PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors got an opening period goal from Jaiden Moriello but dropped a tight 2-1 game to the Prince George Spruce Kings on Friday night at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
West Kelowna was put in a tough spot early on in the game, having to kill a pair of penalties in the opening 10 minutes of action but the Warriors penalty kill, and goaltender Justin Katz, stood tall. Katz made saves on all 14 shots thrown his way in the opening frame and held the Warriors strong in between the pipes.
The Warriors thought they had opened the scoring on a shot from the left point by Ben MacDonald that was knocked into the net by a high stick of Jaiden Moriello in the left face-off circle just after the media time out in the opening frame. Just moments after the disallowed goal, Moriello got a real marker that gave the Warriors a 1st period lead.
Isaiah Norlin came down the right wing side and centered a pass to the middle of the ice where Brennan Nelson couldn’t pull the trigger on but Moriello came through and buried a shot past the blocker side of Spruce Kings netminder Jordan Fairlie for his team-leading 12th goal of the season to push the Warriors ahead by a 1-0 margin at the 14:34 mark of the opening frame.
The Warriors held that lead until just over one minute to go in the middle frame, with Katz continuing his strong play, before Austin Fraser got the Spruce Kings on even terms with just 1:08 remaining in the 2nd period of play to tie the game at 1-1.
Ben LeFranc threw on a shot from the right point that got its way through to Katz with Fraser deflecting the puck over the right pad before making contact with the goaltender, which was talked about before being ruled a good goal. Fraser’s marker at the tail end of the 2nd period had the game at 1-1 heading into the final period.
The Warriors struggled to get anything going offensively in the final frame as the Spruce Kings collapsed in front of their net and didn’t give many shooting lanes to get pucks through to. Prince George played with the lead after getting ahead early in the 3rd period as Fraser notched his second goal of the game.
Prince George got on an early period power play, following a John Herrington shot that hit the cross bar on the blocker side of Katz just 16 seconds into the frame. Killian McGregor-Bennett took a shot from the left face-off circle that went off of Fraser at the front of the goal and past the blocker side of Katz for his second of the night and gave the Spruce Kings their first lead of the game at 2-1.
The Warriors didn’t have much in the way of offense throughout the night but specifically in the 3rd period as the Spruce Kings clamped down defensively in the final period. West Kelowna pulled Katz with just over a minute remaining in an attempt to tie the game.
Isaiah Norlin put on a shot from the point with traffic in front of the net, and a whacking attempt from Ben MacDonald and Jaiden Moriello could not get past Fairlie before the Spruce Kings cleared the puck that was swept from the crease by Norlin but the Warriors could not get a goal in the final minute of play and dropped the game by a 2-1 score.
Justin Katz was terrific in goal for the Warriors, turning aside 28 of the 30 shots thrown his way in his 3rd loss of the season while Jordan Fairlie made saves on 15 of the 16 shots he faced in his 11th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 Spruce Kings
SHOTS ON GOAL: 30-16 Spruce Kings
WARRIORS PP: 0/4
WARRIORS PK: 3/4
3 STARS:
1) Austin Fraser (2-0-2)
2) Ben LeFranc (0-2-2)
3) Charlie Banquier (0-0-0)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jack Stockfish (0-0-0)
Attendance: 1,469
The Warriors (12-6-2-0) continue a two-game weekend set in Northern BC with their second game against the Spruce Kings (13-6-1-1) on Saturday night at the Kopar Memorial Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the game being broadcasted live on the Warriors Broadcast Network (mixlr.com/bchlwarriors) or streamed online on BCHLTV.ca.
