A summary of youth ice hockey outcomes from the region including Okanagan.
WHL
The Blazers have been consistently beating the Rockets for the last four seasons.
This changed on Friday night in Kelowna, where Andrew Cristall performed exceptionally, scoring two goals and assisting five times as the Rockets easily defeated the Blazers 9-1.
Head coach Kris Mallette expressed his joy as the win secured a playoff spot for the Rockets.
Kelowna (30-28-3-1) had Marek Rocak, Carter Kowalyk, Gabriel Szturc, Dylan Wightman, Luke Schelter, Kayden Longley, and Max Graham as additional scorers with 3-0 and 5-0 leads at breaks.
The Rockets, currently in sixth place with 64 points, aim to improve their standing in their upcoming six games.
Kamloops' Blake Swetlikoff managed to score the only goal early in the third period after the Rockets reached a 6-0 lead.
This significant victory brought Kelowna’s record against Kamloops to 3-3-1-0 this season, following the Blazers' 8-2 victory last season.
Kelowna's Jari Kykkanen saved 30 of 31 shots, while Kamloops' Jesse Sanche made 31 saves on 40 shots.
Kelowna scored 3 out of 4 power plays, while Blazers scored 1 out of 4.
This series will conclude on Saturday night in Kamloops.
Friday’s Outcomes
Red Deer 4, Calgary 3
Everett 4, Victoria 1
- Brandon 9, Lethbridge 0
- Moose Jaw 6, Regina 3
- Edmonton 3, Prince Albert 2 (OT)
- Prince George 5, Vancouver 3
- Saskatoon 3, Medicine Hat 1
- Seattle 5, Spokane 4
- Wenatchee 8, Tri-City 1
- Saturday’s Matches
- Kelowna at Kamloops
Lethbridge at Moose Jaw
- Wenatchee at Portland
- Medicine Hat at Prince Albert
- Vancouver at Prince George
- Calgary at Red Deer
- Edmonton at Saskatoon
- Seattle at Spokane
- Brandon at Swift Current
- Everett at Victoria
- Sunday’s Gameday
- Tri-City at Seattle
BCHL
- Penticton 2, West Kelowna 1 (OT)
With only a few regular-season games left, the Vees and Warriors competed in a thrilling game that went into overtime.
On Friday night in West Kelowna, the top-seeded Vees emerged victorious, with Francesco Dell’Elce scoring the winning goal at 1:10 of overtime after Ryan MacPherson and Jack Pridhim secured goals for Penticton and West Kelowna, respectively.
Vees assistant coach Matthew Vanden Berg described the game as competitive and praised the team’s effort in securing two points in a challenging venue.
Ryan MacPherson, who scored at 2:11 of the first period, also contributed a goal for Penticton (35-7-3-2-0).
Jack Pridhim scored at 19:52 of the third period for West Kelowna (28-10-10-0-0).
Will Ingemann saved 24 of 25 shots for the Vees, while Rorke Applebee made 25 saves on 27 shots for the Warriors.
Neither team scored when they had an advantage in the game, both going 0-for-1.
VERNON 5, MERRITT 4 (OT)
In Merritt, the Vipers took an early lead but then lost it and ended up with an overtime decision on Friday night.
Owen Kim, Luke Bibby, and Hank Cleaves scored for Vernon (28-18-1-0-0), who were ahead 3-0 after the first period and 4-0 early in the second.
Scoring for Merritt (19-23-4-1-0) was Michael Felsing, Michael Stenberg, Luke Pfoh, and Easton Ryan.
Ethan David saved 31 out of 35 shots for the Vipers. For the Centennials, Andrew Ballantyne stopped 29 out of 34 shots.
Vernon made 1 of 5 power play attempts while Merritt made 0 of 4.
SALMON ARM 1, CRANBROOK 0 (OT)
At Cranbrook, J.J. Monteiro scored the only goal of the game in overtime as the Silverbacks shut out the Bucks on Friday night.
Eli Pulver stopped all 42 shots he faced for Salmon Arm (28-16-0-3-0).
Neither team scored when they had an advantage in the game, both going 0-for-2.
Friday’s results
Langley 3, Coquitlam 0
Cowichan Valley 2, Alberni Valley 0
Surrey 3, Nanaimo 1
- Trail 5, Prince George 2
- Victoria 6, Powell River 5
- Saturday’s games
- Langley at Chilliwack
- Surrey at Cowichan Valley
Merritt at Penticton
- Salmon Arm at Cranbrook
- Nanaimo at Victoria
- Powell River at Alberni Valley
- Vernon at Trail
- Prince George at West Kelowna
- Sunday’s games
- Surrey at Nanaimo
- Fernie vs. Creston Valley
(Fernie wins series 4-1)
- Kimberley vs. Columbia Valley
KIJHL
PLAYOFFS
First round
- (Columbia Valley wins series 4-1)
- Beaver Valley vs. Castlegar
- (Beaver Valley wins series 4-0)
- Grand Forks vs. Nelson
- (Grand Forks wins series 4-1)
- Princeton vs. Kelowna
- (Princeton wins series 4-1)
- North Okanagan vs. Osoyoos
- (North Okanagan wins series 4-0)
- Revelstoke vs. Chase
- (Revelstoke wins series 4-0)
- Kamloops vs. Sicamous
- (Kamloops wins series 4-3)
- Second round
- Friday’s results
- Fernie 6, Columbia Valley 2
(Fernie leads 1-0)
North Okanagan 5, Princeton 3
- (North Okanagan leads 2-0)
- Grand Forks 2, Beaver Valley 1
- (Grand Forks leads 1-0)
- Revelstoke 5, Kamloops 3
- (Revelstoke leads 1-0)
- Saturday’s games
- Columbia Valley at Fernie
- Grand Forks at Beaver Valley
Kamloops at Revelstoke
- Sunday’s games
- No games scheduled
- Andrew Cristall got seven points for Kelowna as they beat the Kamloops Blazers 9-1 on Friday. Elsewhere, Penticton narrowly defeated West Kelowna 2-1 in overtime.
Sunday’s games
- No games scheduled
