#11 Willyam Gendron sneaks around a Vee's player at a face-off and gets a bit of a breakaway.
By Malcom Cooke
The Nanaimo Clippers suffered their first loss of the new season on Friday, falling 4-3 to the Penticton Vees. The game was the first rematch at Frank Crane since the 2022 Fred Page Cup finals meeting. The Clippers held a 3-1 lead at one point in the game thanks to Cole Lonsdale and a 2-goal night from Jack Edwards. Despite the loss Clippers goaltender Tyler Hodges had 31 saves, including multiple stretch saves to keep the game tied. A frenetic burst of goals in the first left the Clippers up 2-1. All 3 goals were scored within a 2-minute stretch midway into the first period.
Samuel Boisvert received the game's first penalty, a 2-minute hooking call, midway through the 1st period. Goaltender Tyler Hodges made a spectacular save while shorthanded to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0. The Clipper penalty expired without much stress. A Vees skater tripped up a Clipper forward as he was breaking out of the defensive zone, putting the Clippers on the power play. 4 seconds into the man advantage Cole Lonsdale wired home a shot, beating the Vees netminder. The Clippers' lead would be nullified almost immediately after the Vees broke in on a 2 on 1, tying the game at 1-1. Pittsburgh-born, Jack Edwards, scored his 1st of the season to put Nanaimo up 2-1. After the 2-minute barrage of goals play settled down for the remaining 7 minutes of the 1st. The Clippers outshot the Vees 16-12 in the 1st period.
Jack Edwards scored his 2nd of the game after Isa Parekh fed a wrap-around pass to Edwards, who was sitting in front of Vees net. Penticton responded 2 minutes later with a goal of their own. A delayed penalty against the Clippers gave the Vees a 6th skater. With the extra player the Vees were able to score before the Clippers could touch the puck; putting the score at 3-2. Late in the 2nd, the Clippers were awarded a power-play but it would be the shorthanded Vees that scored, tying the game at 3-3 before the end of the 2nd period. Time would expire on the power play and the Clippers would remain tied with the Vees. Just before the end of the 2nd period, Matt Lahey would be dinged for a double-minor high-sticking penalty. The Clippers would play the rest of the 2nd period short-handed but kept the Vees off the scoreboard. Shot totals were lower than the 1st period with the Vees outshooting the home team 9-8 in the 2nd.
The Clippers were able to kill off the final minute of the double-minor to start the 3rd period. Both teams played the 3rd period tight defensively, keeping the game tied at 3-3 for the majority of the final frame. Penticton had an opportunity to get ahead after Brett Merner slashed a streaking Vees forward, likely saving a goal in the process. However, the Clippers penalty-kill unit was able to run down the 2 minutes with the help of Matt Lahey making critical plays in key moments. This was followed by another Clipper penalty, this time to Cole Lonsdale. Emmitt McHardy almost single-handedly killed off the penalty by keeping the puck in Penticton’s zone. The Vees turned up the pressure in the latter half of the 3rd period and were consistently turned aside by Clipper goaltender, Tyler Hodges.
60 minutes was not enough to solve this 2022 Fred Page Cup rematch. The game headed to overtime after both teams put up 3 goals and 29 shots each in a stalemate. In the extra frame, the Vees controlled the pace of play early. They kept the Clippers off the puck until Isa Parekh stole it and went on a partial breakaway. While he was trying to separate from the Vees defender he was hauled down and prevented from getting a shot off; play continued. With Parekh down in the corner, the Vees got a partial breakaway of their own. Jack Edwards dove to knock the puck off the attacking player's stick and in the process tripped him up. This put the Clippers on the penalty kill in overtime. Penticton would capitalize with the extra player and win 4-3.
Francisco Dell’Elce took home 1st star by scoring the game-winning goal. Nanaimo’s Jack Edwards and Isa Parekh earned 2nd and 3rd stars. Matt Lahey was named FortisBC Energy Player of the Game. The Clippers look to bounce back Saturday night in Port Alberni before returning home on Friday, October 6th to face the Powell River Kings. Tickets can be purchased at the Frank Crane box office on game day, or at tickets.nanaimoclippers.com.
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