Game Preview: Vees at Brooks Bandits

Photo: Cherie Morgan

Penticton Vees 

President, General Manager & Head Coach: Fred Harbinson

2024-25 Record: GP 34 26-6-2-0, 54 pts (1st, Interior Conference)

Last Game: 5-4 OT win vs. Cranbrook Bucks (Jan. 11)

Home: 13-1-2-0

Away: 13-5-0-0

GF: 131

GA: 87

Power Play: (26/106) 24.5% 4th BCHL

Penalty Kill: (20/89) 77.5% 12th BCHL

Scoring Leader: Ryden Evers (15-22-37)

The Penticton Vees come out of the BCHL All-Star break as the top team in the BCHL standings entering play on January 24th. Their position is thanks in large part to a point streak spanning 13 games, reaching all the way back to November 23rd, against the Vernon Vipers. Penticton has won 11 of those 13, losing the other two in overtime, and last suffered a regulation loss on November 22nd, in Salmon Arm. That 2-1 setback is their only regulation defeat in their past 18 contests.

They’ll look to continue to build on positives this weekend as they face the Brooks Bandits on Friday and the resurgent Blackfalds Bulldogs Saturday night as part of an Alberta road trip. Most impressively, the Vees have continued to hold court at the top of the table while missing key pieces due to injury and absence such as Matthew Biotti, Michael Fisher, Conyr Hellyer, Max Heise and Simon Meier, and played many of those games with as few as nine or ten rostered forwards dressed. 

Finally getting healthy, Penticton will have nearly their full complement of players Friday night when they take on the Bandits at Centennial Regional Arena. The Vees and the Bandits have played twice so far this season and will meet twice in the next eight days. Brooks makes the return trip to the SOEC next Saturday, February 1st. The Bandits have won both contests, 4-1 and 6-2, with the latter coming November 2nd at the SOEC.

A couple of roster moves during the BCHL All-Star Break will see three new Vees make their debut in blue and white on Friday night. Last week the team made the acquisition of defenseman Oscar Pantzare (’04)  from the Victoria Grizzlies for future considerations while also signing forwards Connor Lee (‘07) and Tristan Lee Juhl Peterson (‘06). Lee arrives highly regarded from the Elite Ice Hockey League’s Manchester Storm, playing men’s professional hockey in Great Britain for the better part of the past two seasons. Petersen, from Hvidovre, Denmark, will join the Vees fresh off representing his home country at the U20 Div 1A World Junior Championships. The 18-year-old has spent the past two seasons with the Malmo Redhawks junior program in Sweden.

Pantzare, from the Swedish capital city of Stockholm, was acquired from the Victoria Grizzlies to help further solidify a Vees blue line that when healthy lines up as one of the best the BCHL has to offer. The 20-year-old defenseman has adjusted well to the North American style game, collecting 18 points (4-14-18) in 30 games with Victoria this season prior to being acquired by Penticton. Widely regarded as an above average defender who also possesses a heavy shot from the blue line, Pantzare will surely help the Vees both at even strength and potentially on a power play unit that continues to climb the ranks in the BCHL during the second half of the season.  

In goal expect Ethan Buenaventura to take his turn in the crease against Brooks Friday, with Will Ingemann going Saturday in Blackfalds. The pair have generated nothing but positive results since Buenaventura’s arrival from the WHL in November, with Buenaventura collecting seven wins and an overtime loss in eight starts to go along with a 1.95 goals against average. 

Brooks Bandits  

Season Series:  

September 27th, Penticton 1 @ Brooks 4

November 2nd, Brooks 6 @ Penticton 2

January 24th, Penticton @ Brooks

February 1st, Brooks @ Penticton

Head Coach & General Manager: Ryan Papaioannou 

2024-25 Record: GP 32, 24-6-2-0, 50 PTS (2nd, Interior Conference) 

Last Game: 5-3 loss at Sherwood Park, January 11th 

Home: 12-3-0-1 

Away: 12-3-0-1 

GF: 138 (5th, in BCHL) 

GA: 67 (1st in BCHL) 

Power Play: 34/140 (24.3%, 6th in BCHL) 

Penalty Kill: 100/115 (87.0%, 2nd in BCHL) 

Scoring Leader: Nathan Free (19-24-43) 

The Brooks Bandits arrive to play this weekend after having 13 days to stew over a 5-3 loss to the Sherwood Park Crusaders on January 11th. One loss would not normally be the end of the world for the league’s second place team, but it’s the third time in the last four meetings with the rival Crusaders that they’ve suffered defeat. With only six regulation losses on the season through 32 games, exactly half the Bandits losses have come to the green clad Cru this season. 

