PHOTO: Cherie Morgan
PENTICTON, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors battled from a 3-0 1st period deficit to get the game within one but could not find an equalizer and eventually fell to the Penticton Vees by an 11-2 score on Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Warriors were much of the better team in the opening 20 minutes of play, outshooting the Vees by a 14-9 margin in the 1st period and holding the Vees without a shot in 12 consecutive minutes.
West Kelowna looked like they had hit the scoresheet first on a shot from the slot by Michael Salandra that was stopped by Vees goaltender Luca Di Pasquo. Salandra got to his own rebound and swatted it toward the net as the puck seemingly had gone over the goal line. The play was called on the ice as no goal and was never reviewed to keep the 0-0 game intact beyond the opening minute and change of action.
The Vees countered and score three times in a 2:05 span beginning with Brett Moravec at the 4:09 mark of the period, deflecting a Mason Poolman point shot from the slot. 25 seconds later, Aydar Suniev took a Josh Niedermayer backdoor pass on the glove side of Warriors goaltender Justin Katz and put the Vees ahead by a 2-0 score.
Josh Nadeau scored the first of his two goals at the 6:14 mark of the period, courtesy of a power play and a rebound at the front of the net before the Warriors really started to apply the pressure and register the next 10 shots on goal.
Jake Bernadet was sprung on a breakaway that was kicked out by the left pad of Di Pasquo before Jaiden Moriello was denied twice at the side of the net by the Vees goaltender on the blocker side of the righ-handed catching Di Pasquo as he threw his left shoulder at a shot before stopping the follow up with his right pad.
Ben MacDonald finally broke through and was able to give the Warriors some life with his 7th goal of the season to get West Kelowna on the scoresheet. MacDonald got around a Vees defender to come in on a breakaway, holding on his forehand and tucking a backhand shot past the blocker side of Di Pasquo to cut the score to 3-1 at the 15:49 mark of the 1st period.
Shortly after that, Rylee Hlusiak took advantage of a Vees turnover in the neutral zone, gathering the puck on the left wing and sending a laser of a shot over the blocker shoulder of the Vees netminder from the left face-off circle for his 4th goal of the season and getting the Warriors within a goal heading into the 2nd period.
The Vees began to take over the game in the middle frame, guided again by the strong play of their goaltender early in the period and scored four times in the middle period, beginning with Josh Nadeau’s second goal of the game at the 7:14 mark. Thomas Pichette pushed the lead to 5-2 before Ryan Hopkins added a goal to push the Penticton advantage to 6-2. Bradly Nadeau scored the first of his three goals on the night at the 14:50 mark of the 2nd period to head into the 3rd period with a 7-2 lead.
Bradly Nadeau scored the second and third goals of his night in the opening six minutes of the period before Hiroki Gojsic and Josh Niedermayer finished the scoring with power play goals in the 3rd to conclude an 11-2 game.
Justin Katz started for the Warriors, turning aside 13 of the 20 shots thrown his way in his 2nd loss of the season before Nicholas Cristiano made 12 saves on 16 shots in relief. Luca Di Pasquo was solid for the Vees in net, stopping 28 of the 30 shots thrown his way in his 14th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 11-2 Vees
SHOTS ON GOAL: 46-30 Vees
3 STARS:
1) Bradly Nadeau (3-1-4)
2) Josh Nadeau (2-3-5)
3) Ryan Hopkins (1-2-3)
WARRIORS PP: 0/2
WARRIORS PK: 5/9
Attendance: 2,959
The Warriors (12-4-2-0) return home for the 12th annual Pastor Don’s Christmas Hamper Drive Night taking place against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (8-9-1-1). Fans are encouraged to bring cash donations for the hampers while the team will also honour the Okanagan Sun and their National Championship ahead of the game. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Warriors Office.
