Penticton Vees ventilate Langley Rivermen

The best part about the Langley Rivermen’s B.C. Hockey League game against the Penticton Vees on Friday is that it’s over.

The league-leading Vees came into the Langley Events Centre and trounced the Rivermen 6-0.

Shut out in two of their last three games, the Rivermen have been unable to generate much offense, scoring three goals in the past 180 minutes of hockey.

“It was a tough loss,” Langley forward Marcus Vela said. “We got into penalty trouble early. They’ve got a good power play and took it to us. From there it just continued; the penalties kept coming and it just wasn’t our day today.”

The Rivermen played a physical game but also took 11 penalties, including the first four of the game, and gave up a trio of power play goals.

The Vees started the scoring just three minutes in as Miles Gendron beat Bo Didur for the game’s opening goal. They proceeded to tack on five more and received some solid goaltending from Brendan Barry, who turned aside 24 shots for his second shutout of the season.

“Overall, I was happy with our effort,” Vees head coach and general manager Fred Harbinson said. “This is a nice road win for us in a tough place to play and we’re glad we came away with a win.”

“They’ve got a very solid team,” Vela said. “They know how to work together and know how to exploit your weaknesses. We just have to tighten up our end and we’ll be okay.”

The loss dropped the Rivermen’s record to 13-10-1-3.

Despite losing to West Kelowna on Saturday, the Vees remain on top of the Interior Divison, and the entire BCHL, with a 23-4-0-1 mark.

Rivermen 3, Surrey Eagles 1

The Surrey Eagles are having a season for the ages – for all the wrong reasons.

The Rivermen kept the Eagles grounded by beating them 3-1 last Wednesday, Nov. 26, at South Surrey Arena.

The Eagles are far and away the worst team in the B.C. Hockey League, with a 3-20-0-3 mark.

Even so, they put up a good fight against the Rivermen, outshooting the visitors 38-31, including 14-6 in a scoreless third period.

All the scoring was done in the opening frame, with the Eagles drawing first blood on a goal from Latrell Charleson at the 3:38 mark.

That was followed by three unanswered goals by the Rivermen in the final five minutes of the period.

Zac Masson 14:43 into the period, Evan Anderson exactly two minutes later, and Jacob Kearley with 37 seconds to go before the intermission gave the Rivermen all they needed for the victory.

ICE CHIPS: The Rivermen have a date with the Mainland Division-leading Chilliwack Chiefs at Chilliwack’s Prospera Centre on Wednesday night.

The Chiefs – who occupied the Mainland cellar in 2013/14 with a 14-37-2-5 mark – are 17-8-0-1 so far this season.

The two teams have split both meetings so far this season.