PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
The Cranbrook Bucks (1-6-0-0) dropped their fifth game in a row Thursday evening, falling to the Penticton Vees (7-1-0-0) by a score of 7-1.
Cranbrook and Penticton were scoreless through the 1st period for the fourth consecutive matchup. Noah Leibl opened the scoring at the 2:20 mark of the 2nd period with a shorthanded goal to give the Bucks a 1-0 lead. Penticton squared things up at 1 two minutes later thanks to a goal from Ryan Upson. One minute after Upson’s goal, Ben Wozney beat Jay Thomson to give the Vees a 2-1 lead. Richter followed suit with a goal of his own to extend the Vees lead before Luc Wilson capitalized on the powerplay with Penticton’s 4th goal of the night. Ryan Upson scored his second goal of the game just 40 seconds later to give the Vees a 5-1 lead which they would take into the second intermission. The first goal of the 3rd period came at 16:29 as Stefano Bottini extended the Vees lead to 6-1. Ryan Upson was able to complete the hat-trick at 18:08 of the 3rd as he beat Jay Thomson glove-side to bring the Vees to 7 goals on the night. The Vees went on to win 7-1. Jay Thomson stopped 31/38 shots while Kaleb McEachern stopped 20/21.
Taco Time 3 Stars
3rd Star: #2 Ben Wozney (PEN)
2nd Star: #72 Tom Richter (PEN)
1st Star: #10 Ryan Upson (PEN)
FortisBC Energy Player of the Game: #4 Reece Henry (CRA)
The Bucks’ next game is Friday, April 16 at 7PM MST against the Trail Smoke Eaters (3-4-0-0) at the South Okanagan Events Centre. All games can be caught on HockeyTV and Shaw Spotlight.
