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GAME RECAP: Warriors Battle Hard But Fall Short To Kings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 10th, 2018

POWELL RIVER, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors gave a valiant effort but fell just short in a 5-3 loss to the Powell River Kings on Saturday night at the Hap Parker Arena.

The Warriors received the first power play of the game but it would be the Kings that would open the scoring on a shorthanded rush by Ben Berard. A turnover in the neutral zone allowed Berard to race down the right-wing to the face-off circle and let a shot go up and over the glove side of Warriors netminder Cole Demers to give Powell River a 1-0 lead at the 9:08 mark of the opening period.

The Kings extended their lead to a pair of goals on a similar rush at the 11:30 mark started by Carter Turnbull. The Kings forward worked his way down the right-wing and got to the face-off circle before making a quick toe-drag and fired a shot past Demers on the glove side from the right hash marks to give Powell River a 2-0 advantage.

West Kelowna quickly turned the pressure on in the 2nd period and got themselves back in the game with a tally coming from Chase Stevenson. RJ Murphy worked the pick into the offensive zone and passed to Stevenson, who made a play through the legs of a Kings defender and backhanded a puck past the blocker side of Kings goaltender Alex Rolfe for his 10th goal of the season coming just 47 seconds into the middle stanza to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The pressure from the Warriors continued as they tied the game at the 7:08 mark of the 2nd period on a snipe from the slot off the stick of Willie Reim. Jake Harrison led the rush inside the offensive zone and passed to the slot from the face-off circle for Reim as he fired a shot to the top corner for his 11th goal of the season and knotted the game at 2-2.

The tie game did not last long, however, as the Kings regained their lead at the 8:30 mark of the middle stanza courtesy of a power play. Ben Thomas centered the puck from the bottom of the left face-off circle on a scramble at the front of the net with Ethan Kimball taking the pass and beating Demers on the glove side for a 3-2 Powell River lead.

Another power play would result in another two-goal lead for the Kings as Carmine Buono had his seeing eye shot go off of the glove of Demers and trickle past the goal line to give the Kings a 4-2 lead at the 12:18 mark of the 2nd period.

Powell River scored their third goal of the period at the 16:13 mark of the 2nd period on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play. Jonny Evans started the play on the right-wing side and passed to the slot for Kevin Obssuth before he dished off for Turnbull as he potted his second of the game and a 5-2 Kings lead.

The Warriors came out with a flurry of chances but Rolfe stood tall and kept the puck out of the net before the Warriors finally were able to get a puck past him at the 17:08 mark of the final period of play.

Michael Ryan had his point shot from the right side deflect off of a body in front of the goal and found its way past Rolfe for his 6th goal of the season with the goaltender pulled and, despite many good chances, the Kings pulled away with a 5-3 victory.

FINAL SCORE: 5-3 Kings

FINAL SHOTS ON GOAL: 43-33 Warriors

Warriors PP: 0/1

Warriors PK: 1/3

3 Stars:

1) Carter Turnbull (2-0-2)

2) Alex Rolfe (40 saves on 43 shots)

3) Kevin Obssuth (0-2-2)

Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Hunter Findlater (0-0-0)

ATTENDANCE: 780

The Warriors (26-25-1-1) close out their three-game weekend with a trip back to the Mainland to face-off against the Chilliwack Chiefs (23-21-3-3) for a 5:00 PM face-off at Prospera Centre. The broadcast begins at 4:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Warriors, Trevor Miller.

West Kelowna is back on home ice on Saturday, February 17th when the Warriors host the Victoria Grizzlies on Pastor Don Richmond’s 9th annual Faith Night. With plenty of local churches filling the seats and great raffle prizes to be won, it’s one of the most exciting nights of the season. The Warriors will also be hosting their annual team awards immediately after the final buzzer. Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour prior to the opening face-off.