Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Penticton Vees was a hard pill for the Cranbrook Bucks to swallow, as the home team was able to amass only thirteen shots on the league’s top ranked defense.
Both teams were timid on the attack through the first period. A Penticton power play midway through the first period resulted in James Fischer breaking the scoreless deadlock with a perfectly-placed one-timer point blast to give his team a 1-0 lead. Penticton’s lead held steady through intermission, and the Bucks were outshot 7-5 through the first twenty minutes.
Second period goals from Connor MacPherson and Conyr Hellyer extended Penticton’s lead to 3-0. Cranbrook managed only 3 shots through the middle frame, to give them a total of 8 through forty minutes.
Penticton essentially put the game out of reach with an early third period goal from Zack Stringer at 3:32 to lift his team to a 4-0 lead. The Bucks were unable to produce any quality scoring chances through the remaining minutes of regulation, and settled for a 4-0 loss.
Saturday’s loss drops Cranbrook’s record to 19-25-2, Penticton outshot the Bucks 36-14. On special teams, the Bucks were 0/3 on the power play and their penalty kill finished 3/4.
The Bucks will get a few days of recovery as they are off until well into March. They return to action at home on March 8 versus the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
– Article includes photo from Trevor Crawley
