The Cowichan Valley Capitals (2-9-2) piled up a long list of penalties as they lost 4-1 to the Penticton Vees (7-4-1) Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Cowichan’s only goal of the game came on a shorthanded breakaway as Paul Selleck beat the Vees Derek Krall through the five hole. The Vees went 0-for-4 on the power play in the first but went into the intermission tied, after Andre Ghantous took a feed from below the goal line and beat Blake Wood over the glove with 1:12 left in the period. The shots were 12-11 Capitals after 20 minutes.
In the second the Capitals began getting themselves into penalty trouble. Eric Linell made them pay the first time by scoring his first as a Vee, taking a pass in the slot and firing a wrist shot past Wood.
Five minutes later, Dimitri Mikrogiannakis was given a five-minute checking from behind major for hitting Brendan Harrogate into the boards, and a minute after that the Capitals were called for too many men.
Nineteen seconds into the 5-on-3, James Miller scored his fifth of the year as his wrist shot beat Wood over the glove and the Vees took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
David Silye scored another power-play goal for the Vees on a nice wrist shot from the left circle with 7:28 remaining in regulation.
Late in the third period is where the Capitals began to implode, piling up 15 of the 23 penalties they took Saturday, which included five game and gross misconducts.
Off a face-off in the Cowichan zone, three Vees players were jumped as all the Capitals players dropped their gloves to try and start fights. No Vees retaliated and the end result was a seven-minute power play for the Vees.
Shortly after that began, the Capitals were called for a blow to the head minor giving the Vees another full two-minute 5-on-3 power play. While they didn’t score, the Capitals bench continued to grow smaller and smaller as players were ejected.
With under a minute to go in the game, Preston Broadziak slashed Peter Muzyka as he skated by the Capitals bench, resulting in another ejection. Cowichan had five players remaining on the bench at the end of the game.
The Vees now get set to head up to West Kelowna to play the Warriors for the first time this season next Friday before returning home to host the Chilliwack Chiefs on Saturday.
Steve Kidd
Senior reporter, Penticton Western News
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