PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
The West Kelowna Warriors surrendered three shorthanded goals and couldn’t quite mount a third period comeback as they fell by a 4-2 score to the Penticton Vees at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Wednesday night.
The opening period of the game saw no scoring despite the Warriors throwing 15 shots on goal but Vees netminder Mat Robson was up to the task on all of them and held his own in a scoreless opening frame of hockey. Warriors goaltender Cole Demers was also very good in the West Kelowna net as he made 12 first period saves to get the game to a 0-0 tie in the first intermission.
The 2nd period was a different story as the Vees tallied three times in the middle stanza and it started with one of their three shorthanded goals in the game at the 3:54 mark of the 2nd. Vees captain Nic Jones buried a rebound off a shot from Duncan Campbell t make it a 1-0 Vees lead in the first five minutes of the 2nd period.
Penticton jumped ahead by a 2-0 score in the later stages of the period and it came courtesy of an expiring power play for the Vees. Jamie Armstrong deflected in a point shot from Mitch Meek with three seconds remaining on a Vees power play to extend the Vees lead to 2-0.
The Vees added to their lead just 1:27 later on another shorthanded goal again coming from Nic Jones. The Vees forward wristed a shot past the glove side of Demers for his 2nd goal of the night and made the game 3-0 for Penticton after 40 minutes with that goal coming at the 18:39 mark of the 2nd period.
Que the West Kelowna comeback and one of the craziest third periods, and really last 40 minutes, so far this season. At the 6:11 mark of the 3rd, Chase Stevenson scored his 3rd goal of the season, backhanding a loose puck past Mat Robson from the top of the crease and has now scored in three straight games, cutting the deficit to two goals and a 3-1 Vees lead.
The Warriors responded with another goal at the 11:37 mark as a terrific move by Chase Dubois bought him some time to get the puck in front before it was whacked in past Robson by Connor Sodergren for his 17th goal of the season, also marking three straight games with a goal for him, and shrunk the Vees lead to 3-2.
The game was made even more interesting in the final moments as after a penalty kill with 1:40 to go, the Vees Taylor Sanheim was called for a roughing penalty and sent Demers to the bench for the 6-on-4 power play. Just 28 seconds after that penalty, Nic Jones was called for a cross checking minor and giving the Warriors a 6-on-3 man advantage to tie the game. But at the 19:35 mark of the final period, Owen Sillinger knocked down a D-to-D pass and went the other way, scoring on the empty net and capping a Vees 4-2 victory.
Cole Demers was very good again in the Warriors crease making 37 saves on 40 shots in his 9th loss of the season while Mat Robson, named the game’s 3rd star, stopped 35 of 37 pucks directed his way for his league leading 25th victory of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-2 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 41-37 Vees
PP: Warriors (0/7) Vees (1/5)
3 STARS:
1) Nic Jones (2-0-2)
2) Jamie Armstrong (1-0-1)
3) Mathew Robson (35 saves on 37 shots)
Attendance: 2,777
The Warriors (20-18-0-1) return home as they will play the first of two from Royal LePage Place this upcoming weekend, starting on Friday when they host the Surrey Eagles (14-24-0-2) to finish out their season series. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Warriors box office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051. The Warriors wrap up the weekend at home with a matinee game on Sunday at 2:30 PM against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
