PHOTO: Chris Fowler/Pure Life Photography
The West Kelowna Warriors fell in extra time in Salmon Arm on Friday as the Silverbacks erased a four-goal deficit to beat the Warriors 5-4 in overtime.
The Warriors got off to a terrific start in the first period, scoring the games first three goals as Peter Tomaras kicked off the scoring. Tomaras wired home a slap shot from the slot for his first BCHL goal and a 1-0 Warrior lead at the 4:44 mark of the opening frame.
West Kelowna doubled their lead at the 13:10 mark of the frame as Blake Coffey hammered home his first BCHL goal on the power play on a point shot to put the Warriors ahead by a 2-0 score.
The lead tripled for the Warriors at the 16:01 mark of the first period after a fantastic move from Quin Foreman resulted in a shot that was stopped but the rebound was potted in by Reed Gunville for his 6th goal of the season and a 3-0 lead after one period of play.
The 2nd period saw the Warriors jump ahead by four goals as Mitchell Barker tapped in a wraparound attempt started by Scott Allan for Barker’s 3rd goal of the season and the 4-0 advantage, which spelt the end of the night for Silverback netminder Brandon Kegler, who made 16 saves on 20 shots before being relieved by Trevin Kozlowski.
Cue the comeback for Salmon Arm as they would chip away at the 4:11 mark of the second period as a Justin Wilson goal from the left circle got things going.
Marcus Mitchell added a goal at the 13:47 mark for the Silverbacks to make the score 4-2 in the Warriors favour and that’s how things would hold up until the third period.
Salmon Arm got the game to within one at the 8:46 mark of the 3rd period as Connor Sundquist beat Warrior goaltender Xavier Burghardt to make it a 4-3 game.
The game was tied at the 12:32 mark of the third period as Jared Turcotte followed up on a Mitchell play and beat Burghardt’s glove side to make it a 4-4 game heading into overtime.
The Warriors’ Mitch Martan was called for a hooking penalty and the Silverbacks capitalized on the man advantage as Elijah Barriga let go of a wrister that beat Burghardt and gave the Silverbacks a 5-4 overtime victory.
Trevin Kozlowski was fantastic in goal after taking over for Brandon Kegler as he made 26 saves on 26 shots for the win. Xavier Burghardt was saddled with the loss for West Kelowna, stopping 33 of 38 shots thrown his way.
The Warriors (5-5-0-1) are back in action on Saturday night to cap off the home-and-home with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (5-7-0-0) at 7:00 pm from Royal LePage Place. Tickets can be purchased at the Warriors office or by calling (250) 769-7051.
