The Similkameen News Leader
Sports Page - September 09, 2008
POSSE EXHIBITION HOCKEY SEASON BEGINS!
The 2008/09 Valley First Princeton Posse hit the ice September 5th wearing their
'away' uniforms in their first Exhibition Game.
The local team hosted Summerland Sting at Princeton Arena and had no less than three local boys in the line-up (Clint Cook, Nick Yee and Colton Williams) along with one relative of a local family (Billy Marshall) and four veterans from last year's team (Dylan Becker, Wade Masch, Brooks Christensen and Spencer Brooks).
For an exhibition game, it was a lot like putting on last winter's clothes to see if they still fit. Some of the team did, some of the team still needs to work out some bugs but overall it was a great game to start the new season with.
The hockey club itself has a new General Manager/President (Stan Turner) along with a solid Board of Directors (Rob Hicks, Linda Hodgson, Ted Coyne, Lorna Coyne, Steven Yee, Dean Johnston, Kirk McConnell, Randy McLean and Jim Manion).
The club has also done a great job of recruiting new volunteers to assist in putting each home game together with the goal of giving fans an
'experience' rather than just a few hours of hockey.
As for the game itself, Princeton's Nick Yee took the first penalty of the night, a 2-minuter for hooking at 4:32 and Summerland scored the first goal at 7:52.
The Posse replied at 15:06 on the power play. Jason Alessio got the marker with assists going to Nolan O'Brien and Leeland Malkinson.
Summerland finished the period adding another goal with 54.9-seconds in the frame but it was waved off as there was a goalie interference penalty on the play.
The second period saw a much stronger Summerland Sting attack the Posse zone with zest and power. They added two more goals to take the lead 3-1.
The third period saw the Posse shift gears and ramp it up a bit and they started to click after Summerland's fourth goal of the game.
Princeton got their second goal at 7:44 from Dustin Heitman, with an assist from Nick Cecconi.
Summerland bounced one back less than a minute later.
It pushed Princeton into high gear and with 5:04 left in the game Billy Marshall scored a goal for the home team with an assist going to Andy Milne.
With the score 5-3 for Summerland, the Posse was not finished and with just over 2-minutes left in the game Thierry Martine bagged one for Princeton. He was assisted by Leeland Malkinson and Princeton's Colton Williams.
Shots on goal: Summerland 46, Princeton 24. Final score: Summerland 5, Princeton 4.
The next home exhibition game is Wednesday, September 10 against Kamloops with the Regular Season Home Opener set for Saturday, September 13th against Fernie.
