PHOTO: Ross Alman/Digital Media Northwest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 12th, 2018
WENATCHEE, WA. – The West Kelowna Warriors used RJ Murphy’s two-goal performance, and his third overtime game winner of the season, to earn a 5-4 victory in extra time over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the Town Toyota Center.
The Wild opened the scoring in the game courtesy of an early power play as Chad Sasaki got the home team ahead 1:46 into game action. The veteran Wild defender took a pass in the right face-off circle from Slava Demin and wristed a shot past Warriors netminder Nik Amundrud on the glove side for a 1-0 Wenatchee lead.
Dennis Chladek added to the Wild lead at the 4:40 mark of the opening period as he gave Wenatchee a two-goal advantage. Noah Kim’s point shot was stopped by Amundrud with the rebound being kicked to the right side and Chladek backhanding the puck by the blocker side for a 2-0 Wild lead.
The Warriors made their way back, however, as RJ Murphy cut the deficit to one with a goal just seconds after a West Kelowna power play at the 7:48 mark of the 1st period. Wyatt Head passed across to the right point for Stephen Kleysen with his slap shot being redirected at the top of the crease by Murphy for his 11th goal of the season and cutting the Wenatchee lead to 2-1.
West Kelowna got into some penalty trouble as the Wild were handed a full two-minute 5-on-3-man advantage but could not convert and just moments after that, the Warriors tied the game. Mason Richey tipped the puck ahead in the neutral zone for Jared Marino with his shot from the left-wing face-off circle being stopped by the right pad of Wild goaltender Austin Park but the rebound was kicked in the slot with the puck going off of the skate of Michael Ryan and behind Park. The Warriors defender picked up his 5th goal of the season and tied the game at 2-2.
The Wild jumped ahead by a goal once more before the period was out at the 13:10 mark of the first period as Jasper Weatherby capped off the scoring in the opening frame. Weatherby wrapped the puck to the glove side of Amundrud and stuffed it in for a Wenatchee 3-2 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
Warriors captain Jared Marino got the game all squared once more at the 3:27 mark of the 2nd period and provided the only goal in the middle stanza. Marino gathered a rebound of a Cody Paivarinta point shot and shot past the blocker side of Park for his team leading 18th goal of the season and a 3-3 tie heading into the final regulation period of play.
The Warriors got their first lead of the game coming at the 4:22 mark of the 3rd period as newly acquired forward Ryan Steele scored his first goal as a member of the Warriors. Steele took a pass from Head behind the goal and one-timed a shot past Park on the glove side for his 8th goal of the season and a 4-3 Warriors lead.
Wenatchee responded with a goal at the 8:06 mark of the 3rd frame on a power play, their third power play goal of the night, as Sam Morton did the honours. Morton shot through a heavy screen in front of Amundrud and past him on the glove side to tie the game at 4-4.
The Wild pressed for the go-ahead goal in the final moments of regulation but Amundrud and the Warriors stood tall to force the game into overtime, where a familiar face struck again in the extra frame.
Just 40 seconds into the 4th period of the game, Steele raced down the right-wing and sauced a backhand pass to Murphy in the left-wing circle and he made no mistake, snapping a shot past Park for his third overtime winner of the season and his second goal of the contest to lift the Warriors to their third straight victory.
Nik Amundrud started in goal for the Warriors as he made 40 saves on 44 shots for his 10th victory of the season while Austin Park turned aside 33 of the 38 shots he faced in the game for his 9th loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Warriors (OT)
FINAL SHOTS ON GOAL: 44-38 Wild
Warriors PP: 0/3
Warriors PK: 5/8
3 Stars:
1) Stephen Kleysen (2-0-2)
2) Wyatt Head (0-2-2)
3) Nik Amundrud (40 saves on 44 shots)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jackson Wozniak (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 2,814
The Warriors and Wild renew hostilities for the second of their two-game weekend series at Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee on Saturday night for a 7:05 PM face-off. The pre-game show gets underway at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the voice of the Warriors, Trevor Miller.
West Kelowna returns home on Tuesday, January 16th to face-off against the Vernon Vipers in the 5th meeting of their 6-game season series and will be broadcasted live on Shaw TV Okanagan and will also be featuring half price draft beer as well as 25 cent chicken wings. Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour ahead of the opening puck drop.