Things have been different for Brooks since the BCHL holiday break. Once the league’s top team by a landslide, it’s been all but smooth road since December 28th. The Bandits, unbeatable for much of the first half of the BCHL season, were dealt a heavy blow during the Christmas break and have struggled to find their footing ever since. Remaining one of the top teams in the BCHL standings, it’s been a big adjustment for the Bandits who lost both of their goaltenders over the holiday break. Just 2-2-0-2 in their six games since, the Bandits have seen their league best team goals against average take a major hit since the departure of superstar goaltender Jonny Hicks. Having only given up 67 goals in 32 games entering play Friday, nearly a third of those goals (18) have been scored in their past six contests dating back to December 28th against West Kelowna and the departure of Hicks from the Bandits’ roster. 

The recent woes for the Bandits don’t change the fact that they’re gifted offensively and possess maybe the deepest roster in the BCHL this season. They’re fast in transition and mistakes often end up in the back of the opposing net thanks to an potent offense that’s ready to strike at all times. Led up front by Nick Peluso, Parker Lalonde and Nathan Free, the Bandits play fast and generally mistake free hockey that results in a positive outcome most nights.  

Friday will pit the top two teams in the BCHL against one another head-to-head for the first time since November 2nd when the Bandits handed the Vees their lone regulation loss of the season thus far at the SOEC by a convincing 6-2 score. 

Blackfalds Bulldogs 

 Season Series:  

September 28th, Penticton 4 @ Blackfalds 1

November 1st, Blackfalds 2 @ Penticton 5

December 28th, Blackfalds 2 @ Penticton 3

January 25th, Penticton @ Blackfalds

Interim Head Coach: Ryan Tobler 

2024-25 Record: GP 33, 4-27-2-0, 10 pts 

Last Game: 3-2 loss at West Kelowna, January 12th 

Home: 2-12-2-0 

Away: 2-15-0-0 

GF: 82 

GA: 158 

Power Play: 18/111 (16.2%, 18th in BCHL) 

Penalty Kill: 78/103 (75.7%,15th in BCHL) 

Scoring Leader: Joey Melo (7-8-15) 

If one thing has been made clear since the BCHL’s holiday break, it’s that these Blackfalds Bulldogs are not the same Blackfalds Bulldogs that became an easy out during the first half. With just two wins in their first 26 games prior to the holidays, the Bulldogs made a coaching change on December 21st, handing the reins to Interim Head Coach Ryan Tobler. Under his direction alongside a new coaching staff, the Bulldogs returned from the break refreshed and ready to compete. With a roster nearly completely turned over from opening night, Tobler has found ways to ensure the Bulldogs are competitive, with four of seven games being one goal games through January. 

Newly signed Russian goaltender Kiril Kapustin has been a big reason for the turnaround in Blackfalds, arriving and providing steady goaltending every night while a new group of players learn new systems and build chemistry in front of him. Kapustin, 20, made his BCHL debut against the Vees on December 28th and made 38 saves in a 3-2 loss in Penticton. In six total appearances including his debut, he’s allowed more than three goals only once and carries a .920% save percentage into action this weekend. The Bulldogs  

Joey Melo leads the Bulldogs in scoring entering play on January 24th, and has been tasked with leading a young group of players through the back half of the season. Named captain coming out of the holiday break, Melo is one of just four current Bulldogs who was in the lineup when they opened the season on September 20th against Sherwood Park. The 19-year-old Ontario product, committed to the University of Alaska-Anchorage, will look to help keep the Bulldogs competitive down the stretch and provide a tough test for the opposition heading towards the start of the BCHL Playoffs.