PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 29th, 2017
PENTICTON, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors played hard but couldn’t muster any offence in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Penticton Vees on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The first period of this game had a bit of a feeling out process as there wasn’t much in the way of scoring chances for either side as both teams fired 7 shots toward the goal with both goaltenders standing tall in the Warriors Nik Amundrud and Adam Scheel for the Vees.
Chase Stevenson had the game’s first real good opportunity to score as he took a pass from Chase Dubois in the opening minute and got a good backhand shot away in tight with Scheel making a strong save with his glove.
The Vees netminder had his glove hand going in the opening period as he made his best save of the frame off of a Vees turnover in the neutral zone that saw Jordan Todd with a chance in tight in the slot but his rising wrister was snared by Scheel and kept the game knotted at zeros heading into the 1st intermission.
The 2nd period started off with much of the same as the 1st did with some good pressure by the Warriors in the opening two minutes. Cavin Tilsley was assessed a hooking penalty around the midway point of the period and the Vees opened the scoring on the ensuing man advantage.
Jonny Tychonick got a pass from Taylor Ward at the midpoint and slapped a puck off of a Warrior penalty killer and past the blocker side of Amundrud for the 1-0 lead at the 8:48 mark of the 2nd period on the power play, the Vees 5th straight game with a goal coming on the man advantage.
The Warriors went on to outshoot the Vees 13-9 in the middle stanza but couldn’t crack Adam Scheel, who was strong in the first 40 minutes with 20 saves on 20 shots. Nik Amundrud was no slouch in the Warriors crease as he turned aside 15 of the 16 shots he faced through two periods of play but found himself and West Kelowna trailing by a goal heading into the 3rd period.
The Warriors pressured but couldn’t crack Scheel, including a stellar save he made on RJ Murphy in the slot to keep the game at 1-0 before the Vees struck to push their lead to two goals.
The Vees extended their lead to 2-0 at the tail end of their 4th power play of the night with a shot from the goal line coming from Massimo Rizzo, who tucked the puck under the crossbar of the glove side of Amundrud at the 13:24 mark of the final period to make it a 2-0 Vees lead.
Dakota Boutin added an empty netter for Penticton at the 17:51 mark of the 3rd period as he hit the empty net and secured a 3-0 victory for the Vees in Penticton.
Nik Amundrud was very good in the game for the Warriors with making 23 saves on 25 shots while Adam Scheel was great for the Vees as he stopped all 33 shots he faced for his 2nd consecutive shutout.
FINAL SCORE: 3-0 Vees
FINAL SHOTS ON GOAL: 33-26 Warriors
Warriors PP: 0/4
Warriors PK: 2/4
3 Stars:
1) Adam Scheel (33 saves on 33 shots)
2) Ryan Sandelin (0-1-1)
3) Massimo Rizzo (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Ben Allen (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 3,004
The Warriors (16-12-0-1) are back in action on Friday as they make the trip to the Nicola Valley as they take on the Merritt Centennials (10-13-1-2) at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the pre-game show going at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the voice of the Warriors, Trevor Miller.
The Warriors return home to Royal LePage Place on Saturday, December 2nd against the Wenatchee Wild. Tickets can be purchased online at wkw.ticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office ahead of the opening face-off.
