PHOTO: Tami Quan
TRAIL, B.C. – Cal Hughes scored the final goal of the game for a second consecutive night, this time ending the contest in overtime as the West Kelowna Warriors earned a 5-4 victory in the extra frame over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday night at Cominco Arena.
After scoring twice in last night’s season opener, Johannes Løkkeberg kept his scoring ways going with his 3rd goal of the season to crack the scoresheet open on Saturday night and give West Kelowna a 1-0 lead on the road, two minutes into the contest.
Michael Salandra freed the puck from below the goal line and forced it to the right face-off circle where Løkkeberg collected and snapped a shot over the glove side shoulder of Smoke Eaters goaltender Teagan Kendrick for his 3rd goal in four periods in the BCHL and gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead at the 2-minute mark of the opening frame.
Rorke Applebee earned his second consecutive start to begin the season and was dialed in once again in the opening frame, turning aside each of the 6 shots thrown his way in the opening 20 minutes while Kendrick made 9 saves on 10 shots in the first period to see West Kelowna with a 1-0 lead.
The Smoke Eaters came out of the gate flying in the second period and forced their way to an even score as Ridge Dawson tied the game at 1-1. Dawson made a move to create space down the right side around a Warriors defender and got to the right face-off circle before sending a shot over the blocker side of Applebee 44 seconds into the frame for a 1-1 game.
Trail collected their first lead of the game just over four minutes later at the 4:58 mark of the middle stanza with Maxim Potvin taking a Ridge Dawson pass to come in on a breakaway and flip a shot over the blocker shoulder of Applebee to give the Smoke Eaters a 2-1 advantage.
Before the period was out, the Warriors got the game on even terms once again as Jack Pridham buried his first career BCHL goal. Landen Hilditch made a strong move down the left wing and backhanded a pass from the left face-off circle to the front of the net where Pridham directed a shot past the glove side of Kendrick at the 14:07 mark of the middle frame to level the game at 2-2.
The third period featured four goals, all in the final 8 minutes of the frame following a lengthy 5-on-3 penalty kill for the Warriors before Isaiah Norlin converted with a power play marker to give the Warriors the lead at the 12:52 mark of the final regulation period.
Norlin took a Jackson Kyrkostas pass and moved his way down the left side of ice, below the face-off circle and got to the goal line before slipping the puck from his forehand to his backhand and getting around Kendrick on the blocker side and finished on his forehand to beat the goaltender and earn his 1st goal of the season and a 3-2 lead.
Trail responded at the 15:18 mark of the period with Adam Barone finding the back of the net on a shot from the high slot as traffic formed in front of Applebee as Barone beat him on the glove side and evened the score at 3-3.
Just over a minute later at the 16;20 mark of the 3rd period, Owen Drury collected his first BCHL goal to give the Warriors the lead back again. Eliot Compton worked the puck free in a scramble in the left face-off circle and dropped it off for Drury, who raised a shot over the blocker shoulder of Kendrick and in to push the visitors ahead by a 4-3 score.
Again, just over a minute later, Lucas Marshall found the back of the net on a point shot through traffic over the glove shoulder of Applebee and forced the game into extra time with 2:28 remaining in the 3rd period.
The Warriors dominated the possession game in the extra frame, holding all of the shots on goal and the final one from Cal Hughes that ended the game. Hughes made his way inside of the offensive zone on an odd-man rush before slipping a shot to the legs of Kendrick for his 2nd goal of the season and finished the game at the 4:01 mark of the overtime period.
Rorke Applebee got his second win of the season in making 18 saves on 22 shots while Teagan Kendrick stopped 26 of the 31 shots thrown his way in his 2nd overtime setback of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Warriors (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-22 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/3
WARRIORS PK: 4/4
3 STARS:
1) Adam Barone (1-1-2)
2) Isaiah Norlin (1-0-1)
3) Maxim Potvin (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nathan Dominici (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,105
West Kelowna (2-0-0-0) returns home for a pair of games at Royal LePage Place next weekend as they host the Cranbrook Bucks (1-1-0-0) on Friday, September 29th before welcoming the Smoke Eaters to town on Saturday, September 30th. Both games are 7:00 PM start times and tickets are available for each on the Warriors website as well as at the Warriors Office.
