PHOTO: Lisa Mazurek
VERNON, B.C. – Sean Keohane scored twice while a three-goal 3rd period helped the West Kelowna Warriors earn a 4-2 victory over the Vernon Vipers on Saturday night at Kal Tire Place.
After an overtime loss on Friday night at home, the Warriors came out with good energy trying to avenge the defeat and got on the scoresheet early in the game with Sean Keohane getting the scoring going at 1:33 of the contest.
Jack Pridham had his shot from the right circle blocked as it went off of a Viper and came right to Keohane in the left circle and the Warriors defender picked the glove side of Vipers goaltender Ethan David for his 2nd goal of the season and the game’s first shot on goal gave West Kelowna a 1-0 lead.
David had to come up strong on a shorthanded breakaway as Viggo Nordström bidded to give the Warriors a two-goal lead but could not beat the Viper netminder before Vernon was able to get the game on even terms as Isaac Tremblay leveled the action.
Former Warrior Zhenya Miles gathered the puck from below the goal line and came to the right face-off circle where he fed Tremblay in the slot who shot past the glove side of Rorke Applebee in the Warriors net to even the game at 1-1 at the 14:28 of the opening period.
West Kelowna outshot Vernon by a 9-5 margin in the middle frame where they had a bulk of the chances to try and get ahead but David and the Vipers kept the Warriors at bay before a Vernon power play at the end of the period gave them a one-goal lead into the 3rd period.
Strong puck movement saw a pass from Erik Pastro come to the right face-off circle where Adam Csabi rifled a one-time shot over the glove side of Applebee with just 11 seconds remaining in the period to give Vernon a 2-1 edge into the final frame.
The Warriors continued to apply the same pressure that they did in the opening two periods and converted with a three-goal 3rd frame, beginning with a bit of puck luck going their way as Keohane added his second goal of the night and 3rd of the season.
Keohane gathered the puck at centre ice and lifted a dump in attempt to the side of the Vernon goal as the puck bounced off the end boards and banked off the right skate of David and bounced into the net at the 4:40 mark of the 3rd period to tie the game at 2-2.
West Kelowna gathered their second lead of the game at the 12:27 mark of the period with Cal Hughes earning his 22nd goal of the season on a terrific individual effort, skating around the offensive zone and coming to the blue line before making his way down the left side and sneaking a shot past David to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead in the final eight minutes of the game.
Jackson Kyrkostas added an insurance marker at 16:24 of the final frame and earned his 21st goal of the season, sliding a shot past the glove side of David from the left face-off circle to give West Kelowna a 4-2 lead, finishing as the final score.
Rorke Applebee made some big saves in the Warriors net and collected his 21st win of the season with 21 saves on 23 shots while Ethan David turned aside 26 of the 30 shots thrown his way in his 14th loss of the campaign.
FINAL SCORE: 4-2 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 30-23 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/1
WARRIORS PK: 4/5
3 STARS:
1) Cal Hughes (1-1-2)
2) Adam Csabi (1-0-1)
3) Caden Kemkaran-Humble (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Isaac Tremblay (1-0-1)
ATTENDANCE: 2,091
The Warriors (28-10-9-0) return home for the start of a three-game home stand, beginning on Friday night as they host the Penticton Vees (34-7-3-2) at Royal LePage Place. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available online on the Warriors website as well as at the Box Office, open one hour ahead of puck drop.
