Vees can clinch their second straight BCHL regular season title by collecting a point.
Written with files from the Nanaimo News Bulletin.
