Nick Rheaume continues to be a thorn in the side of the Penticton Vees.
The 19-year-old from Sherbrooke, Quebec loomed large once again lighting the lamp twice, in a convincing 6-2 victory on Wednesday in front of 617 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
However, it was his linemmate Simon Labelle that would kick off the offensive fireworks in the second period as his sharp-angle shot found a way past Vees netminder Colin Purcell.
Less than three minutes later , Nathan Fox found his way on the scoresheet capitalizing on a Purcell turnover that looked more like a pizza-delivery extending the Spruce Kings edge to two-zip.
It became 3-0 after the midway mark of the period as Rheaume drove down the middle of the ice and re-directed the Labelle feed, ending the night of Purcell who allowed three goals on 13 shots.
He was relieved by former Prince Albert Raider Carter Serhyenko.
After he made a point blank stop towards the end of the period, Penticton turned the brief momentum into a garbage goal as a whack by Arizona State commit Josh Niedermeyer slithered its way past Spruce Kings goalie Aaron Trotter.
The Vees continued to push in the first five minutes of the third as Josh Nadeau notched his 22nd of the season, cutting the lead to 3-2.
However, it would be Rheaume who would take the game by the throat and swing the momentum back into to PG’s favour.
A point shot by Josh Wright found its way to the front of the Penticton goal and Rheaume was able to box-out the defenceman and gobble up the rebound for his second goal of the game.
The Spruce Kings continued to pour it on late as Kolton Cousins took a wrap-around try and tucked it inside the post past a sprawled out Serhyenko.
Rheaume put the icing on the cake during a Penticton power-play as he blew past a flat-footed Braden Doyle, creating a 2-on-1 rush, which led to a tap-in goal from Rowan Miller.
The trio of Miller, Rheaume and Labelle recorded an eight point effort for the Spruce Kings who improved to 18-9-2-1, five points back of the Vees (21-6-0-2) for second place in the Interior.
Rheaume also recorded a hat-trick against Penticton back on October 27th in a 7-1 drubbing at the RMCA.
PG outshot Penticton 28-25 while both teams went a combined 0-for-6 on the power play.
The Spruce Kings have won four straight and will head to Trail for a trio road games against local product Corey Cunningham and the Smoke Eaters (13-13-1-1) starting on Friday.