Penticton V's

==History==
The Penticton V's were a senior team in Penticton, British Columbia.
They were named after three varieties of peaches whose names all began with V.
They almost won the Allan Cup in their second season in 1952-53, losing the final to the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen,
The next season they went all the way, beating the Sudbury Wolves in a series that went all seven games. This qualified them to go to the 1955 World Championship and avenge Canada's loss in 1954.
That they did, becoming the first Canadian team to beat the Soviet Union, winning the final match in the championship pool 5-0 on March 6th in Krefeld. The team went 15-1-1 on their European tour outscoring their opponents 147 to 24 (totals include an 8-0-0 record with 66 goals for and 6 goals allowed at the World Championships. Their only loss was in their last game of the trip against the Harringay Racers 5-3 on March 14th in their 17th game in 27 days in 11 different cities across Europe.
After that win the team went into the doldrums. A small city like Penticton could not really support a top-notch senior team,
The team folded on December 1, 1961. The Kelowna-Penticton Combines were formed on December 18th after the Kelowna Packers also folded on December 8th. The league needed three teams to ensure that its' champion remained Allan Cup eligible. The league was able to complete the season but only a few months before the entire league collapsed.
==Newspaper Story from Allan Cup Victory==
From: The Nelson Daily News
Monday, May 17, 1954
V's Capture Allan Cup for B.C.
Sudbury Wolves Beaten 3-2 in Final of Series
Penticton, B.C. (CP)--Penticton V's, comeback kings of Canadian hockey, won the Allan Cup Saturday night, defeating the Sudbury Wolves 3-2 in the seventh and deciding game of their best-of-seven senior amateur hockey title final.
The long playoff trail leading to the Canadian senior hockey crown was filled with comebacks by the V's. The British Columbia titlists rewrote the script by racking up a 3-nil lead, then hanging on finally to capture the Canadian senior amateur hockey championship.
The Penticton club, lead by the Warwick brothers, lost out in the final last year to the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen.
They were faced with what seemed to be almost certain defeat when the rugged Wolves grabbed three victories in the first four games. But they came back with three straight wins to take the battered tankard. Their victory brings the battered cup to the farthest west point in playing history.
Jim Fairburn, Jack McDonald and Bill Warwick fired the goals in order for Penticton. Defenceman Yogi Kraiger and Tatter McClellan replied for Sudbury.
Warwick First
Both teams were pressing for the first goal late in the first period, but the V's scored first when Fairburn deflected in Grant Warwick's pass in front of Al Millar at 15:12. Penticton held an edge in the action packed second frame. But the Wolves only could do was to split four goals with the V's. Sudbury outshot Penticton 14-9 in the session.
Bill Warwick of the fabulous Penticton brothers' trio engineered the second Penticton goal, carrying the puck the length of the ice and then dumping it on McDonald's stick for the goal. Grant Warwick, a gnarled veteran of the National Hockey League, notched what proved to be the winner at 6:30 on a pass from McDonald. That looked like curtains for the Wolves, but they came back into contention with two quick goals late in the period, while the V's were shorthanded. With Doug Kilburn off two minutes for cross-checking, Kraiger struck first at 17:01 after grabbing a loose puck from a face-off inside the Penticton blue line. McClellan made it 3-2 just 20 seconds later when he slapped in a clearing puck.
This set the stage for a rousing third period, in which neither team was able to score. The Wolves again had a territoral advantage, but were stopped time and again by brilliant Ivan McLelland in the Penticton cage.
Game Sets Record
The final game of the hard-fought series drew a crowd or more than 4,500, the largest in Penticton's history to attend a hockey game.
The teams see-sawed in the early stages of the first period. Grant Warwick was penalized at 2:33 for tripping, and the Wolves swarmed around the V's cage, without result. Just as Warwick was back into play, Baby drew a minor for cross-checking, and the V's had the upper hand. Kilburn went right out, catching the Sudbury netminder out of position, but he spun around and hit the goal post.
