MERRITT, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors used a four-goal come-from-behind effort to force overtime but fell in the extra frame to the Merritt Centennials on Saturday night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
A depleted Warriors roster, dressing just 11 forwards and 5 defensemen, showed a bit of their fatigue in the opening period as the Centennials scored four separate times to get ahead by a 4-0 score after the opening 20 minutes in the Nicola Valley.
Jackson Krill got the scoring going for the Centennials, taking advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone as he walked into the left face-off circle and placed a shot underneath of the glove of Warriors starting goaltender Angelo Zol at the 6:57 mark of the 1st period and Merritt jumped ahead by a 1-0 score.
Exactly one minute later at the 7:52 mark, after the Warriors had a chance from Nic Porchetta in front of the net to tie the game and just missed the net wide on a shot, Jaxson Murray gave Merritt a 2-0 lead as he raced to a loose puck in the right face-off circle and sent a shot past the glove side of Zol for a 2-0 lead.
The Centennials added onto the lead in the opening period as Christian Lowe made it a 3-0 game at the 14:53 mark. Diego Johnson set up Lowe from below the goal line and centered a pass to the slot where Lowe buried a shot from the edge of the right circle that beat Zol high to the glove side and pushed the home side to a 3-0 edge.
Jacob Smith concluded the scoring in the opening period and gave Merritt a 4-0 lead at the 16:06 mark of the frame as Maddix McCagherty had his shot from the left circle fired wide of the net with Smith following up on the rebound and sliding a shot past Zol and in, ending the night for the Warriors goaltender and bringing on Cayden Hamming in relief.
The Warriors came out of the locker room with jump and got themselves on the scoresheet in the 2nd period courtesy of their first power play of the game as Chris Duclair made it a 4-1 game. Nic Porchetta had his 2-on-1 pass knocked down before he regained the puck at the glove side and got a feed to Duclair, who beat Merritt netminder Conor Sullivan from the right face-off circle for his 12th goal of the season and cut the Centennials lead to 4-1.
West Kelowna continued to bring pressure in the middle frame, finishing the period with 18 shots and outshooting the Centennials by an 18-4 margin in the 2nd period but Sullivan stood tall to keep his team ahead and forced a three-goal lead for Merritt into the 3rd period.
Picking up from the momentum of the 2nd period, the Warriors charged ahead in the 3rd in their comeback effort and happened just 25 seconds into the final regulation period with a power play goal from Ben MacDonald to make the game 4-2. MacDonald got the puck in the left face-off circle and wired a puck past the blocker side of Sullivan for his 21st goal of the season and cut the deficit to two goals.
Rylee Hlusiak added the Warriors third power play goal of the game and inched closer to an even score with his 16th tally of the season. The puck was worked up to the top of the point where Hlusiak sent a point shot through traffic and past the blocker side of Sullivan at the 4:44 mark of the 3rd period and pushed the Warriors to within a goal at 4-3.
West Kelowna completed the four-goal comeback effort at the 12:26 mark of the 3rd period on a gorgeous end-to-end rush from Luke Devlin, who tallied his 10th goal of the season to even the score. Devlin gathered speed in the neutral zone and broke down the right wing, cutting around a Merritt defender and driving the net before finishing on the glove side to get the game to a 4-4 tie before the two teams skated to overtime all knotted at 4.
Cayden Hamming had to make a big save on a breakaway from Kyle Isenberg before Aidan Lindblad notched the game winner at 3:03 of the extra frame. Lindblad got to the right circle and sent a shot past the blocker side of Hamming to give Merritt the extra point in overtime.
Angelo Zol started in net for the Warriors, turning aside 7 of the 11 shots thrown his way before Cayden Hamming came on in relief, stopping 12 of the 13 shots he faced in his 2nd overtime loss of the season. Conor Sullivan made 38 saves on 42 shots as he collected his 3rd win of the season in the Merritt net.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Centennials (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 42-24 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 3/5
WARRIORS PK: 3/3
3 STARS:
1) Jacob Smith (1-0-1)
2) Aidan Lindblad (1-0-1)
3) Conor Sullivan (38 saves on 42 shots)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Carter Schmidt (0-0-0)
Attendance: 511
The Warriors (26-17-5-0) will return home for the first of a five-game home stand beginning with the Prince George Spruce Kings (24-19-4-1) making their final appearance of the season at Royal LePage Place. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM on Friday night with tickets available online on the Warriors website as well as at the Box Office ahead of the opening puck drop.
Playoff ticket packages are now available for purchase ahead of the 2023 Warriors playoffs! Packages are priced at $128/adult, $104/seniors & students and $64/child and based on an eight-game basis. Get yours today by completing this form! Packages are available until Friday, March 10th.
