PHOTO: Wayne Moore/Castanet
The West Kelowna Warriors were undermanned but found a second gear and with three 3rd period goals defeated the Trail Smoke Eaters by a 5-3 score at Royal LePage Place on Saturday night.
West Kelowna jumped out to the lead as Chase Dubois found a loose puck off a Quin Foreman shot and buried the rebound for his 4th goal of the season and to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead at the 6:44 mark of the game’s opening period.
The Smokies tied the game at 16:25 of the first period on a seeing eye wrist shot from former Warrior Mitchell Barker and the game tied at 1-1.
Trail took the lead early in the 2nd frame as Blaine Caton was fed on the backdoor and beat a down and out Warrior netminder Shane Farkas to give Trail it’s first lead at 2-1 at the 1:34 mark.
West Kelowna was persistent and tied the game just 55 seconds after at the 2:29 mark as Chase Dubois was at it again for his 2nd goal of the game and his 5th of the season, beating Smokies goaltender Linden Marshall with a wrist shot under the crossbar.
The Smoke Eaters once again took the lead, again early as just 1:53 into the third period, Kale Howarth fired a shot from the right circle and beat Farkas to give Trail a 3-2 advantage.
The Warriors had an answer and it came at 7:55 of the third as Chase Dubois outwaited the goaltender Marshall and beat him on the backhand for his hat-trick goal and his 6th of the season to tie the game up at three.
West Kelowna did not take long to get their lead back after that either as just 44 seconds had gone by before Quin Foreman scored his second straight game-winning goal. Foreman’s left circle shot beat Marshall as it hit off of his glove and in for his 12th goal of the season and a 4-3 Warrior lead at the 8:36 mark of the 3rd period.
Foreman added another with just 1:03 remaining as he hit the empty net from the right point and his 14th of the season secured the Warriors fourth straight victory and a 5-3 win over the Smoke Eaters.
Shane Farkas made 24 saves on 27 shots for his 5th win of the season while Linden Marshall made 38 saves on 42 shots in the defeat.
The Warriors (9-9-0-1) aim for five straight wins as they host the Prince George Spruce Kings (8-10-2-0) at 2:30 pm for a Sunday matinee at Royal LePage Place with an opportunity to skate with the Warriors after the game. Tickets can be purchased through the Warriors office or by calling (250) 769-7051.
