A season-high crowd of 4,308 went home happy Friday, Feb. 16, as the Penticton Vees defeated the Vernon Vipers 4-2 on Pink the Rink Night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Conyr Hellyer, Anselmo Rego, Billy Renfrew, and Thomas Pichette scored within a five-minute span in the second period for Penticton (29-7-2-2), who won its fifth game in a row and snapped Vernon’s three-game winning streak.
Isaac Tremblay recorded two goals for the Vipers (24-15-1-0), who dropped their 14th game against Penticton in their last 15 tries.
“Outside of eight minutes of that game, I really liked our group,” said Colton Sparrow, the Vipers’ assistant coach. “That’s what happens in that rink, you let your guard down and you pay. We’ll need to bounce back tomorrow night at home.”
Andrew Ness made 25 saves to help Penticton win for the eighth time in its last nine games. The goaltender hasn’t recorded a loss since Nov. 10.
Wearing pink jerseys on their annual anti-bullying night, the Vees scored four consecutive times after Tremblay helped Vernon jump out to a 1-0 lead in the middle frame. Penticton’s first two goals came 17 seconds apart, while its third and fourth markers happened within a 23-second span.
James Fisher added two assists during the team’s offensive outburst.
“The building was buzzing all night,” said Matt Miller, the Vees’ director of hockey operations. “We had some good chances in the first period, but we just couldn’t bury on them…once Hellyer scored that tying goal, the building went wild and we fed off that and kept coming in waves.”
Vipers netminder Colin Reay made 34 saves for the Vipers, who return home Saturday night to host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (25-13-0-2).
The fourth-place Vipers are three points behind the Silverback for third spot in the Interior Conference.
Penticton, meanwhile, will stay home Saturday and welcome the second-place West Kelowna Warriors (25-9-7-0) to the SOEC.
Puck drop for both games is at 6 p.m.
READ MORE: Here’s what’s happening this weekend in Penticton