PHOTO: Andrew Knopf
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors saw their eight-game winning streak on home ice come to a close in a 7-1 loss to the Cranbrook Bucks on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
A depleted Warriors lineup, battling the week with illness, saw the Bucks earn the first goal of the game and the first of two goals in 23 seconds of game time with Bauer Morrisey opening the scoring on Cranbrook’s 6th shot of the 1st period.
Nick Peluso got into the offensive zone and sent a pass from the right point across to the left side where Morrisey sent a blue line shot to the front of the net that beat Warriors netminder Cayden Hamming on the blocker side through traffic at the 11:40 mark of the opening frame to get ahead by a 1-0 margin.
Just 23 seconds after the marker, Noah Quinn extended the Bucks advantage to 2-0 at the 12:03 mark of the period. After a Warriors chance in the offensive end was stopped by Cranbrook goaltender Nathan Airey, the Bucks transitioned into the offensive zone and Blake Cotton centered a pass from the left corner to the front of the net where Quinn rushed to the goal and chipped the puck to the net and past the glove side of Hamming to make it a 2-0 game.
The Warriors started the 2nd period with some jump and, on their first power play of the game, registered a marker to get the game within a goal as Ben MacDonald tallied his 20th goal of the season. MacDonald moved into the left face-off circle with a shot that was blocked by a Bucks defender before he got the puck back again and fired a wrist shot past the glove side of Airey at the 2:42 mark of the frame to cut the deficit.
A four-minute double-minor penalty gave Cranbrook a chance with a man up and they took momentum back in the game as Morrisey scored his second of the night to make it a 3-1 game. The Bucks defender collected the puck in the neutral zone and worked down the right wing, slipping by a Warriors defender and finishing through the legs of Hamming to give the Bucks a 3-1 lead at the 7:56 mark of the 2nd period.
Cooper Boulanger pushed the Bucks lead to 4-1 with a marker at the 12:56 mark of the 2nd period as he converted on a pass from below the goal line from Donovan Frias before Cam Kungle added a power play tally at the 14:47 mark of the middle frame to give the Bucks a 5-1 lead heading into the 3rd period and ending the night of Hamming as Angelo Zol came on in relief.
Despite the strong play from Zol in relief, who faced 29 shots in 25 minutes of action, the Bucks scored two 3rd period goals to round out the scoring as Blake Cotton and Kellan Hjartarson found the back of the net at 11:01 and 16:41 of the 3rd period as Cranbrook pulled away in the 3rd period to win 7-1.
Cayden Hamming turned aside 17 of the 22 shots thrown his way in his 3rd loss of the season while Angelo Zol made 27 saves on 29 shots in relief. Nathan Airey wasn’t too busy in the Bucks net, turning aside 13 of the 14 shots he faced in his 20th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 7-1 Bucks
SHOTS ON GOAL: 51-14 Bucks
WARRIORS PP: 1/2
WARRIORS PK: 7/9
3 STARS:
1) Bauer Morrissey (2-0-2)
2) Rhys Bentham (0-0-0)
3) Nick Peluso (0-3-3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Luke Devlin (0-1-1)
ATTENDANCE: 906
The Warriors (26-17-4-0) head out on the road for the first time in three week as they make their final trip of the season to the Nicola Valley to face-off against the Merritt Centennials (11-31-3-2) on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena with the game being broadcasted live on the Warriors Broadcast Network (mixlr.com/bchlwarriors) as well as streamed online at BCHLTV.ca.
