VEES BLANK THUNDERBIRDS, ADVANCE TO FIRST NATIONAL FINAL SINCE 1986

HUMBOLDT, Sask. – Wade Murphy scored the winner late in the first period and Michael Garteig made it stand up with a 20-save shutout as the Penticton Vees booked their spot in the championship game at the 2012 RBC Cup by blanking the Soo Thunderbirds 3-0 in Saturday’s late semifinal.

The Vees will take on the Woodstock Slammers in Sunday’s final (7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT, TSN2) for the chance to win their first National Junior A Championship since 1986, the last year they appeared at the tournament.

Logan Johnston and Curtis Loik, into an empty net, had the other goals for Penticton, which gained a measure of revenge for its 2-1 loss to the Thunderbirds in last Saturday’s tournament opener. Travis St. Denis added two assists, giving him five helpers in four games, tied for the tournament lead.

Murphy got the scoring started for the Vees just past the 16-minute mark of the opening period when a point shot pinballed onto his stick and he beat a stretching John Kleinhans for the all-important first goal. It marked the first time in five games Penticton opened the scoring.

After a scoreless second period, Johnston doubled the lead after St. Denis stripped a Soo defender behind the net and fed the Penticton captain, who slid it through the legs of Kleinhans, and Loik capped the scoring with 1:34 to go and Kleinhans on the bench.

The Soo netminder, who was named Most Valuable Player and Top Goaltender at Friday’s awards banquet, had another standout performance, making 30 saves in a losing cause. Overall, Kleinhans stopped 212 of 226 shots in five games for a .938 save percentage, and averaged 42.4 saves per game.

The victory made the Vees the seventh Pacific Region champion in eight years to reach the championship game; they can become the fourth BCHL or AJHL team to win the national title in that stretch if they come out on top Sunday.