Local Sports

The ANAF Wreckers and ANAF Vixens opened up early one-point leads in their respective divisions as the Penticton and District Dart Association playoffs got under way last week.

The Osoyoos Coyotes and Summerland Steam tuned up for the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs while the Penticton Lakers ended their tenure in Penticton on a five-game losing streak. Osoyoos split their final two games to finish in third place, and will face the second-place Princeton Posse in the best-of-7 Okanagan Division semifinal series starting Friday and Saturday in Princeton. Summerland dropped their last two games, and the fourth-place Steam is sure to be a big underdog in the other first-round semifinal series against the Kelowna Chiefs, starting Friday and Saturday at the Rutland Arena. Kelowna took two of three on the weekend to edge out Doug Birks Division champs North Okanagan Knights for first overall in the Okanagan-Shuswap Conference. Each team had 72 points but Kelowna owned the tiebreaker by virtue of more wins. Penticton salvaged one point in a season-ending three-game road trip. The Lakers missed the playoffs and will relocate to 100 Mile House for next season. SUNDAY Ð Revelstoke 6 Lakers 2: TJ Christensen scored twice to pace the Grizzlies against Penticton. Chevy Hantula, Riley Creighton, Austin Donaldson and Tyler Reay also scored. Matt Hill and Nick Landry replied for the Lakers, who were outshot 41-40. SATURDAY Ð Golden 4 Lakers 0: Connor Beauchemin scored twice and Adam Johnson made 25 saves for the shutout as the Rockets blanked Penticton. Braeden Allkins and Bobby Kashuba also scored for Golden, who had a 36-25 edge in shots. Coyotes 6 Steam 2: Evan Last scored twice and Osoyoos built period leads of 2-0 and 4-1 en route to a victory over visiting Summerland. Brandon Watson, Nicholas Scott, Troy Maclise and Colin Chmelka also scored for the Coyotes, who were outshot 47-45. Dylan Burton and Olli Dickson replied for Summerland. FRIDAY Princeton 7 Coyotes 2: Devin Suidy notched a hat trick as the Posse thumped visiting Coyotes in a first-round series dress rehearsal. Eric Kubis and Dakota Leppa had two each for Princeton, which led 3-0 and 5-1 at the intermissions and had a 35-19 edge in shots on goal. Maclise and Alex Grupe connected for Osoyoos. Kelowna 9 Steam 2: In another first-round preview, Nick Josephs had the hatty and KIJHL scoring champ Jordan Salahor collected two goals and three assists as the visiting Chiefs buried Summerland. Brayden Oliver also scored twice and Brady Mende and Kyle Clerke had the others for Kelowna, who was up 3-0 and 6-1 at the period breaks. Josh DaCosta and Daniel Kerr replied for Summerland, which was outshot 38-28. Salahor finished the season with 83 points. Columbia Valley 5 Lakers 4 (OT): Briar McNaney's second goal of the game 1:29 into overtime gave the Rockies a win over Penticton. Jeremy Julian, Jerome Thorne and Brendan Burge Ð who led the league with 36 goals Ð also scored for the Rockies, who outshot the visitors 35-28. The Rockies led 3-0 after 20 minutes but the Lakers stormed back in the second to grab the lead on goals by Hill, Landry, Joey DiCaire and Michael Winnitoy. ICE CHIPS: The other KIJHL first-round series feature North Okanagan (1) against Kamloops (4) and Sicamous (2) vs. Revelstoke (3) in the Doug Birks Division. In the Eddie Mountain Conference, the matchups are Fernie-Columbia Valley, Golden-Kimberley, Castlegar-Spokane, and Beaver Valley-Nelson.

