September 15, 2018
West Kelowna, BC
After each losing their respective games on Friday night, the West Kelowna Warriors and the Wenatchee Wild arrived at Royal Lepage Place on Saturday night hungry to get back in the win column.
Wenatchee was outgunned by a 7-5 score in Merritt on Friday night, while the Warriors took a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Vernon Vipers at Kal-Tire Place.
West Kelowna started well, opening the scoring at 6:35 courtesy Mason Richey’s second of the season. West Kelowna’s Willie Reim was able to use his size to his advantage to out-muscle a defender and break loose down the right wing side. Richey used his speed to create a 2-on-1 and was the recipient of a beautiful cross-crease pass from Reim, on which he made no mistake to give the Warriors their first lead of the game.
Wenatchee was able to tie the game late in the first frame, as Chad Sasaki notched his first of the season at 15:26 to even the score. Sasaki was able to take a pass from teammate Brandon Koch and find some open space, beating Warriors goaltender Hayden Missler under the blocker to tie the game at a goal apiece after a period.
West Kelowna would start the second the same way they started the first, strongly. Chase Dubois was the recipient of a bounce off a Wenatchee defender just :41 seconds into the second frame, and found himself with an open cage to notch his first of the season. The goal went unassisted, but it was a Wyatt Head shot that was deflected by a Wild defender straight to Dubois to allow the Warriors to regain the lead.
The bounce would go the other way later in the period, however, as Wenatchee captain Lucas Sowder evened the score on a fortunate bounce of his own. Sowder found himself alone in the offensive zone, and put a shot toward goal from just inside the West Kelowna blue line. The shot found the stick of a West Kelowna defender and ran past Missler to tie the game at two.
The beginning of the third period saw much of the same, minus the early goal for the Warriors. They weren’t able to capitalize on a couple of opportunities, but carried the majority of the play in the first ten minutes. It wasn’t until a couple of penalties derailed them that the Wild were able to break the tie, thanks to Jacob Modry on the power play. Modry was able to beat a defender sneaking to the back post, where he was found by Lucas Sowder for the easy tap in.
Christophe Tellier would add another power play goal late to close the scoring, and seal a 4-2 victory for Wenatchee. Hayden Missler made 27 saves in defeat, while Cal Sandquist picked up the victory for the Wild making 17 saves.
Both teams will now head for the BCHL Showcase, with West Kelowna’s next appearance at Royal Lepage Place coming Wedneday, September 26th against the same Wenatchee Wild.
