PHOTO: Russ Altman
WENATCHEE, WA. – The West Kelowna Warriors finished their three game weekend road with a back-and-forth overtime setback by a 5-4 score to the Wenatchee Wild on Sunday night at the Town Toyota Center.
For the fourth straight game, the Warriors surrendered the opening goal as Wenatchee, on their Teddy Bear Toss Night, jumped ahead with a shorthanded goal coming off the stick of Parker Murray as the home side took a 1-0 advantage at the 14:09 mark of the 1st period.
The Wild carried through the neutral zone on a 2-on-1 attempt after the puck was freed from a scrum below the goal line and Ean Somoza played a pass from the right wing to the left side at the top of the face-off circle where Murray walked in and shot underneath the pad of Warriors goaltender Justin Katz to give Wenatchee a 1-0 advantage.
On the same power play, the Warriors came back 40 seconds later and evened the score courtesy of Felix Caron. Rylee Hlusiak made a strong play at the top of the left face-off circle, faking a shot and sliding a pass to the left dot where Caron corralled and swept the puck past the blocker side of Wild netminder Owen Millward for his 7th goal of the season at the 11:49 mark to tie the game at 1-1.
Under two minutes after that, at 16:30 of the opening period, Garrett Szydlowski gave the Wild a one-goal lead once again. Somoza off the rush ducked inside the offensive zone and floated a pass to the front of the net where Szydlowski took the puck on his forehand and finished on his backhand past the glove side of Katz to give Wenatchee a 2-1 lead.
The Warriors had an response in under a minute again as Matt Fusco buried his 7th goal of the season to even the score at 2-2. Michael Salandra won the offensive zone face-off to the right point where Fusco sent a bullet shot over the blocker side of Millward at the 17:24 mark of the opening period and tied the score at 2-2 as the Warriors battled back to even the score before the period was out.
That goal proved to be a big one as the Warriors came out on a power play into the 2nd period and got their first lead of the hockey game with Felix Caron burying his second goal of the night. Hlusiak made his way into the offensive zone on the right side as he sent a puck to the net that was deflected on goal by Luke Devlin before Caron followed up on the stopped shot from Devlin and slid the puck in for his 8th goal of the season just 49 seconds into the middle frame and giving the Warriors their first lead of the night at 3-2.
The period remained back-and-forth and Wenatchee had a response with Micah Berger pushing the game to a 3-3 tie at the 8:47 mark of the middle frame. The Wild forced the puck to the slot where Berger collected and shot past a screened Katz on the glove side to tie the game at 3-3.
Both teams had chances as the period went along but the game would be fit to be tied after 40 minutes with the score remaining at 3-3. Katz made 19 saves on 22 shots through his 40 minutes of action while Millward turned aside 21 of the 24 shots he faced after two periods heading into the final regulation period of action.
The Wild took the lead by a goal again with Lukas McCloskey tallying his first BCHL goal at the 5:06 mark of the 3rd period. McCloskey took a shot from the top of the right face-off circle that deflected off a body in front of the net and went past Katz on the glove side to give Wenatchee a one-goal lead once again at 4-3.
Just over a minute and a half after the Wild took the lead, Chris Duclair tied the score again at 4-4 with his 7th goal of the season. Duclair took the puck in the left corner and made his way behind the net before coming out to the right face-off circle and snapping a shot past the blocker side of Millward at the 6:43 mark of the final regulation frame to even the score at 4-4.
Warriors captain Aiden Reeves made a strong play on the goal line, knocking a puck loose away from the crease on a shot from the right circle from Jason Stefanek to keep the game tied and eventually force overtime.
The Warriors had a power play that carried into the extra frame that they could not convert on before the Wild received a man advantage of their own and buried on the chance as Ean Somoza won the game for the Wild. While ahead 4-on-3 on the power play, Somoza got the puck at the top of the slot and took a shot that beat Katz over the blocker shoulder 2:59 into the extra frame that won the game for the Wild.
Justin Katz turned aside 29 of the 34 shots thrown his way in his 2nd overtime loss of the season while Owen Millward made 34 saves on 38 shots in his 6th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 7-4 Wild
SHOTS ON GOAL: 34-32 Wild
WARRIORS PP: 2/5
WARRIORS PK: 5/6
3 STARS:
1) Ean Somoza (3-2-5)
2) Noah Jones (1-0-1)
3) Parker Murray (1-1-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: David Hedjuk (2-2-4)
Attendance: 3,189
The Warriors (15-8-3-0) will conclude a four-game stretch away from home as they head to the North Okanagan for the first time this season and battle the Vernon Vipers (12-10-0-4) on Friday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM from Kal Tire Place with the game being broadcasted live on AM 1150 as well as streamed online at BCHLTV.ca.
West Kelowna is back on home ice with their final game ahead of the holiday break on Saturday night as they host their Highway 97 rival Penticton Vees at Royal LePage Place in the Warriors annual Christmas Classic. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available online at westkelownawarriors.ca as well as in-person at the Box Office.
