The West Kelowna Warriors and Salmon Arm Silverbacks went to double overtime in a highly entertaining game on Saturday night, as Jake Harrison played hero just 1:46 into three on three.
A highly physical opening frame saw a few big hits early on, which boiled over into a double minor for spearing to Ayrton Nikkel, leading to the Warriors opening goal.
Jonathan Desbiens got a pass from Kristian Blumenschein, and made a great move to the net where the puck beat Brandon Kegler through the legs to make it 1-0 Warriors.
There were a number of blocked shots in the hockey game, as each team sacrificed the body to keep the puck away from their starting netminders. That didn’t last though, as the shots continued to pile up throughout the night.
No scoring occurred in the middle frame, as Matthew Greenfield and Kegler traded big stops back and forth.
The Silverbacks would tie the game up in the third, as Ross Heidt buried on a two on one after Quin Foreman was interfered with in the neutral zone.
The game would go to overtime, but not before Greenfield made a highlight reel save in tight with the glove.
With West Kelowna penalized in the overtime, the ‘Backs tried to finish off the game but were denied by the Warriors PK.
Once the game went to three on three, a couple of great defensive plays in the corner lead to a three on one break the other way.
Kylar Hope found Harrison on the two on one, with Blackburn trailing, as Harrison slipped one five-hole on Kegler to end the game.
With the Warriors victory, West Kelowna takes over second in the Interior from the ‘Backs, although Salmon Arm still has three games in hand.
West Kelowna takes on Red Bull Salzburg from Austria on Monday January 18th at 7:00 pm for an international exhibition.
