Photo credits: Garrett James Photography (Richter), Tami Quan (Joughin)
Penticton Vees – 5
West Kelowna Warriors – 2
Beanie Richter scored his first two goals of the playoffs and Luc Wilson scored two of his own to lead the Penticton Vees to a 5-2 road win over the West Kelowna Warriors in Game 3 of the Interior Conference Finals and take a 3-0 series lead.
The Vees took the lead just 55 seconds into the game when Josh Nadeau opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the postseason. Wilson and Richter added on late in the period and Penticton was up 3-0 after one. The second period was scoreless most of the way through, until Richter potted his second of the game with 1:18 left in the frame to make it 4-0. John Evans got West Kelowna on the board at the 13:46 mark of the third period, but Wilson replied shortly after with his second of the game. Marcus Joughin scored for the Warriors on a late deflection to make it a 5-2 final.
Thomas Pichette, Adam Eisele and Bradley Nadeau had two assists apiece for Penticton, while Josh Nadeau added a helper to his first-period goal to finish with two points. Kaeden Lane stopped 19 of 21 shots to earn the victory.
Wilson’s two-point night puts him into a tie for the BCHL Playoffs scoring lead with 19 points in 12 games.
West Kelowna will try to keep their season alive at home in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
