PHOTO: Wayne Moore/Castanet
The West Kelowna Warriors couldn’t overcome a rough start and fell 5-2 to the Merritt Centennials on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
The Cents came at the Warriors hard in the opening frame, getting on the board just 55 seconds into the game on a rebound that found the stick of Tyler Pietrowski in front.
The Centennials took a 2-0 lead moments later at the 3:21 mark of the opening period as Chase Bell finished off a nice 2-on-1 play off the pass from Rylan Van Unen to give the Cents a two-goal advantage.
Merritt added one more in the game’s first period, this one coming with just 12 seconds remaining as Nick Fidanza was the beneficiary of a lucky end wall bounce that came out to him on the blocker side of Warrior netminder Matt Vernon and Merritt went ahead 3-0 into the 2nd period.
The Warriors climbed back into the game, after a fight between Connor Sodergren and Fidanza seemed to spark the club. West-K picked up their first goal from Marshall Wilton, burying a rebound off a Tyler Anderson shot to get the Warriors within two at the 12:50 mark of the middle stanza.
Jake Harrison would pull the Warriors to within one on a scramble play at the blocker side after a big hit from Jon Russell gave the Warrior defensemen a chance to find a loose puck and bat it home at the 16:48 mark of the period to get the Warriors within one at 3-2.
Rylan Van Unen scored on a rebound in front of Vernon at the 10:00 mark of the 3rd period to put the Cents back up by two and ice the game away.
An empty netter by Brett Jewell while shorthanded made the scoreline 5-2 in favour of the visiting Centennials, who move to 3-0-1 on the pre season with the win. West Kelowna outshot Merritt 43-23 but could not crack the goaltending tandem of Colten Lancaster and Daniel Paul.
The Warriors and Cents wrap up their pre season schedule with a game in Merritt tomorrow night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 pm and the game can be heard live for free on the Warriors Internet Network.
