PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors rebranded to their neighbours from the South in Peachland as they dropped a 3-2 game in overtime to the Chilliwack Chiefs in front of 1,351 fans at Royal LePage Place on Saturday night.
A fast-paced opening period in front of a near-capacity crowd got the night off to a strong start and saw Jack Pridham give the Warriors a 1-0 late in the 1st frame after West Kelowna outshot Chilliwack by a 15-6 margin in the opening period.
After the Warriors forced a Chiefs turnover in the offensive zone, Trent Wilson gathered a loose puck in the slot and slid a pass to the side of the net where Pridham chipped it past the glove side of Chiefs goaltender Austin McNicholas to give the rookie forward his 14th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors made one error in the opening 20 minutes and it cost them as Willyam Gendron buried on a breakaway to tie the score. Catching West Kelowna on a change, Gendron took a feed to go in all alone and made a move to his backhand to lift the puck over the glove side of Warriors netminder Rorke Applebee to tie the game at 1-1.
Not many shots were had in a 2nd period that saw the same speed and energy as the opening frame possessed with just one goal coming in the middle frame and came just three seconds into a power play as Felix Caron notched his league-leading 23rd marker of the season.
Cal Hughes won the face-off with Jack Pridham playing the puck to the middle of the ice with Caron snapping a quick shot from the slot past the glove side of McNicholas to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead in a period where they surrendered just three shots against.
Chilliwack saved their best period for the final frame in outshooting the Warriors by a 10-6 margin the final 20 minutes of regulation and got the game on even terms with Nathan Morin levelling the score at 2-2 just under halfway through the period.
Ty Campbell got the puck at the mid point and sent a shot to the front of the net through traffic that was deflected en route to the goal from Morin in the slot as got the game to 2-2 and forced to overtime with the two teams each collecting a point.
The Chiefs outshot West Kelowna by a 6-2 margin in overtime, which had a frenetic start the extra frame but settled in before Chilliwack had a strong shift in the offensive zone and won the game on a Parker Murray tally at the 6:31 mark of the overtime period.
Murray took a drop pass from Brady Milburn at the glove side goal line and slapped a shot through Applebee from a sharp angle and past the Warriors netminder to give the Chiefs a 3-2 overtime victory.
Rorke Applebee made 22 saves on 25 shots in his 3rd overtime loss of the season while Austin McNicholas turned aside 29 of the 31 shots he faced in his 12th win of the campaign.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2 Chiefs (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-25 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/3
WARRIORS PK: 1/1
3 STARS:
1) Jack Pridham (1-1-2)
2) Austin McNicholas (29 saves on 31 shots)
3) Parker Murray (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Dylan Brooks (0-0-0)
Attendance: 1,351
The Warriors (23-7-6-0) will embark on a four-game stand away from home and begin a road-heavy month of February on Vancouver Island with a matchup against the Nanaimo Clippers (20-12-2-0) on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM from Frank Crane Arena with the game being broadcasted live on AM 1150 as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
