PHOTO: Jennifer Small
TRAIL, B.C. – Rorke Applebee turned aside 26 shots as the West Kelowna Warriors earned their 30th win of the season in a 3-1 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday night at Cominco Arena.
Rorke Applebee played a big part in the opening portion of this hockey game as the 20-year-old netminder made 13 saves in the opening period, including 9 in the opening 12:30 of the game that kept the Warriors and Smoke Eaters in a 0-0 tie despite a great chance from West Kelowna to open the scoring.
Jack Farrell spotted Carter Oakenfold from the left face-off circle to the bottom of the right side and his shot was stopped by a sprawling Ryan Parker in the Trail net to keep the game deadlocked before it was West Kelowna who opened the scoring and came in the way of Owen Drury, scoring his 3rd goal of the season to break the ice.
Knocking down a puck inside the defensive end was Farrell as Drury pushed the pace through the neutral zone on a 2-on-0 with Jackson Kyrkostas as he took the puck to the right circle and passed to the left side as Drury capped off the play with his second goal in Cominco Arena this season to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead at the 14:41 mark of the opening period.
A turning point in the game came in the 2nd period with Felix Caron slated to go to the penalty box before Ridge Dawson took exception on a puck flipped off the side of the net and made the following two minutes play at 4-on-4, which the Warriors took advantage of and gathered a 2-0 lead moments later.
Carter Oakenfold did a lap inside of the offensive zone and got to the right face-off circle before sending a pass in front of the net where Sean Keohane was there to knock the puck in for his 4th goal of the season at the 12:51 mark to give West Kelowna a two-goal lead.
Just over a minute later, Cal Hughes walked into the offensive zone and took a hit in the slot but left the puck for Jack Pridham, whose shot on the blocker side of Parker found the back of the net and gave the visitors a 3-0 lead at the 14:10 mark of the 2nd period.
Applebee continued his strong work in the 2nd period, turning aside each of the 8 shots thrown his way in the middle stanza including a big right pad save on a breakaway from Christian Kim as the Warriors went into the 3rd period ahead by three goals.
The Warriors shutout bid came to a close with just over five minutes remaining in the game as Adam Marshall played the puck from the left wing corner and threw a pass in front as Josh Schenk buried it past Applebee, who sprawled but could not get to the puck with 14:10 remaining to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Warriors killed off a penalty shortly after that goal and held on for the two-goal victory as Rorke Applebee stood tall with 26 saves on 27 shots in his 22nd win of the season while Ryan Parker made 22 saves on 25 shots in his 8th loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 3-1 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 27-25 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/3
WARRIORS PK: 4/4
3 STARS:
1) Sean Keohane (1-0-1)
2) Rorke Applebee (26 saves on 27 shots)
3) Ryan Parker (22 saves on 25 shots)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Josh Schenk (1-0-1)
ATTENDANCE: 1,417
West Kelowna (30-10-11-0) will head east and finish their weekend with a matchup against the Cranbrook Bucks (20-27-3-0) on Saturday night at Western Financial Place. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM PST with the game being broadcasted live on the Warriors Broadcast Network at bchlwarriors.mixlr.com as well as streamed online on FloHockey.
