The Penticton Vees will be gunning for supremacy in theB.C. Hockey League (BCHL) when they invade the home ice of the Coquitlam Express tonight.
The Vees are one point ahead of the Express of the Mainland Division following their third win in a row Tuesday, a 4-3 victory over the Langley Rivermen.
Penticton has 43 points ((21-5-1-0) and Coquitlam has 42 ((21-5-0-0).
Puck drop is slated for 7:15 p.m. at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre with the game being broadcasted on EZ Rock AM 800 as well as HockeyTV.com beginning with the pre-game show at 6:55 PM with the Voice of the Vees, Trevor Miller.
READ MORE: Overtime heroics help Vees to 2-1 overtime victory
In Tuesday’s game the Vees used four different scorers to secure the win after falling behind just over three minutes into the first period.
The Vees came back in a big way, registering the next three goals and tying the game at the 10:23 mark of the first period as Darwin Lakoduk tallied his first goal as a member of the club.
David Silye worked his way into the right face-off circle and sent a pass to the front of the net as a streaking Lakoduk chipped it in off his backhand through the blocker side of Rivermen netminder Braedon Fleming for his sixth goal of the season and first as a Vee to tie the game.
Colton Kalezic put the visitors up for the first time, lacing a shot into the back of the net from Alex DiPaolo.
Penticton netminder Yaniv Perets made some big stops in the middle frame, including a breakaway save before Liam Malmquist scored for the Vees, their second power play goal on the fourth power play just before the midway point of the period.
The Rivermen then pulled to within one goal just over a minute later but that was as close as they would get as the Vees restored their two-goal advantage just moments into the third period as Tristan Amonte scored what would stand up as the game-winning goal.
Perets faced 24 shots in his 12th win of the season.
READ MORE: Penticton and Salmon Arm will duke it out tonight for division lead
In other Vees news, the team announced this week forward Lukas Sillinger and defenceman Evan McIntyre will attend the Team Canada West selection camp.
The tryouts come ahead of the 2019 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge, taking place in Dawson Creek starting Dec. 7 at the Encana Events Centre.
Sillinger, 19, is in his third season with the Vees and has 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points in 26 games this season.
The Regina, Sask. native has earned 32 goals and 44 assists for 76 points over 116 career games in the BCHL while coming off of his first career five-point night on Nov. 13 against Salmon Arm.
McIntyre, 19, is currently in his second year with Penticton, joining the team in January last season.
The Ohio State University commit has five goals and seven assists for 12 points during the current campaign.
Hailing from Oakville, Ont., he has scored eight goals while adding 11 assists for 19 points in his 44 career games with the Vees.
Sillinger and McIntyre are two of 44 hopefuls who will take part in the selection camp, which runs from Dec. 1 to 3 at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alta.
Team Canada West will kick off the tournament against the United States on Dec. 7 in Dawson Creek.
The team is back home Friday for a 7 p.m. clash with the Chilliwack Chiefs. Following that they are off until Nov. 27 when they will play host to the Prince George Spruce Kings at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
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Mark Brett | Reporter
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