The West Kelowna Warriors scored a season-high seven goals as they defeated the Cowichan Valley Capitals by a 7-3 score on Sunday afternoon at Royal LePage Place.
The Capitals opened the scoring 11:39 into the game as Rhett Kingston shot it past Warriors netminder Cole Demers glove side to give the Caps the first lead of the game at 1-0.
The Warriors tied the game at the 13:15 mark of the opening period and it came shorthanded on the Capitals first power play. Connor Sodergren chipped the puck by the defense at the blue line and went in on a 2-on-1 that Sodergren held and shot with the rebound kicked out to Jared Marino for his 5th goal of the season and a 1-1 tie.
Before the period was out, the Warriors took at the lead at the 18:50 mark of the 1st period as Quin Foreman tapped the puck for Chase Stevenson at centre for an odd-man rush with Stevenson’s shot resulting in the rebound to be banged in by Connor Sodergren for his 19th goal of the season and now has goals in five straight games to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.
The Capitals came out of the 2nd period and tied the game at the 4:51 mark as Max Newton tapped in a wrap-around attempt from Ayden MacDonald to make the score 2-2 in the first five minutes of the period.
Chase Stevenson tallied his fourth goal in five games on a centering pass from Jared Marino from below the goal line to beat Capitals goaltender Lane Michasiw on the blocker side at the 17:29 mark of the 2nd period to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead.
The Warriors took over in the 3rd period with four goals in the final period of play and it started with Nick Rutigliano and a point shot from the left wing side that beat Michasiw on the glove side to give the Warriors a 5-2 lead at the 1:16 mark of the final frame.
West Kelowna added another shorthanded goal at the 3:51 mark of the 3rd period as Quin Foreman buried in a blocker side shot for his 20th goal of the season to extend the Warriors advantage to 5-2.
Michael Ryan added his 7th goal of the season at the 8:31 mark of the 3rd frame to make the lead 6-2 for the Warriors before Jordan Todd tallied his 1st BCHL on the power play on a wrister over the blocker side to push the Warrior advantage to 7-2.
Cowichan Valley added a late goal at the 17:31 mark of the final period coming from Ayden MacDonald to make the final score 7-3 in favour of the Warriors for their 22nd win of the season.
Cole Demers picked up his 6th victory of the season and his 3rd win as a Warrior with a 19 save performance on 22 shots while Lane Michasiw made 45 saves on 52 shots for his 13th loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 7-3 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 52-22 Warriors
PP: Warriors (1/4) Capitals (0/5)
3 STARS:
1) Connor Sodergren (1-4-5)
2) Jared Marino (1-3-4)
3) Quin Foreman (1-1-2)
Attendance: 798
The Warriors (22-18-0-1) return to action on Friday night when they host the Vernon Vipers (22-13-3-4) for the final time this regular season at Royal LePage Place. The puck drops at 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051.
