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Penticton Vees score 5 unanswered to stun Vernon Vipers, remain undefeated at home

Vernon unable to clinch no worse than the Interior Division’s sixth seed; battles Merritt Saturday
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The Penticton Vees scored five goals in a row Friday, March 24, to defeat the Vernon Vipers at the South Okanagan Events Centre. (Photo- Cherie Morgan)

Brothers Josh and Bradly Nadeau combined for five points in 20 minutes Friday night, March 25, propelling the Penticton Vees to a successful third-period comeback and 5-1 victory against the Vernon Vipers at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Vernon’s Julian Facchinelli broke a scoreless deadlock early in the third period, after the Okanagan rivals combined to record just 29 shots in the game’s first 40 minutes.

The Vees (49-3-0-1), replied with five unanswered goals, with Spencer Smith scoring twice and the Nadeau brothers combining for three. Josh and Bradly sit atop the B.C. Hockey League scoring list for 2022-2023, posting 113 and 108 points, respectively.

Vipers goaltender Roan Clarke denied Penticton’s league-leading offence in the affair’s first two frames, making 20 saves. His counterpart, the Vees’ Luca Di Pasquo, stopped nine shots in the first and second periods before watching his team’s offensive outbreak in the final frame.

Clarke finished the night with 34 saves.

With the loss, the Vipers (26-21-2-4) were unable to clinch the Interior Division’s sixth seed, or better, with just one regular-season game remaining.

A Vernon loss to the Merritt Centennials on Saturday, March 25, and a Wenatchee Wild victory against the Trail Smoke Eaters would lock the Vipers into the division’s seventh seed, setting up a first-round matchup with the second-place Cranbrook Bucks.

Penticton, meanwhile, has won 14 games in a row and on Friday became just the eighth team in BCHL history to record 50 victories in a single season.

The Vees have yet to lose on home ice during the 2022-2023 campaign.

Fred Harbinson’s squad will battle the Smoke Eaters in the playoffs’ opening series, a first-round rematch from last year’s postseason.

Penticton wraps up its regular-season schedule Sunday afternoon, when they welcome the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to the SOEC.

READ MORE: Penticton Vees’ play-by-play commentator Fraser Rodgers sets on-air milestone


@lgllockhart
logan.lockhart@pentictonwesternnews.com