The Penticton Vees sent their fans to the holidays happy with a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Wednesday night. 

The Vees climb to 16-9-4-3 on the season and sit in third in the West heading into the break. 

It was Brittan Alstead who opened the scoring on Wednesday as Ryden Evers flipped a puck to a streaking Alstead who then tucked the puck up under the bar at 7:04 of the first period. 

The Cougars would respond with two straight goals. First, they struck on the powerplay with a jam play from Aiden Foster and then Shaun Rios ripped a shot high-glove to make it 2-1. 

The Vees answered before the period ended with Evers swatting home a loose puck from the crease for his 21st of the season to make it 2-2 after 20 minutes. 

Penticton would take the lead back at the 4:45 mark of the second period with a wild play. Brady Birnie took a shot from the top of the circle with the puck hitting a stick, bouncing 20 feet into the air, and then in behind the Cougars goaltender to make it 3-2 after the second. 

Birnie would take over in the third period. 

He scored his second powerplay goal of the night on a short-side shot from the circle at 5:07 of the third and then finished off the hat-trick with a diving play through the crease to make the final score 5-2 Vees. 

Ethan McCallum stopped 30 of 32 shots he faced in his second straight start. 

GAME STATS

Shots:

Vees- 28

Cougars- 32

 

Scoring:

Vees- Brady Birnie (3), Ryden Evers, Brittan Alstead

Cougars- Aiden Foster, Shaun Rios

 

Power Plays:

Vees- 2/3

Cougars- 1/5

 

Goaltending:

Vees- Ethan McCallum – 30/32

Cougars- Alexander Levshyn- 23/28

 

Up Next: The Vees return from the Christmas break on Dec. 29 when they battle the Rockets in Kelowna for a 7:00PM faceoff.