Despite winning two of three games, the Penticton Vees dropped two places in the Canadian Junior Hockey League weekly rankings. The Vees fell from seventh down to ninth place after losing an important game to the Merritt Centennials on Saturday. The Vees did, however, beat Salmon Arm and Cowichan Valley. The Victoria Grizzlies also slipped one spot from sixth down to seventh place, while the Surrey Eagles maintained their honourable mention. Despite being on a terrific run to close the gap on the Vees for first place in the BCHL's Interior Division, Merritt did not figure in the rankings. The top three remained unchanged with the Brooks Bandits (Alberta league) at No. 1 followed by Minnesota Wilderness (Superior International league) and Summerside Western Capitals (Maritime league). The Vees take on Merritt again on Friday at 7 p.m. at the South Okanagan Events Centre, before visiting the Trail Smoke Eaters Saturday at 7:30 p.m. REC HOCKEY Matt Fraser notched five goals in two games as the first-place Bar One Argo Bisons kept rolling along in Penticton Men's Recreational Hockey League play. Fraser's hat trick led the Bisons to a 10-6 victory over the Game Time Sports Wolverines. Shea Sanche, Jeremy Van Troyen, Jesse Van Troyen, Jeff Smith, Dan Fraser, Brent Mosses and Ryan Hawes also scored. Aric Stickney with two, Ryan MacMurchy, Scott Weatherhead, Chad Parenteau and Nelson Bowman scored for the Wolverines. Jeremy Van Troyen had the hatty and Fraser had two more in a 7-4 win over EcoDry Ice Dogs. Smith and Gatenby tacked on singles. Mike Funk with two, Darren Belanger and Trevor Aubie scored for the Ice Dogs. Two-goal efforts by Brett Van Riper, Mark Petry and Graham Boyd each scored twice as the Hitmen doubled Cawston Cold Storage Best Damn Wings 8-4. Len Charters and Justin Shuttleworth also scored, while Mishak Potash, Cody Hantelman, Dan Zukiwsky and Jared Collen clicked for the Wings. MINOR HOCKEY Cassie Kolisnyk scored twice as the Penticton Peaches Lingerie Vees thumped Clearwater 6-1 to advance to the Okanangan Mainline Midget Female AAA Hockey League finals. Megan Pisiak, Amy Main, Zoe Konanz and Bailey Johnson also scored for the Vees, who won the semifinal series 2-0. Penticton will face Kelowna in the championship series starting this weekend. Adam Milanovic and Mason Burns scored in the shootout as the Barley Mill Vees edged Westside No. 3 team 4-3 in the third and deciding game of the midget recreational semifinal series Monday at Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna. Tyler Trupp came up huge in goal for the Vees, who will open the best-of-3 championship series Saturday in West Kelowna against the Westside No. 1 team. INDOOR SOCCER Don Russell produced a hat trick to power RONA to an 11-4 triumph over TC Auto Sales in Masters Indoor Soccer League action Sunday at the Adidas Sportsplex. Zico Pescada, Rob Lionello and Dave Hewer scored two apiece and Mike Killick and Derrick Webb also scored for the runaway league leaders, 15-1-0 on the season. Peter Toth, Vlado Zamecnik, Patrick Buchanan and Dave Killick replied for TC Auto (5-8-3). Ken Clift scored twice and Tom McGill posted the shutout as OK Awards blanked Penticton Lock and Key 5-0. Webb, Paul Borba and Keith Johnstone also scored for OK Awards (4-11-1). PLK stayed in third spot with a 4-8-4 mark. Gord McLaren of RONA continues to lead the league with 33 goals.

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The Penticton Smile Enhancement Bantam Vees completed their first playoff series win with a 7-1 win over Kamloops. The Vees received solid goaltending from Shane Farkas and excellent defensive play from Simon Snyman, Nick Graham, Daylan Devlin, Greg Brydon and Aiden Hutcheson, who held the visiting Kamloops team to a total of 14 shots.

The Penticton and Area Cycling Association is holding its annual general meeting Thursday at the Penticton Lawn Bowling Club at 260 Brunswick Street in Penticton. The event starts at 6 a.m. and trails coordinator Andrew Drouin will speak about his new endeavours with a new multi-user trail alliance. The brief talk will be followed by pizza and a movie. The club had a busy year. Among the accomplishments: - Drouin helped Tourism Penticton put together a recreational trail map of the area, and is working to produceÊa trail map of the Carmi Rec. and the 3 Blind Mice networks Ê- Gained a Section 57 legal designation on the Crown lands which comprise the bulk of the Three Blind Mice riding area, and received permission to erect a large riding area map at the Pearly Gates (entrance to the Mice) - Conducted 10 'trail-days' up and down the South Okanagan - Completed a new, sanctioned trail on the northwest slope of Campbell Mt. Ê- A Toonie Series became a bi-weekly event starting in July.ÊIt ran as mountain bike "races" in various locations in Penticton and the Summerland "Test of Humanity" loop. The fall series took place on Campbell Mtn. on cross bikes. Participants paid a toonie to participate and half of the proceeds went to the overall winner and a portion of the other half was donated to the Test of Humanity fundraiserÊÊ Ê- We helped plan Penticton's newest festival "The Adventure Addiction" which had bike related eventsÊsuch as outdoor films from VIFF and Êa kids obstacle course in Skaha park on the Friday night, group mountain bike rides in the Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park, a road ride, and a dinner and live music on Saturday night.ÊThe weekend finished with the Test of Humanity. Ê- Organized our 4th Cyclocross race which has been part of the five-race Interior Cross seriesÊ(created by Mountain bike Olympian Catharine Pendrel.) for the past three years. - 4th annual Bike to Work Week To learn more, visit www.bikepenticton.com

Kiel Gatenby scored three goals and Jesse Van Troyen added two as the Bar One Argo Bisons blasted the Cawston Cold Storage Best Damn Wings 9-3 in Penticton Men's Recreational Hockey League play. Sam Gill, Ryan Hawes, Jeff Smith and Matt Fraser also scored for the winners. Nick Babyn with two and Mishak Potash scored for the Wings. Stuart Nisbet's hat trick paced the Mule Broncos to a 7-1 triumph over the Game Time Sports Wolverines. Andrew Pond, Eric Cerutti, Jamie Johnson and Taylor Cote rounded out the attack, while Aric Stickney clicked for Game Time.