PHOTO: Jennifer Small
TRAIL, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors surrendered a two-goal lead and fell in overtime for the second consecutive night, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday night at Cominco Arena.
It was a goaltending duel in the opening period of play between the Warriors and Smoke Eaters and for West Kelowna goaltender Cayden Hamming, who was making his first appearance in a game in nearly two years after rehabbing an injury, it was an especially memorable opening frame as he made 17 stops to keep the game at 0-0.
Hamming made a particularly strong glove stop on Smoke Eaters defenseman Jordan Hendry, who let a slap shot go on a power play from the middle of the point and raised his hands in the air as he thought he scored before seeing Hamming snatch the puck out of the air with a strong glove stop.
Teagan Kendrick was also up to the task in the opening period for Trail, making 11 saves in the first frame and two big stops on Ben MacDonald and Jaiden Moriello to keep the game scoreless in the final 10 minutes of the period. MacDonald threw a shot on from the left face-off circle that Kendrick kicked out to the slot where Moriello pounced on to push to the net with the Smoke Eaters goaltender kicking out his left pad to deny the chance.
The 2nd period was almost an opposite of what was on display in the 1st period of action as five goals between the two sides filled up the scoresheet, including the Warriors starting the period with a bang and earning the game’s first goal just 18 seconds into the middle frame courtesy of Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero.
Jaiden Moriello made a strong drive to the net from the left wing and had his shot stopped by Kendrick before Van Houtte-Cachero followed up on the rebound attempt and flipped it over the glove side of the Smoke Eaters netminder for his 2nd goal of the season to push the Warriors ahead with the game’s opening goal.
West Kelowna got ahead by a pair of goals at the 5:18 mark of the middle frame with Moriello tying for the team lead with his 3rd goal of the season to push the Warriors lead to 2-0. Just 16 seconds into their first power play of the game, Moriello got the puck at the bottom of the right face-off circle and sniped a shot that went past the glove side of Kendrick and was perfectly placed to the top corner of the net to give West Kelowna a two-goal lead.
Cominco Arena offers many unique features that old rinks often have and one of those came into play to help Trail to their first goal of the game at the 10:15 mark of the middle frame. Ethan Warrener dumped a puck into the left corner that jetted out off a strange bounce and came right to the bottom of the face-off circle before Josh Schenk was able to coral and slide the puck past the glove side of Hamming to cut the Warriors lead in half at 2-1.
Shortly after that, at the 11:58 mark of the 2nd, the Warriors got their two-goal lead back as Jake Bernadet collected his second tally of the season. Van Houtte-Cachero cycled the puck on the left half board and left it for Bernadet, who wheeled to the top of the face-off circle and let a long shot go that eluded Kendrick and snuck through his blocker side as the Warriors jumped ahead 3-1.
Before the period was out, Trail had a response at the 18:34 mark of the frame with the first BC Hockey League goal from Adam Marshall. The Smoke Eaters forward made his way down the left wing and sent a pass to the front of the goal, intended for Schenk who was driving the net but instead was deflected by a Warriors stick and over the shoulder of Hamming to head into the 3rd period with a 3-2 game.
Trail made their way back entirely in the game and evened the score on a power play that lasted just 6 seconds before Brady Hunter pushed the score to 3-3. Hunter snapped a low shot past the blocker side of Hamming from the left face-off circle at the 9:43 mark of the final regulation period to tie the game.
Trail’s Trey Feshko thought he had the go-ahead goal later in the 3rd period but Cayden Hamming made his best save of the night, denying the Smoke Eaters forward by sliding to his glove side and stopping a backdoor shot from a pass that went left to right and held the game at 3-3 before the Warriors played overtime for the second straight night.
West Kelowna had a couple of looks in the extra period but it was the Smoke Eaters who found the winner with just 2.7 seconds remaining in the extra frame as Quinn Disher cut to the middle of the ice from just inside the blue line and beat Hamming with a shot over his blocker to finish the game 4-3 in the Smoke Eaters favour.
Cayden Hamming was excellent in his return to the net, making his first start for the Warriors and turned aside 35 of the 39 shots thrown his way in his 1st overtime loss of the season while Teagan Kendrick stopped 36 of the 39 shots thrown his way in his 2nd win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Smoke Eaters (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 39-39
WARRIORS PP: 1/2
WARRIORS PK: 3/4
3 STARS:
1) Quinn Disher (1-0-1)
2) Jaiden Moriello (1-1-2)
3) Brady Hunter (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nicholas Remissong (0-2-2)
The Warriors (3-1-2-0) head back home for their second matchup of the season against the Wenatchee Wild (1-3-0-1) for their only game of the week on Friday night at Royal LePage Place. It is Student Night as students of Mount Boucherie Secondary School, UBCO and Okanagan College get into the game for just $7 with showing their student ID at the door. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM on Friday, October 14th.
