The Penticton Vees got three point nights from Josh Nadeau and Brett Moravec to earn their 8th win in a row in a 7-1 victory over the Cranbrook Bucks on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
On Teddy Bear Toss Night at the SOEC, Brett Moravec was the Vee who made the bears rain on the ice with his 7th goal of the season early in the game, just 1:41 into the contest for a 1-0 lead. Spencer Smith gathered the puck in the left face-off and fed the puck in front to Moravec as he shoveled the puck past the blocker side of Bucks netminder Nathan Airey to put Penticton ahead by a 1-0 score.
Once the bears and other donate-ables were cleared off the ice, the Vees went right back to work and continued to pressure the Bucks goal, leading to Moravec’s second goal of the game and a 2-0 advantage. Grayson Arnott played a shot off the right pad of Airey from the right face-off circle with Moravec filling the middle, burying past the blocker side of the Bucks goaltender for his second goal of the game and his 8th of the season at the 12:37 mark of the period to jump ahead by a pair of goals.
Before the period concluded. Jackson Nieuwendyk made it a 3-0 game with just under 50 seconds remaining in the period. Nieuwendyk picked up the loose puck in the left face-off circle and ripped a shot over the blocker side of Airey for his 4th goal of the season and closed the period for the Vees with a 3-0 lead.
Early in the 2nd period, Penticton added to their advantage with Fin Williams finishing off a terrific pass from Josh Nadeau for his 7th goal of the season for a four-goal advantage. Nadeau dragged the puck from his forehand to his backhand in the left face-off circle and backhanded a pass to the middle as Williams finished the goal 1:54 into the middle frame for a 4-0 lead.
In his first game back from the Under-17 Capital City Challenge in Ottawa, Bradly Nadeau found the back of the net on a breakaway for his 10th goal of the season and a 5-0 advantage. After a steal in the neutral zone, Nadeau walked in on a breakaway as he moved from his forehand to his backhand to lift the puck over the right shoulder of Airey to give the Vees at 10:36 mark of the middle stanza.
Scoring in his 8th straight game, Josh Nadeau helped the Vees to get ahead by a 6-0 advantage and the Vees found the back of the net on the power play for the 15th game in a row. Arnott slapped a shot from the right point that was deflected by Nadeau in the slot past the blocker side of Airey for his team-leading 15th goal of the season at the 19:22 mark of the middle stanza to get a six-goal advantage.
Just 9 seconds after that, Zeth Kindrachuk got the Bucks on the scoresheet with a unfortunate break at the side of the net as Kindrachuk banged the puck past the glove side of Vees netminder Kaeden Lane at the 19:31 mark to close out the 2nd period with a 6-1 Vees lead.
Spencer Smith concluded the scoring in the game with another goal under two minutes into a period as 1:41 into the final period, Smith picked up a goal inn his second consecutive game to restore the six-goal advantage. Moravec made his way to the front of the net, bullying his way to the goal as Smith followed up on the loose puck and banged it past Airey and made it a 7-1 game.
Kaeden Lane turned aside 20 of the 21 shots thrown his way in his 12th win of the season before 16-year-old affiliate player Kenneth Marquart played the final 8:55, making 4 saves. Nathan Airey made 35 saves on 42 shots in his 5th loss of the season.