PHOTO: Wayne Moore/Castanet
The West Kelowna Warriors battled from behind to comeback and defeat the Vernon Vipers 3-2 in overtime on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
The Vipers took the lead at the 11:10 mark of 1st period as Brett Stapley tipped in a centering pass from Christian Cakebread on the left wing past Warriors netminder Shane Farkas on his glove side to give Vernon a 1-0 lead.
Vernon extended their lead to 2-0 at the 16:23 mark on a power play as Steven Jandric fired in a wrist shot past Farkas’ blocker side and the visitors jumped ahead by a 2-0 score on the power play.
Cue the Warriors comeback at the 10:32 mark of the 2nd period as Chase Dubois went end-to-end down the left wing side on the man advantage and fired home his 8th goal of the season past Vernon goaltender Ty Taylor to make it a 2-1 game in favour of the Vipers.
The Warriors tied the game at the 10:40 mark of the 3rd period on a wrist shot from Michael Ryan, playing in his first game since October 4th. Ryan’s seeing-eye wrister beat Taylor on the glove side for his 3rd goal of the season and to tie the game at two.
The score would remain tied as the team’s headed for extra time, where things didn’t last very long.
After a big save in the Warriors end, Quin Foreman chipped the puck in past the Vernon defense as Matthew Campese skated onto to the loose puck in the left wing face-off circle, centering for Connor Sodergren, who had the puck bounce off of his pants and in for his 9th goal of the campaign and a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory for the Warriors.
The win snaps a mini two-game losing skid with Shane Farkas making 31 saves on 33 shots for his 6th win of the season. Ty Taylor drew the lose for the Vipers, making 33 saves on 36 shots directed his way.
The Warriors (10-11-0-1) are back in action on Saturday night when they host the Wenatchee Wild (17-4-0-1) at 7 PM from Royal LePage Place. Tickets can be purchased at the Warriors office or by calling (250) 769-7051.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2 Warriors
SHOTS: 36-33 West Kelowna
PP: West Kelowna (1/4) Vernon (1/2)
3 STARS: 1) Michael Ryan (1-1-2)
2) Brett Stapley (1-1-2)
3) Nicholas Rutigliano (0-1-1)
ATTENDANCE: 966
