PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors found the back of the net five times but it was not enough as the Cranbrook Bucks kept the Interior Conference Quarter Final series alive with a 6-5 win in Game 5 on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
The loss for the Warriors sees the series head back to the East Kootenays with Game 6 taking place on Sunday afternoon with a 3:00 PM PST start at Western Financial Place.
The game started well for West Kelowna, earning the first two goals of the night as their power play made a big difference in the opening 20 minutes. Johannes Løkkeberg fired a dart past the glove side of Bucks goaltender Carter Capton for a 1-0 lead before Jackson Kyrkostas redirected a pass in the slot over the glove side shoulder of Capton as the Warriors earned a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Cranbrook came back from the intermission and tallied their largest period of the series, scoring four times to earn their first lead of the game. Jack Silich ripped a shot over the blocker shoulder of Warriors netminder Matthew DellaRusso before Bryce Sookro evened the score on a rebound at the front of the net.
The second shorthanded goal in as many games for Viggo Nordström put the Warriors back on top eight minutes into the period, banking a puck off of the stick of a Buck defender at the side of the goal before, just 49 seconds later, Silich netted his second of the night on the same power play that got the Bucks back to level at 3-3.
Shane Baker gave Cranbrook their first lead of the game at 14:37 of the middle stanza, taking a Jaden Fodchuk pass at the front of the net and pushing the puck past the blocker side of DellaRusso to see the Bucks take a 4-3 advantage into the 3rd period.
A back-and-forth affair got even more that way in the final period with Simon Houge taking a pass at the top of the left face-off circle and wristing a shot through traffic past the glove side of Capton to get the Warriors back to a 4-4 score before two goals in 49 seconds pushed the visitors ahead for good.
Noah Urness beat DellaRusso with a one-time shot from the right face-off circle before Fodchuk redirected a Loke Södergren shot past the glove side that allowed Cranbrook to take a two-goal lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.
The Warriors pulled their goaltender with over two and a half minutes remaining in the game and were able to get the game back to a one-goal contest as Trent Wilson tipped in an Isaiah Norlin shot from the right point and past the blocker side of Capton to make the score 6-5.
West Kelowna continued to press for the equalizer but Capton and the Bucks stood tall, even on a last second rush that saw Løkkeberg get a shot away from the slot that beat the Bucks goaltender through the legs but came tenths of a second after the final buzzer had sounded to give Cranbrook the victory.
Matthew DellaRusso turned aside 28 of the 34 shots hew faced in his 2nd loss of the playoffs while Carter Capton made saves on 25 of the 30 shots he saw in his 2nd win of the postseason.
FINAL SCORE: 6-4 Bucks
SHOTS ON GOAL: 34-30 Bucks
WARRIORS PP: 2/3
WARRIORS PK: 1/3
3 STARS:
1) Jack Silich (2-1-3)
2) Sam Belanger (0-3-3)
3) Viggo Nordström (1-1-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Landen Hilditch (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,127
The series continues on to Game 6 of the Interior Conference Quarter Final between the Warriors and Bucks to Cranbrook on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM PST from the East Kootenays and Western Finanical Place with the game being broadcasted live on AM 1150 as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
