PHOTO: Tami Quan
MERRITT, B.C. – Jackson Kyrkostas notched his first career BC Hockey League hat-trick as part of a four-point night as the West Kelowna Warriors outlasted the Merritt Centennials in a 6-4 victory at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena on Saturday night.
Despite heavily outshooting the Centennials in the opening period, to the tune of 16-3, it was Merritt who opened the scoring at the 14:33 mark of the frame courtesy of Kiernan Poulin and a power play. Poulin got the puck in the right face-off circle and sent a shot that snuck through the legs of Warriors goaltender Rorke Applebee at the 14:33 mark to make it a 1-0 game.
The Warriors evened the score, however, in the final minute of the opening period and pushed the first of two last minute goals past Merritt netminder Andrew Ballantyne. A face-off inside of the Centennials end saw Jack Pridham collect the puck at the top of the right circle and wrist a shot over the glove side of Ballantyne for his 5th goal of the season and levelled the score with 44 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Just 27 seconds after that, Jackson Kyrkostas scored the first of what would be three goals on the night to give West Kelowna their first lead of the game. Johannes Løkkeberg sawed the puck toward the front of the goal as Kyrkostas whacked it in for his 2nd goal of the season and gave the Warriors a lead into the 2nd period.
It didn’t take long for West Kelowna to double their advantage in the middle as 1:20 into the period, Frédéric Deschênes tallied his first BCHL goal. The puck worked its way around to the left point where Deschênes collected and sent a shot off a Centennials stick and ramped over the glove side of Ballantyne for a 3-1 lead.
Merritt pushed back and got within a marker with Dylan Wegner knocking down a shot at the blue line and racing ahead for a partial breakaway, going to his backhand to beat Applebee on the blocker side and making the score 3-2 at 8:58 of the 2nd period and forced Applebee out of the game as Matthew DellaRusso came on in relief.
Latvian defender Martins Kruklitis evemed the score with 7 minutes remaining in the period as he got to a loose puck along the left boards and slapped a shot that eluded the glove of DellaRusso that pushed the game to a 3-3 tie.
Before the period was out, it was Kyrkostas again who gave the Warriors the lead with his second talky of the night with 1:20 remaining in the frame. The Warriors forward walked into the offensive zone and sent a shot wide of the net as it bounced off the end boards and away from a defender where Kyrkostas gathered at the top of the crease and beat Ballantyne on the glove side to give West Kelowna a one-goal edge into the final period.
The rookie forward completed his hat-trick with a marker just 1:24 into the 3rd period as he re-directed a blueline shot from Deschênes from the left point to get past Ballantyne on the glove side and give the visitors a 5-3 advantage.
The overtime hero from Friday night in Michael Salandra extended his season-long point streak to eight games as he notched his 5th goal of the season and gave the Warriors a 6-3 lead. Isaiah Norlin, playing in his 100th career BCHL regular season game, got down the right wing and sent a pass to the front of the goal where Salandra directed it past the blocker side as West Kelowna took a three-goal lead.
Charles-Thomas Larochelle concluded the scoring in the game with the second power play marker of the contest for the Centennials as he tipped a Ranvir Gill-Shane shot from the left point that beat DellaRusso on the glove side at 10:06 to make the score 6-4 for West Kelowna, the eventual final.
Rorke Applebee started the game for West Kelowna, making 9 saves on 11 shots before being relieved by Matthew DellaRusso, who turned aside 17 of the 19 shots thrown his way in his 2nd win of the season. Andrew Ballantyne stopped 26 of the 32 shots thrown his way in his 2nd defeat of the seas
FINAL SCORE: 6-4 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 32-30 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/2
WARRIORS PK: 4/6
3 STARS:
1) Jackson Kyrkostas (3-1-4)
2) Jack Pridham (1-1-2)
3) Martins Kruklitis (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Charles-Thomas Larochelle (1-0-1)
Attendance: 512
The Warriors (6-2-0-0) will return home for a mid-week matchup and the start of a home-and-home set against the Vernon Vipers (6-1-0-0) on Wednesday night at Royal LePage Place. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Warriors Office and the Box Office ahead of the game.
