PHOTO: Tami Quan
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors had each of their players register a point as they scored a season-high 14 goals in a 14-0 victory over the Merritt Centennials on Friday night at Royal LePage Place
The Warriors started the game with plenty of jump and collected the game’s first goal for the first time in six games as Rylee Hlusiak got the scoring going on a four-goal opening period for the home side. Hlusiak got the puck in the neutral zone and knifed his way into the offensive end, getting to the net before finishing a shot past the glove side of Merritt goaltender Conor Sullivan for his 20th goal of the season at the 3:27 mark of the opening frame and kickstarted the offense to a 1-0 lead.
Jake Bernadet pushed the lead to a pair of goals at the 7:14 mark with the first of two goals in the game, cutting to the middle of the ice and sending a shot past the blocker side of Sullivan for a 2-0 edge before the Warriors added a pair of goals on the power play to close out the period.
Riley Sharun added his 10th goal of the season on a play at the front of the net at the 12:15 mark of the opening frame to give the Warriors a 3-0 advantage before Ben MacDonald capped off the four-goal opening period with his 23rd goal of the season and his team-leading 12th power play goal of the season with just 3 seconds remaining in the period to give West Kelowna a 4-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
It didn’t take long with another power play to convert and give the Warriors a five-goal lead in the 2nd period just 55 seconds into the middle frame as Luke Devlin notched his 11th goal of the season as the first of six goals for the Warriors in the middle frame.
The lead was extended to six goals at the 9:01 mark of the middle frame as Brennan Nelson pushed his team ahead by a 6-0 margin before affiliate player Marik Mamic added his first BCHL goal in the middle frame, scoring at the 11:28 mark on a shot past the blocker side of affiliate goaltender Ryder Gregga to push the Warriors to a 7-0 lead.
Just under a minute later, Jaiden Moriello pushed his team ahead by an 8-0 score before Mamic picked up his second goal of the game at the 16:10 mark with another power play goal at the 16:10 mark of the middle period.
Bernadet posted his second goal of the game at the 18:13 mark of the middle stanza that added to the six-goal middle frame from the Warriors with his 12th goal of the season and put West Kelowna ahead by a 10-0 score heading into the final frame.
Michael Salandra posted another power play marker with his 16th goal of the season at the 2:26 mark of the 3rd period before Hlusiak notched his second goal of the game at the 8:22 mark of the final period to give the Warriors a 12-0 lead.
The scoring came to a close with two more markers in the final period as Isaiah Norlin added the Warriors 7th power play goal of the game and his 6th marker of the season before Matthew Lee added his 2nd goal of the season in the final 90 seconds of the game to give the Warriors a 14-0 victory.
Cayden Hamming stopped all 16 shots he faced in his 8th win of the season and his first career BCHL shutout while Conor Sullivan stopped 15 of the 19 shots thrown his way in his 19th loss of the season in the 1st period before Ryder Gregga turned aside 28 of the 38 shots thrown his way in his first BCHL appearance.
FINAL SCORE: 14-0 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 57-16 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 7/8
WARRIORS PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Rylee Hlusiak (2-3-5)
2) Marik Mamic (2-1-3)
3) Cayden Hamming (16-save shutout)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Jake Bernadet (2-2-4)
Attendance: 1,052
The Warriors (27-20-6-0) head into their final game of the BCHL’s regular season as they take a trip to the Shuswap to battle against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (27-19-4-2) on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM at the Shaw Centre with the game being broadcasted live on the Warriors Broadcast Network (mixlr.com/bchlwarriors) as well as streamed online on BCHLTV.ca.