King drew a boarding penalty at 10:45 when he crashed Dick Warwick against the Sudbury players' bench, but the V's passing attack failed to click. Then Kilburn was chased for holding. King was dismissed again at 14:56 for cross-checking. The V's bottled up the puck in Sudbury's end and Fairburn clicked on a close-in shot from Grant Warwick and Conway.
Play Gets Rougher
In the second stanza play grew rougher. At the five-minute mark, Grant Warwick was dumped by Heale. Bill Warwick grabbed the puck in the Penticton end and went up the ice, and laid it to McDonald to put the V's ahead 2-0. Things looked even grimmer for the Wolves when captain Heale was taken off after suffering an injury in a collision. Jack McDonald carried the puck up, circled behind the net and passed out to Grant Warwick, who fired the disc home.
Tomiuk and Bill Warwick mixed in a high-sticking exchange soon after, but there was no damage. Then the Wolves put on the pressure. Rucks and Baby drew minors at 12:02 for roughing. Harrison was sent off for tripping. Millar, noted for his left-hand stops, made a beautiful save on a shot by McIntyre. Kraiger took the puck from the face-off inside the V's blue line to score the Wolves' first goal of the night at 17:01. Kilburn was off at the time for high sticking. With the V's still shorthanded, McClellan slapped in the second Sudbury counter at 17:21.
The Wolves still pressed in the third period and McLelland had to be fast to thwart Harrison, who staged a beautiful solo rush. The pressure on the V's eased when Lavell was chased at the 11-minute mark for interference.
Millar was taken off the ice in the last 30 seconds as the Wolves made one final bid to tie up the game. But the V's held off the attack until the final whistle.
==Season-by-season record==
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime Losses,, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Season 	League/Competition 	GP	W 	L 	T	Pts	GF 	GA 	Finish	Playoffs
1951–52	OkSL 	52	15	35	2	32 	- 	- 	4th 	Did not qualify
1952–53	OkSL 	54	23	24	7	53 	233	211	3rd 	Won Championship
1953 	BC Sr. Playoffs 	8 	4 	3 	1	9 	36 	27 	- 	Won Provincial Championship
1953 	W. Canada Allan Cup Playoffs	6 	4 	2 	0	8 	24 	19 	- 	Won Western Canada Championship
1953 	Allan Cup 	5 	1 	4 	0	2 	10 	24 	- 	Lost Allan Cup Final
1953–54	OkSL 	64	42	20	2	86 	268	225	1st 	Won Championship
1954 	BC Sr. Playoffs 	8 	4 	3 	1	9 	28 	26 	- 	Won Provincial Championship
1954 	W. Canada Allan Cup Playoffs	8 	3 	2 	2	8 	29 	23 	- 	Won Western Canada Championship
1954 	Allan Cup 	7 	4 	3 	0	8 	25 	24 	- 	Won Allan Cup
1954–55	OkSL 	54	31	19	4	66 	228	180	1st 	unable to play; team was at 1955 World Championship
1955 	World Championship 	8 	8 	0 	0	16 	66 	6 	1st 	Won World Championship
1955–56	OkSL 	56	25	30	1	51 	- 	- 	2nd 	Lost Semifinals
1956–57	OkSL 	54	21	30	3	45 	214	289	4th 	Lost Semifinals
1957–58	OkSL 	54	16	36	2	34 	220	263	4th 	Lost Semifinals
1958–59	OkSL 	54	16	36	2	34 	189	267	4th 	Lost Semifinals
1959–60	OkSL 	46	5 	40	1	11 	190	382	4th 	Lost Semifinals
1960-61	OkSL 	21	11	10	0	22 	117	105	N/A 	Ceased operations December 1st
==See also==
1954-55 Penticton V's
Category:Canadian ice hockey teams
Category:Defunct Teams
Category:Established in 1951
Category:Disestablished in 1960
Category:Okanagan Senior League teams