Photo by Wayne Moore – Castanet
The West Kelowna Warriors are the Best in Canada.
Jonathan Desbiens scored the winning goal in the first period and Matthew Greenfield made 48-saves for a shutout as the Warriors beat the Lloydminster Bobcats 4-0 in the Royal Bank Cup National Junior A Hockey Championship Game on Sunday May 22nd in Lloydminster, AB/SK.
Just over five minutes into the first period, Desbiens buried a rebound past Alex Leclerc off a nice play from Brett Mennear and Kylar Hope driving the puck to the net and getting the big bounce needed.
West Kelowna would be on its heels for stretches after that, but that is where Greenfield started becoming the story of the afternoon. He made a huge save off Christian Lloyd to keep it a 1-0 lead.
In the second, Garrett Forster chased down a loose puck and managed to find the trailer Reed Gunville, who hammered one past Leclerc from the slot as it was set up right on a tee for the Prince Albert, SK product.
Liam Blackburn scored short-handed halfway through the third period taking advantage of a miscue at the side of the net. Rylan Yaremko iced it with a 190-foot empty netter that got up and on edge and found the back of the net.
The loud and crazy Warriors fans brought it home in the final two minutes, as West Kelowna picked up it’s first National Championship to go along with the Western Canada Cup, and RBC Cup victories.
West Kelowna will travel home on Monday and further celebrations will be announced this week.
