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RECAP: Warriors Offence Stalled In 4-2 Loss To The Rivermen

PHOTO: Garrett James/BCHL

The West Kelowna Warriors offense was quieted and found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-2 score in Langley against the Rivermen on Friday night.

The Warriors and Rivermen played to a scoreless first period that saw the West Kelowna penalty kill go to work twice, killing off both the penalties they took. Warrior netminder Shane Farkas turned aside 15 shots in the opening frame while Langley goaltender Bradley Cooper made 10 saves in his BCHL debut.

The Rivermen opened the scoring in the 2nd period as Eric Butte found a loose puck at the top of the crease and buried it past Farkas’ glove side at the 6:20 mark of the period and a 1-0 Langley lead.

Langley jumped ahead by a pair at the 10:29 mark of the middle stanza on a redirection from Nicholas Ponak at the front of the goal on a Cooper Leitch shot that gave the Rivermen a 2-0 advantage.

West Kelowna got themselves back to within one later in the frame and a big goal before the period was out. Cavin Tilsley’s initial shot was wide but off the end boards, Braiden Epp centered for Jared Marino, who banged the puck in on the glove side for his 4th goal of the season and made the game 2-1 Rivermen at the 16:49 mark of the period.

The Rivermen got their eventual game winning goal at the 11:37 mark of the 3rd period as John Schuldt fired in a slap shot on the power play through traffic to give Langley a 3-1 lead.

The Warriors got the game within one at the 18:39 mark of the 3rd period as the Warriors pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker as Quin Foreman batted in a pinballing puck on the blocker side of Cooper for his 16th goal of the season and a 3-2 lead for the Rivermen.

Just 30 seconds later, Eric Butte added his second goal of the game as the Warriors were trapped in their own zone and he converted on the empty net to give the Rivermen a 4-2 lead at the 19:09 mark of the 3rd and gave Langley the victory.

AP goaltender Bradley Cooper picked up his first BCHL victory for the Rivermen after making 33 saves on 35 shots while Shane Farkas stopped 35 of 38 shots in the losing cause.

FINAL SCORE: 4-2 Rivermen

SHOTS: 39-35 Rivermen

PP: Warriors (0/5) Rivermen (2/5)

3 STARS: 1) Bradley Cooper (33 saves on 35 shots)

2) Braiden Epp (0-1-1)

3) Cooper Leitch (0-2-2)

Attendance: 661

The Warriors (12-13-0-1) close out their stretch of four games in five nights when they travel south of the border on Saturday to take on the Wenatchee Wild (20-5-0-1). Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the pre game show starting at 6:50 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and hockeytv.com.