THREE UNANSWERED IN THIRD HELPS VEES REACH RBC SEMIFINALS

HUMBOLDT, Sask. – Logan Johnston scored the winner nine minutes into the third period as the Penticton Vees wrapped up a semifinal berth at the 2012 RBC Cup with a 3-1 win over the Portage Terriers on Wednesday night.

With one day of preliminary round play remaining, the Vees will finish either second or third, depending on the outcome of Thursday’s final round robin games, while the Terriers can be a part of the playoff party with a win in their Thursday finale against the host Humboldt Broncos (7:30 p.m. MT).

Curtis Loik and Mike Reilly had the other goals for Penticton (2-2), which scored three times in 9:56 in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit after 40 minutes. The Vees are one step closer to becoming the first team since the 1999 Vernon Vipers to win the National Junior A Championship after an 0-2 start.

Down by a goal entering the third, Loik pulled Penticton even just 1:53 into the final frame, poking the puck through Portage goaltender Shea Cooper. Johnston gave the Vees the lead seven minutes later, corralling a loose puck and beating a sprawling Cooper, and Reilly capped the scoring on a Penticton power play, rifling a wrist shot off the cross bar and in.

Tanner Waldvogel scored the lone goal for Portage (1-2), which is on the verge of winning its opener and then losing three in a row for the third time in as many trips to the national championship, having gone 1-3 in 2005 and last year.

Waldvogel grabbed a rebound in the slot, spun and beat Penticton netminder Michael Garteig to open the scoring for the Terriers, who will need a win on Thursday, or a loss by the Soo Thunderbirds, to reach the semifinals.