PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors saw three one-goal leads dissipate and fell in overtime for the 11th time this season, dropping a 4-3 score to the Penticton Vees on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
A strong energy and buzz in the building created a good atmosphere inside of RLP and the Warriors fed off of that to open the scoring in the game as Jack Pridham tallied his 21st goal of the season and third in three games to give the Warriors the game’s first goal.
Pridham took a feed up the left wing side and busted into the left face-off circle before zipping a shot over the glove side shoulder of Andrew Ness in the Vees net and the Boston University commit pushed the Warriors ahead at the 11:50 mark for a 1-0 lead.
The Vees did not take long to respond and evened the score just 34 seconds later with Larry Keenan blasting a shot over the blocker shoulder of Warriors goaltender Rorke Applebee and saw a 1-1 game going into the 2nd period. The goal for Keenan was the first of a three-point night for the Detroit Red Wings draft pick.
West Kelowna’s power play came through in the 2nd period, at the tail end of the man advantage, to push the Warriors back in the lead. Isaiah Norlin crept down the right wing and spotted an open Jackson Kyrkostas in the slot as he beat Ness on the blocker side for his 22nd goal of the season to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.
Connor MacPherson had an answer for Penticton just over three minutes later at the 14:10 mark right after a power play had expired as he took a Keenan pass in stride down the right wing and slipped a shot through the legs of Applebee to even the game at 2-2 heading into the final regulation period.
A BCHL first came in the way of Carter Oakenfold, who buried his first goal as a Warrior at the 7:59 mark of the 3rd period taking a shot off the left pad of Ness and depositing the puck past the glove side before Penticton came back with an answer, again.
Just 21 seconds later, Billy Renfrew lifted a shot over Applebee from the left face-off circle off the rush and the Vees rallied for the third time from behind to tie the game and send West Kelowna to their 17th overtime contest of the season.
In the extra frame, Felix Caron had a great chance to end the game on a partial breakaway that Ness denied with the glove before Thomas Pichette snuck a shot through Applebee on the blocker side at 4:16 of the overtime period as Penticton earned the extra point and a 4-3 win.
Rorke Applebee made 29 saves on 33 shots in his 8th overtime defeat of the year while Andrew Ness turned aside 27 of the 30 shots thrown his way in earning his 16th victory of the year.
FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Vees (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 33-30 Vees
WARRIORS PP: 1/3
WARRIORS PK: 3/3
3 STARS:
1) Larry Keenan (1-2-3)
2) Cal Hughes (0-2-2)
3) Thomas Pichette (1-1-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jack Pridham (1-0-1)
Attendance: 1,293
The Warriors (29-10-11-0) will make their way to the Kootenays for a pair of games beginning against the Trail Smoke Eaters (25-18-6-0) on Friday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM at Cominco Arena with the game broadcasted live on AM 1150 as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
