Penticton Vees beat out Trail Smoke Eaters 4-1

Photo: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography

The Penticton Vees used a pair of goals from Fin Williams and the first BC Hockey League goal from Josh Niedermayer to triumph over the Trail Smoke Eaters by a 4-1 score on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

The first period of the game was focused on a defensive battle for the Vees as both teams had a timid start with the shots.

Niedermayer was the first to land on the scoreboard, taking a shot over the blocker shoulder of Smoke Eaters goaltender Logan Terness to break the ice at the 14:37 mark of the opening period, and keeping the lead heading into the second.

Brady Hunter brought the Smoke Eaters to a tie game, taking his shot off the stick of a Vees defender and under the glove of Lane just 35 seconds into the middle period.

But a Vees power play brought the lead in their favour, with a tic-tac-toe passing effort from the Devlin O’Brien, Luc Wilson and Williams.

Williams came crashing in to deposit his third goal of the season at the 9:13 mark of the middle frame to give the Vees a 2-1 advantage just under halfway through the period.

The Vees concluded the period with the edge in play, outshooting Trail by a 10-5 margin, heading into the final period of play with a one-goal lead.

Both teams once again had their chances in the third, but both goalies were standing strong. In the last two minutes of the game, the Vees took their opportunity as the Smoke Eaters benched their goalie and grabbed an extra player.

Tyler Ho made a strong play to get around every Smoke Eaters player in the neutral zone and found the back of the empty net for his fifth goal of the season. The Vees jumped ahead by a 3-1 margin at the 18:49 mark of the final period.

O’Brien put a shot to the net with 47 seconds remaining in the game, collecting a puck at the top of the right face-off circle and sneaking a shot through traffic that was redirected by Williams for his second goal of the game to give the Vees a late 4-1 advantage.

Lane picked up his eight win in goal for the Vees, stopping 17 of the 18 shots thrown his way in the victory while Logan Terness turned aside 29 of the 32 shots he faced in the game in his third loss of the campaign.

The Vees return to action with the second half of a back-to-back as they face-off against Cranbrook Bucks on Saturday night at the SOEC. Puck drop is slated for 6 p.m.