PHOTO: Tami Quan
CRANBROOK, B.C. – Felix Caron tallied a pair of third period goals, including his 30th of the season, as the West Kelowna Warriors swept their Kootenay weekend with a 4-1 victory over the Cranbrook Bucks on Saturday night at Western Financial Place.
A good start for the Warriors saw the visitors tally twice in the opening period and began with Cal Hughes collecting his 23rd goal of the campaign to break the ice. Isaiah Norlin took a shot from the right wing point that Hughes got to in the left face-off circle and deflected the puck past the blocker side of Braedyn McIntosh in the Cranbrook net for a 1-0 advantage.
Scoring his second goal in as many nights, Sean Keohane put his team ahead by a two-goal margin after a strong sequence inside of the offensive zone. Carter Oakenfold got to the puck in the right wing corner and spotted Keohane in the left face-off circle as the Buffalo Sabres prospect gathered and fired a shot past the glove side of McIntosh for his 5th goal of the year and a 2-0 lead at the 15:53 mark of the opening period.
Not much of anything took place in the 2nd period with the goaltenders being the story for each side, particularly Rorke Applebee in the Warriors net who turned aside each of the 12 shots faced in the middle frame and all 21 shots thrown his way through 40 minutes to keep the Warriors ahead by a 2-0 score heading into the 3rd period.
The Bucks made their way back into the game with Nick Capasso finding the back of the net from the left face-off circle on a shot that snuck through the legs of Applebee at the 5:47 mark of the 3rd period before the Warriors secured their two-goal lead once again and it came from their leading scorer.
Felix Caron collected the puck in the slot on a pass from Viggo Nordström and backhanded a shot off the glove side post that glanced off the leg of a Bucks defender and over the goal line for his 29th goal of the season at 12:55 mark of the final period to give West Kelowna a 3-1 lead.
The Bucks pulled their goaltender with just over two minutes remaining in the game and the Warriors put the exclamation mark on the contest and it was Caron again with his 30th marker of the season, taking a Jack Pridham pass and finding the empty net from inside the blue line to secure a 4-1 victory and extend the Warriors point streak as a team to ten games.
Rorke Applebee was rock solid once again in goal for the Warriors, turning aside 29 of the 30 shots thrown his way in his 23rd win of the season while Braedyn McIntosh suffered his 11th loss of the season, making 29 saves on 32 shots.
FINAL SCORE: 4-1 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 33-30 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/4
WARRIORS PK: 3/3
3 STARS:
1) Rorke Applebee (30 saves on 31 shots)
2) Cal Hughes (1-0-1)
3) Nick Capasso (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jaden Fodchuk (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,833
The Warriors (31-10-11-0) will suit up in their final home game of the regular season as they host the Powell River Kings (14-33-3-0) on Friday night at Royal LePage Place. It is Fan Appreciation Night with plenty of giveaways to be handed out while the team will be handing out their annual year-end awards following the game. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM at RLP with tickets available for purchase on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Box Office, open one hour before the opening puck drop.
